Gorefield resident urges people to be vigilant when walking their dogs as her pet makes slow recovery after being in critical condition from snake bite

A dog owner is urging people to be cautious after her pet was left in a critical condition as a result of a snake bite.

Ros and Ethan Duffell, who live in Gorefield, want other owners to be aware of what they are going through after their dog was bitten by a snake on a walk.

Last Saturday just after 7.30am, they were walking their two dogs – Monty and Reacher – on the grassy footpath that runs along Decoy Road in their village.

They said the dogs were on long leads and were not in the long grass at the side of the path. On one occasion, they noticed Monty, a six-year-old Irish Wolfhound, hop on his back legs, but he carried on walking normally.

However, the following afternoon, Monty started running a temperature - so Ros and Ethan rang their online vet. Because they could not find any noticeable wounds or swellings, the vet put it down to maybe a reaction to the heat.

Ros said: “We kept him cool and comfortable, and he slept most of the night. On the Monday morning though, he still had a high temperature, and he started limping on his left back leg, so I ran my hand down and could feel a hard, lumpy swelling just under the knee, and it was warm.

“Fearing the worst – giants are prone to cancer – I phoned our vet straight away and we got him in the car to get up there.

“He was admitted to hospital - initially, they thought maybe a grass seed had penetrated or that he had an infection in his body that had burst out of his leg.

“He was in an incredible amount of pain, high heart rate, was running hot, and was just very unhappy.

“As the day and night went on, nothing changed but running through the list of options, a snake bite was considered, and we gave our approval to administer anti-venom (AV) if they needed to through the night.”

That turned out to be the right decision, because last Tuesday at 1am, Monty’s health went downhill and they had to administer the AV.

Ros said: “It has helped a little, but he is in critical condition because of the delay, which isn’t the vet’s fault.

“He was on anti-inflammatories for another condition, which delayed and masked the symptoms.

“But this delay has potentially caused necrosis, and now it is just a waiting game to see if the anti-venom, antibiotics, and pain medication help.”

They said: “We didn’t think about the worry of adders so we are so shocked and just want to ensure that other owners are aware.”

Monty is now recovering slowly, and “his leg is looking better too, which is good”, they added.