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This is one of our mares that foaled 2 weeks before she got bitten by a
snake. She was bitten by a copperhead this past year, we thought it
might help others if we put some pictures up and tell what we did. She
was bitten on the left nostril which closed off very fast within less
than 10 minutes. Her face swelled very fast and she had a difficult time
breathing out of the right nostril as it as starting to close off. I
cut a piece of fish tank tubing and lube it with K-Y (or water based
lubricant jelly then pushed it up her nose. This is necessary because
horses DO NOT breath out of there mouths. After I had the tube in place I
taped it with surgical tape around her face as you can see int the
picture. When I pushed the tube up her nose I had to force it because
the airway was closing off. You can see the blood at the end of the tube
by the tape. I left about 3-4 inches sticking out of her nostril and
this tube is about 10 - 12 inches in length. I then injected her with
penicillin that i bought at Tractor Supply 3cc IM Intra Musclar in her
hip. Follow the instructions on the side of the bottle very carefully
NOT TO OVERDOSE ! ! I also injected her with 80mg of Depo-Medrol IM in
her hip. You have to get this from your vet. Also good to have given her
would have been banamine but did not have any at this time but do now
which you can get from your vet. For 3 days we gave her aspirin 3 tabs
each 325mg dissolved in water 3 times each day with penicillin 3cc IM
twice a day. This was to reduce the swelling and fever she had. We
forced fluids by syringe down her to her her hydrated. We also mushed up
her sweet feed into soup like liquid and gave that to her through a
turkey baster we got at wal-mart for 3 days. This all took place about
8PM and tried to contact a vet and could not get one to call us back. We
finally got a call about 10PM from a vet. He said we saved her life the
mare would have suffocated if we had not put the tube down her nose. As
you can see in the pic the foals head and ear are in the corner of the
pic and he nursed the entire time and the poison did not past through
the milk.
