Charlie and the snake

As I awoke to the sound of barking today, not unlike other days really because the dogs are usually barking at something but today would be unlike any other. If you are Hank the Cowdog fans this story is going to sound all to familiar to you.

As I was saying Sally Mae...er umm I awoke to the sound of barking. J.Michael aroused quicker than I, ran out to investigate the situation. He quickly gave a report that the dogs had found a snake and not just any snake but a copperhead. I must admit I really did not think that it was a copperhead as we have had false sightings before. J.Michael was quite adimant though and said that Charlie was slinging it in his mouth. I am thinking that this is not good...I then ask J.Michael if the snake was dead and he replied "I think so it has lots of teeth marks in it" but apparently it wasn't because by the time we reached Charlie the snake was gone. Again, I am thinking maybe this was not a copperhead but the infamous "faking death long enough to get away" hognose snake that we have encountered many times in our backyard.

It wasn't long before we had pretty much confirmed it was a poisonous snake of some kind as we found Charlie with his head swelled up like he had eaten a watermelon whole (see pictures above) and it was still in his mouth. He was a little stumbly which gave me great concern so, I ran into the house and put watered down kefir in a suringe(the kind you use to marinate turkeys with) and squirted some in his mouth followed by two children's benedryls (chewable) which I keep on hand only for the dogs. This works for dogs with bee stings as well-another story for another time. Anyway, I didn't have but 2 left and for his size Charlie really needed 4 but I proceeded to grab up some herbal remedies too.

I rubbed clove oil on the puncture wounds...3 total along with thieves spray. I then put some olive leaf tincture in water, using the suringe and gave him several more suringes full of water. By this time he is swelling up nicely...Emily took pictures of course, see above. One of the important things is to give them lots of water to flush out toxins. I also made a poultice of bentonite clay, charcoal, and plantain in mineral oil and held on the wounds. Then I also gave Charlie a suringe of bentonite clay, charcoal and water to draw the poison out from inside and flush it out his system. As I was giving him this I noticed he seemed warm so I reached for my Yarrow and made a tea for him and again gave him this in the suringe. The kids and I prayed over Charlie and waited.

We watched him closely over the next hour and he did not show any signs of worsening so I continued to give him the yarrow tea, bentonite clay water, olive leaf, garlic, and kefir. Amazingly over the next few hours not only was he not getting worse but he was acting like himself and the swelling had gone done considerably. PTL!!!

Some may be thinking...why didn't she just take him to the vet? This did cross my mind especially at the thought of it being a copperhead most likely that bit him. Charlie is almost 10yrs old and has survived some serious illnesses through medical intervention that most dogs do not. I have been working on him for the past 6months to treat him naturally so, I just believed he was strong and that the Lord could heal him through the herbs so that is what I did.

I was called out to the yard again around 3pm when Charlie decided to make sure proper credit was given for his work. He brought us the dead copperhead. Pictured above...he is proud of his work. Mystery solved...it really was a copperhead after all.

I am happy to report that by 8pm , twelve hours later, Charlie is his old self again. He is out on patrol with almost no swelling left at all. He is a good dog and I am so thankful that he rooted out the copperhead and protected us. All in a good days work for the head of the Shiflet Home Security.

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Charlie back to his old self today(24hrs later) with no signs of the previous days incident. Amazing recovery. PTL!!

Okay, I know this post is not about adoption but one day Andrew and Kathlena will love Charlie too and I thought they would appreciate hearing this story. :)