Snakebit!

It happened while Jeff and I were eating dinner. When we were done, we went outside to call our dog in and he didn't come. Our first sign that something was not right was the pile of vomit near our vehicles. Then we saw Harvey.  He was laying in the grass near the shop. When we called his name, he got up, took a few very wobbly steps, and then layed back down.  He had huge strings of ookum hanging from his jowls. Clearly, something was wrong.

After further inspection, we discovered a puncture would in his right jowl and he had already begun swelling. His eyes were a bit cloudy and he was definitely woozy.  We deduced he had been bit by a rattlesnake.  I did my best to comfort him while Jeff called the vet-- we would need to take him in right away.  We loaded Harvey into his kennel in the back of the Vibe and drove to Havre.  Normally a 60 minute drive, we made it in 50.  The whole way there we just kept talking to him in happy, soothing voices and trying to keep him alert.

Luckily, my husband had the foresight to get Harvey vaccinated against rattlesnake venom earlier this spring.  Where we live, prairie rattlesnakes are prevalent-- it was probably only a matter of time before Harvey had his first run-in.  We are lucky to have spotted Harvey's bite relatively quickly and get him to the vet as quickly as we could.  Harvey is staying overnight tonight at the vet and we will likely hear from them first thing tomorrow morning. At this point, thanks largely to the vaccine, there is very little chance he will take a turn for the worse. He was already starting to perk up a bit at the vet and even wagged his tail with the vet herself walked up to him-- we saw that as a great sign our happy-go-lucky Vizsla would be fine in the end.

Harvey, our Vizsla (Hungarian Pointer).  Photo taken the first day I lived with Jeff, June 1, 2011.
Harvey is "pointing" at, well, who knows what!  He's a good dog.