black widow bites and wiener dogs

[edelweiss]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to thank Kari for referring me to this site, it's much better..thanks!  I want everyone to be aware of the dangers of spider and black widow bites in dachshunds.  My husband and I have three minis and live in central California.  Yesterday I noticed two little red marks on my youngest's snout.  (He's only 11 months and 8.5 lbs)  I thought I would keep an eye on it since a common bite or alergy may swell a little, then go away after a bit.  Two hours later I noticed the bites getting bigger.  I called the vet and they said to bring him in right away.  By the time I got him to the vet his little nose was the size of a golfball.  Yet through all of this, he was acting like nothing was wrong with him!  He was even playing with his siblings before I left the house to take him to the vet.  The doc said he needed to be hospitalized and put on an IV with some pregnizone etc.  Sp? 

She sent away for blood work, and this morning we found out his platelets are low due to the amount of venom in such a small pup.  His nose swelling is going down, he's acting fine..but doc said after a clot test he shows to be in DIC process.  It's some sort of shock, and he now needs a plasma transfusion to keep from internally bleeding.  I wanted to post this to make dachshund owners aware of the dangers of spider bites.  Even though you cannot tell by the way they act (not in all cases anyway) don't assume they're okay.  If the doc hadn't done the clot test, she was going to send him home, and we would have never known.  And..thank goodness we were home to notice the bite in the first place!  Please pray our little Mr. Mauser pulls through, he's a momma's boy and the light of my life.  I'm trying to stay busy all day to keep from being heartbroken over this.  If anyone understands, I know you guys will!

[Jenny G]

Rays and prayers on the way for your little guy! It's so scary when something like that happens to our babies.  Please keep us posted on Mauser's progress.

[Kari]

Mr. Mauser is in our thoughts - You must have been so scared! Please update us on his progress. 

[Barb]

That is so scary - please keep us posted.  Sending rays and a welcome to you too !

[Beth]

Oh my!  Sending rays and prayers that Mr. Mauser will be ok.  What a scary thing to have to go through!

[April]

I can understand about that!  When Cajsa was 6 months od she got into some poison and it caused internal bleeding and we couldn't figure out what was causing it for four days.  She was in the hospital overnight and when they took blood they noticed she wasn't clotting as fast as she could so a clot test was done.  That was what told us for sure what we were dealing with.  It was very scary although she was on IV fluids and vit. K as well as Prednisone as well as a few other things (I don't remember now.)  She made it through although it did take a while for her to get back to her normal playful self. 
Rays are on the way to you and your furbaby that he gets better ASAP!

[edelweiss]

Hello everyone!  I'm still trying to figure out these boards, I've never done this before, and am learning with trial and error.  What a cool place to talk to all the other hundie fanatics like me!  I'm not alone?     I hadn't checked all day as I was busy picking up the pup.  He's SO happy to be home.  I held him like a little baby on his back in a blanky all the way home, and he was passed out from the benedryl.  He's been asleep all day, and the cottage cheese and rice diet the doc ordered was devoured ravenously.  His nose is still really red, here's hoping it heals well without a major scar.  Given that's the only tail tell sign of what happened though, I'll take it and thank my lucky stars.  Thanks for all the support, it worked! :thumb:

[drew]

Glad he's doing well. Nice cozy sweater he's got. Penny doesn't tolerate clothing well.