Brown Snake Bite in Horses

thebundychick · Brown Snake Bite in Horses

In Australia, we have a pretty deadly snake called a "Brown Snake"

it will kill a human fairly quickly. (20 minutes i think on average). One of the kids I used to ride with, I introduced to Parelli, and who affectionately calls me "Miss Parelli" found her horse last week with what the vet has since diagnosed with a Brown Snake Bite. His nose was bleeding, and he was very sick.

He spent about 4 days heavily sedated, on IV fluids, urinating blood.

He had liver and Kidney failure, and his heartrate was somewhere around 15 beats every 10 seconds.

The vet said that my friends horse is one of the toughest he'd ever seen. And that he personally hadn't seen a horse survive a brown snake bite.

Basically, he's not quite out of the woods, he's a lot better than what he was, he's not sedated, he's not on IV fluids anymore, but as the vet says, he has a very VERY long road to recovery ahead of him.

He had pretty serious liver / kidney failure, and he has obviously lost *a lot* of weight.

Are their articles around that address rehabilitating a horse with such an illness? Does anyone out there have any experience with snake bites in horses, what feeds / treatments / suppliments can I suggest in order to boost the horses immune system / kidney / liver function.

Clarissa

Bundy don’t start anything too soon. The liver has to regrow which might take weeks. The whole body will be focused on that & unable to cleanse his blood & provide minerals & enzymes well enough for ages yet. Also if there was kidney damage many herbs etc will become poisons because his kidneys can’t work properly to rid the body of the toxic elements of herbs. Herbs work because they have certain small toxic properties. It’s just the level of toxicity that changes them from healer to killer.

Probably no grains, but soft grass hay, easily digested pellets, gentle existence with a little exercise, mild antibiotics (maybe natural) to ease the internal germ burden & soothing naturopathy with lots of sleep. Let the horse repair itself for a while until body system functions get better. Lymph drainage massages might help but I wouldn’t go near any sort of purgative type herb. Supplements only work if the system is healthy enough to process them properly. A blood builder might be beneficial.

People often have recurring infections or open wounds from some snake or lizard bites. I’m not sure if brown snake falls into that category but in anycase people take many months to recover from snake bite. Often it’s the antivenin that does more damage. Cellular damage is obviously extensive so a pelletized feed that is high in the ‘normal’ minerals & vitamins would do more good than specific supplements in the early stages. There may also be brain damage so make allowances for things like new shying or nervousness or light sensitivity & similar or flipping out in stressful situations. The site of the bite may be very painful for a long time & the affected nerves may never settle down properly again.

I know of working dogs that have had snake bite (most likely not brown) & never been the same after. Basically they end up a mess & easily get sick.

The reason I feed Sonny Mitavite Promita is it is supposedly the most balanced supplement type feed on the market. It is actually a supplement rather than a general pellet feed. It’s got a lot more of the goodies in than ordinary pellet feeds. It’s twice the price too but a bag lasts him a month in winter & 2 mths in summer. Maybe you could try that to start with along with something like gumnuts or senior which are easily digested until his vitals & system are much better then start introducing the medical herbs & such. It certainly got Sonny’s weight & general health back up to speed early last year when I started feeding it to him. I started with only half the recommended rate to feed him & have backed it off from there making it even more economical. Now he only gets a handful daily.

I hope the horse recovers well without ongoing issues.