Bradenton, FL – You probably don't realize it, but we are right in the middle of snake bite season. Venomous snakes are more active when it's warmer and wetter. A Bradenton family says they didn't know to watch out for rattlesnakes in their front yard until one almost killed their dogs.
Bradenton, FL – You probably don’t realize it, but we are right in the middle of snake bite season. Venomous snakes are more active when it’s warmer and wetter. A Bradenton family says they didn’t know to watch out for rattlesnakes in their front yard until one almost killed their dogs.
“I was more worried about the dogs than us,” said owner Heather Anthony.
Anthony says it was about 5:30 p.m. June 16. She and her son had just returned home from a day in Tampa. She let her four dogs out in their front yard and then she says chaos erupted.
She says three of the dogs were barking. She thought they were playing. As she got closer she realized they were fighting a rattlesnake. Red was pushing the other dogs away and made sure Anthony couldn’t get closer.
“There trying to protect you and run from you and push you away. And you’re trying to grab them and it’s just pure chaos,” said Anthony.
Anthony screamed for her 17-year-old son Joseph Papa.
“I had one objective. Kill the snake,” said Papa.
He grabbed a shovel, pushed Red out of the way and went after the snake.
“Just get a shovel, cut his head off, kill that thing before it bites anyone else. As soon as that happened, I killed the snake, we put the dogs in the car and we were off,” said Papa.
That wasn’t the end of the fight for Quail or Red.
The rattlesnake had bit Quail once. Red had taken two hits as he tried to protect Anthony and the other dogs. Both needed antivenin.
Anthony rushed them to one of the few animal hospitals that has antivenin. After that, she took them to the only veterinary centers in the Bay area with a hyperbaric chamber, Critical Vet Care in Sarasota.
Red and Quail spent eight days at the clinic getting round-the-clock critical care and life-saving oxygen treatments in the hyperbaric chamber.
“They had a lot of really good therapy and a great team of veterinarians that helped save them. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have happened,” said Anthony.
The dogs are now back home. Each has a few scars from the rattlesnake, but otherwise they’re OK.
Anthony says while the treatment was costly, she wouldn’t have it any other way. She says she would do anything to save her dogs because they obviously would do anything to protect her.
“They’re our children,” she said.
She does want other dog owners to make sure to always use a leash. She thought they were safe in the front yard, but says had they all been on a leash she might have had more control.
