Rattle Snake Bite - Return From The Vet

Since the swelling has gotten worse, the vet has concluded that the bite definitely contained venom. Now the good news is that they believe Orange Boy only encountered a small portion of venom. Had he encountered more, it would have certainly killed him. Orange Boy's stats are all good. While hot, he is not running a fever, his heart rate is normal and we are finding no problems with his respiratory system. Unfortunately, Orange Boy is far from being out of the woods. The swelling could still spread to his throat, in which case, Orange Boy may not be able to recover.

According to our vet, their has been a great deal of rattle snake bites this year, and everyone is low, if not completely out of stock of anti-venom. Our particular vet is down to one last vial. He has checked with human hospitals and pharmacies to see if he could obtain human anti-venom, and in addition to the human pharmacies being short of stock, human anti-venom costs $2200.00 as opposed to animal anti-venom which costs $750.00.

As a result, everyone is holding off administering anti-venom until absolutely necessary. Orange Boy was given two injections of a cortisone like medication, one intramuscularly, and one intravenously. The injections should reduce the swelling. If however Orange Boy gets worse over night, or the swelling moves to his throat, we will have to rush him back into the ER. Our vet will be calling to check in on Orange Boy first thing tomorrow morning. In the meantime, we are to make sure that we keep ice cubes in Orange Boy's water, and to make sure he drinks the cold water to keep the swelling from moving into his throat. We are also to apply a hot pack to the bite itself. The bite has been draining on it's own which is a good sign, but the hot pack should help speed up the process...Needless to say Orange Boy is not very happy at the moment. Fortunately, when we arrived home from the vet, the package Mr. Hendrix sent was waiting for us. Both Moki and Orange Boy where very excited to see what was in it...

Unfortunately you will have to wait until our next update to find out just what they received, so stay tuned...and please continue to pray that the swelling does not move down to Orange Boy's throat. Momma bean is going to go now so she can sleep for a few hours while her boyfriend remains up with Orange Boy. They will then change shifts at midnight and she will watch Orange Boy the remaining of the night. He still needs to be monitored 24/7.
P.S.

Eli made this awesome banner for Orange Boy:

and Missy and KC made this one:

Thanks Everyone!