Eric's StoryIt was 9:00 AM on a Saturday and we were ready to go to the Oklahoma State Fair Llama Exposition. We went out to check the llamas once again before we left and found Delightfully Pais-Lee cushed in the pasture with a swollen face. She had snake bite marks on the left side of her nose and her breathing was raspy and labored. We immediately called our animal clinic and discovered our vet was out of town and the other vet could not get out until after 12:00 Noon due to surgery. But the vet on call asked if we could bring her into the office.  By 9:15, we had the trailer hooked up and ready to go. Pais-Lee followed our other female into the barn. I backed the trailer up to the entrance while Christa captured Pais-Lee with a lead rope around her neck, her face was too swollen for a halter. Eric pulled and Christa pushed and we somehow got a 350 lb. unwilling llama loaded, adrenaline I guess!
 At 9:30 we arrived at the clinic - - our Jeep could not go fast enough, but we made it. The vet was seeing family pets. The receptionist told the vet we had arrived, but the initial attitude was "everyone's pet is an emergency." Meanwhile, Pais-Lee's nose and airways were swelling closed by the minute.
Christa got on the phone from the receptionist's desk with Tracy Pearson because she has had experience with snake bite. Tracy was able to give a list of procedures and medications. I got demanding and loud with the receptionist, the more she acted like this was routine. I got even louder when the vet came out and said, "Who's next" and took a dog back to be seen. "HELLO?!" I thought - - - - We have an animal that could die from lack of breathing and he's seeing a dog for an appointment (obviously not life or death). I went outside and cooled off and came back in and apologized to the receptionist. (I am not a loud, demanding person normally, but I was scared for Pais-Lee.) By this time it was 9:40 and the vet finally looked at Pais-Lee, shortly after I apologized. Was he testing us to see what kind of people we were?  He saw her in the trailer and immediately went to get nose tubes and needles and thread. He inserted the tube in her right nostril (opposite side from the bite) and sutured it in place so it would not drop out or get pulled into her airways. He said the anti venom was $350 per vial and that she would need 3 to 5 vials. But, he only had one on hand and was uncertain how quickly he could get additional vials. Besides, the vet said, if we did not know when she was bitten, it might not do much good - - - so we decided against it. Pais-Lee was given lactated ringers via IV to hydrate her. By this time, she was drooling a bloody mucus and losing a lot of fluids. The IV would help in preventing hypovolemic shock caused from low blood pressure due to the fluid loss. The vet did a good job in shaving the neck and finding the vein to insert the catheter for the IV. She was given 4-5 liters (bags) until her drool turned mostly clear and frothy. He did not want to do more harm than good by getting her blood pressure too high with too many fluids. During this time, she was given 6cc of penicillin at 4:00 PM.
We stayed with her all day except for a fast food run. The vet rechecked her at 8:30. Christa returned to the trailer with instructions from Tracy: (1) Tube the nose to keep airway open.
(2) Give antibiotics, but no steroids
(3) Ketifin to reduce swelling and relieve pain
(4) Anti venom The vet read the instructions and went for the shots after asking her weight. She received 5cc of Penicillin, 3 ½ cc of Ketifin and a tetanus shot. We moved Pais-Lee to a pen, but she was most reluctant to leave her trailer. After getting her situated, we asked for water and a fan. It was in the high 90's and low 100's. It was now 10:40 PM and we went home for a radio, at Tracy's suggestion. While at home we looked for snaked, fed and checked the animals and picked up a fax from Tracy on a snake bite article. We grabbed two comfy folding chairs and at 11:30 we were back at the vet's. We tuned the radio to classical jazz. He said he used classical to calm dairy cows at his family's farm and went into his office to digest the article. Upon his return, he asked us how aggressive we wanted to get - - answer - - - anything goes! Sunday morning, Pais-Lee was actually worse. Her eyes were swollen shut and she was blinking red tears - she was blind. Blood was still oozing from her mouth and bite area. More penicillin and Ketafin was given and a blood sample was taken. We had the norms and her CBC and panel from the sales exam to compare to. Her platelet count and hemoglobin levels were good. Her eyes were treated with eye ointment and flushings. Water was given orally by a syringe, food crushed and made into gruel and given by a syringe - all this was done until she could eat and drink on her own. Her nose tube had to be cleaned frequently until the swelling subsided and was removed. Pais-Lee's total improvement took two weeks. Three weeks after her return to her home, she had an ultrasound - - positive! A few months later, Pais-Lee birthed a beautiful (and healthy) baby girl! Tracy's StoryOscar de la Renta of PPR, died from 2 copperhead bites in one year  Hi! I'm Tracy Pearson and I'll jump in and finish. Eric and Christa labored through this ordeal day and night with Pais-Lee. The phone lines between Oklahoma and Georgia were hot! Poisonous snake bite is nothing to fool around about. You must get treatment immediately. We have had one bite this year - - Eric and Christa had to deal with a rattlesnake bite. We have rattlesnakes as well, but mostly copperheads. Treatment is still the same, but rattlesnake is worse. We treated our copperhead bite with 1cc of Banamine per 100 lbs. immediately. 1cc of Polyflex per 50 lbs. for 3 to 5 days and anti venom, via IV, by the vet one time only. The dose of anti venom is one vial per 100-150 lbs. The anti venom cuts the healing time by half. We keep several vials on hand just in case. If they are not used in one year, they expire and the vials are turned into the vet. They are replaced at no charge, with new vials. The initial investment is the hard part but it's worth every cent. Repeated bites to the same llama in a year's time can prove much more serious.
Please inform your vets that snake bite in llamas is much more serious than in dogs. Snake bite is different in llamas and must not be treated the same as a dog being bitten. Communicate any information with your vet that could prove helpful.  Rattlesnakes and copperheads are pit vipers. They have retractable front fangs, heat seeking pits between the nostrils and eyes and triangular heads. Puncture wounds can generally be seen having serum and bloody discharge along with a rapid onset of swelling. There is a progression of swelling. Some bites are more severe than others because the snake controls the amount of venom injected. Blood profiles and platelet counts must be monitored by the vet. The llama is in real danger up to five days!
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