Dog fights snakebite with local vet's help

Kelly Urban

Freckles is one tough pooch. The 3-year-old beagle, with the help of a State College veterinarian, fought the battle of her young life after being bitten by a timber rattlesnake in Cambria County.

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James and Edna Yurasek’s beagle, Freckles, survived a snakebite.

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The ordeal began on the morning of June 11.

“I took her for a walk on top of Tollgate Road on Game Commission land, and we were walking in high grass when a snake came out and bit her twice,” said James Yurasek, of Johnstown. “Freckles was walking in front of me and the snake was shedding, so there was no rattle warning, and it must have felt the heat from the dog and just struck her in the shoulder blade.”

From that moment, it was a race against time to save the canine’s life.

After pulling the snake off the dog, Yurasek kept it to show the veterinarian. “It was a five-mile drive back down to the house, so I was driving with the snake in one hand,” he said. “When I got home, I put it in a bucket with a lid.”

No vets in the immediate Johnstown area stock the antivenom needed, said Yurasek’s wife, Edna. The nearest place was Metzger Animal Hospital in State College.

“We tried everyone and nobody could help us. Even 911 had no idea what to do,” she said.

Freckles was in bad shape. She was going limp and her breathing was getting shallower. They headed to State College. Metzger staff, alerted to the situation, had the antivenom ready and administered it as soon as the dog was out of the Yuraseks’ car.

The veterinarian, Dr. John Griffiths, said Freckles’ condition was very serious. “I was really worried about her,” he said. “She did not look good.” She had bruising, swelling, and dangerous blood clotting problems. Her condition, Griffiths said, was horribly painful.

In such situations, getting early treatment, within 10 or 12 hours, is crucial, he said. “She was close to needing a transfusion,” he said.

James Yurasek said she was put on a morphine pump. “It was all very touch and go for the first 12 hours,” he said.

Along with the morphine, Freckles received five other shots to fight infection, two IVs and a catheter. After four days in the hospital, Freckles was released and now is home with three other beagles owned by the Yuraseks.

“She’s doing wonderfully, and her gentle personality is back,” Edna Yurasek said.

The vet bills added up to about $2,600, but the Yuraseks aren’t complaining. “What are you going to do?” James Yurasek asked. “They are our pets and we have to take care of them.”