Adders are all over the place and apparently this year they are very prevalent.
I live on an estate of 103 houses where we have approx 20 acres of fields and I have seen more adders this year than ever before. We quite often see them squashed on the road so they must live in the fields. Terrifies me that one of the many dogs who live here will get bitten

I made a mistake in my earlier post but it's too late to change it now. My leg was sore for 2-3 days, not 23 days!

Oh no How sad

Thanks Joto - I did read that last night after I saw the similar threads section at the bottom of the page.

Ditto. I walk, miles every day thru countryside and have, been camping loads and have, never seen adder or grass snake my whole life

I'm no expert on homeopathy so may have phrased it wrong: it's not the vaccination alternative it was made up by her homeopath especially for snake bites. I wouldn't rely on it myself

The Piriton dose I have written down for large dogs is 4-8mg (1-2 tablets) every 8-12 hours.

Thanks Twix. So if he ever gets bitten, 2 Piraton and straight to the vet. I might start carrying some Piraton on walks. I wouldn't bother with a normal dog but Cain is both excessively nosey and accident prone

I keep a pack of Piriton in my backpack just incase, as well as a tub of Infacol (for bloat - again, administer a dose & dash to nearest vet). It has to be the Piriton rather than Piriteze though I think

What is the difference between the two? Also, would own brand non-drowsy antihistamines do the trick too?

More information.

I read in the June issue of DT magazine an article on adders by Richard Allport.

Basically, his advice is :

1. Do not try to suck the poison out whatever you do!
2. Get to the nearest vet.
3. Give Rescue Remedy or Dr Petals Crisis remedy - a couple of drops on the dog's tongue or lips and repeat every 5 mins up to an hour or until you reach the vet's.

(Of course he is homoeopathy vet).

He also said that anti-venom, while helping to speed up the reduction in the swelling at the bite area, does not speed up recovery otherwise. Most dogs take about 5 days to recover completely - whether given antivenom or not.

Sadly a small number of dogs doe die as a result of an adder bite, but the use of antivenom doesn't seem to give them a better chance of survival.

Of 985 cases of adder bites that the Veterinary Poisons Information Service has recorded between 1985 and 2010, 3 per cent of those that were given antivenom died and 4.8 per cent of those not given antivenom died - so not a significant difference.