Snakebite!

It's springtime, the sun's out, so are the snakes. It's time to get your rattlesnake vaccine.

Around here, that's the Paso Robles area, there are plenty of rattlers, and again the first word of advice is avoidance. Keeping dogs leashed and enrolling them in rattlesnake avoidance classes are still the best ways to protect them from being bitten.

What is this rattlesnake shot all about?

The vaccine stimulates a dog to create his own antibodies to rattlesnake venom that will protect him from bites that happen in the future. The vaccine causes the dog to make its own antibodies against the protein structure of the rattler's venom. These antibodies remain on standby ready to neutralize the deadly venom if your dog is bitten by a rattler. However, the new antibodies take ten days after injection to be produced in your pet's body, so giving a vaccination after your dog is bitten is not helpful because the venom can kill the pet in less than six hours.

Antivenin, the other snake shot is different, we need that after the pet is bitten. These are antibodies made from a horse injected into a dog after he is bitten by a venomous snake. We'll discuss that shortly. But right now it's protection time; we need to push the vaccine.