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man gets sick sucking venom from dog
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by tigers9 on May 22, 2009
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http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2009/05/21/news/wyoming/4f9fffc32853b474872575be000198ee.txt
FRIDAY MAY 22, 2009 :: Last modified: Thursday, May 21, 2009 10:05 PM MDT
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Snakes on the plains
Bobby Jenkins spends time with his Labradors named Tanker Truck (black) and Kody (chocolate). "Tank" was bitten on the nose recently by a rattlesnake and Jenkins sucked out the venom. (Courtesy)
By JOAN BARRON
Star-Tribune capital bureau
CHEYENNE -- You remember the movie scene.
The boy cries out when he is bitten on the leg by a rattlesnake. A man runs up, whips off his belt and wraps it around the boy's leg. He pulls out his pocket knife and cuts an "x " into the bite mark. He sucks out venom from the wound and spits into the grass again and again.
The boy and man smile at each other.They are OK.
The procedure is what Bobby Jenkins' grandfather told him an earlier generation of people did when they were bitten by a rattler.
Jenkins, 50, who lives on Shimic ranch near Hawk Springs in Goshen County, followed his grandfather's advice more or less when his oversized, 11-month-old black Labrador named Tanker Truck (Tank for short) was bit on the nose by a rattlesnake on May 15.
Jenkins was outside with his three labs when the yellow lab, Emmy, ran under some equipment but quickly backed out. His chocolate lab wouldn't go near the spot.
The youngster, Tank, dove in.
Jenkins heard the rattlesnake and saw Tank bounce back. He grabbed a shovel and killed the snake.
Then he saw that Tank had two fang marks on the top of his nose, which was bleeding.
"It was 20 minutes to town and I knew he would not make it. So I grabbed his nose and started sucking the rattlesnake poison out of the top of his nose and spit it on the ground." Jenkins said.
He called 911 and asked the dispatcher to call his mother, Pat Shimic, and tell her what happened and to go to the veterinarian for anti-venom serum.
Jenkins then flagged down a neighbor who gave him and Tank a ride to town.
Along the way he spotted his mother's car, and she took Jenkins and the dog to the vet in Torrington.
By this time Tank's head had ballooned to three times its normal size. The vet at the Goshen County veterinary clinic, Jenkins said, was surprised the dog was still alive.
After his dog received an anti-venom shot, Jenkins and his mother shopped for groceries to take back to the ranch.
"My heart started beating really, really fast and I had a cold sweat," he said. He and his mother headed for the hospital emergency room.
"It was awful," Pat Shimic said Thursday. "I could tell he was ready to pass out. He was turning white."
At the emergency room, a nurse told them sucking out the venom was the wrong thing to do.
Jenkins received four vials of anti-venom medication.
Jenkins and his mother were stunned at the cost -- $3,500 per vial.
"I thought they were joking," his mother said."I thought they meant $35."
Jenkins said he is sure Tank would have died had he not sucked out the venom.
"It was just instinct," he said. "I saved the dog and I saved myself."
A spokesman at the hospital in Torrington said Jenkins was the second snakebite patient this season.
Jenkins said there appear to be more rattlesnakes out this year than before.
"They are killing snakes right and left up here," he said.
Because of the snakes, he lets the three dogs outside the house only long enough to relieve themselves.
Apparently Jenkins' case is unusual.
"I have never heard of this happening to a dog owner," Dr. Tim Hackett, a veterinarian and associate professor of emergency and critical care service at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, said in an e-mail.
"I have heard stories about the dangers of sucking venom into your mouth but am not aware of any published cases," he wrote.
"No first aid is generally recommended. Just get to a vet/physician as soon as possible," Hackett added.
Zach Walker, a herpetologist with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said only a handful of people die from snake bites every year.
The prairie rattlesnake, he said, is not as poisonous as other types such as the cottonmouth.
Moreover, a lot of snakes don't give a full dose of venom.
"They save it for use on prey," Walker said."Some people get dry bites."
Harassing a large snake is really dangerous, he said.
He said he also has heard that when a dog gets bitten by a rattlesnake and survives, the dog is henceforth immune to the venom.
Although Walker did not know of any complaints about rattlesnakes, he said they are more in evidence at this time of year.
"Since it warmed up they're coming out of their dens," he said. "They're all over the place if they're near a den."
Contact capital bureau reporter Joan Barron at 307-632-1244 or joan.barron@trib.com.
<[rattlesnake bite,Robert Jenkins,Hawk Springs,Pat Shimic,Tanker Truck,black lab,labrador,yellow lab,chocolate lab,anti-venom serum,Dr. Tim Hackett,Zach Walker,herpetologist,joan barron,May 22 2009 ]>
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