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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFamily Dog Takes Rattlesnake Bite For 7-Year-Old
TAMPA (FOX 13) - His owners call him the perfect dog. Haus is a 2-year-old German Shepard, and usually 68 pounds of loyalty and love, especially when it comes to his 7-year-old, Molly DeLuca. After Haus possibly saved Molly's life, he's fighting for his own against deadly rattlesnake venom. 102
"The bond that they have created in a short time has been unbelievable," Molly's mother, Donya DeLuca said.
Wednesday afternoon, DeLuca said Molly was in the back yard with her grandma and Haus.
Photo Family dog takes rattlesnake bite for 7-year-old
"She saw him jump back, and go forward, and jump back and go forward," described DeLuca. "He was just, kind of, holding his ground."
DeLuca said they quickly realized Haus was staring down a rattlesnake.
"Next thing we know is, there's blood and he was limping and crying," she said.
Vets identified three snakebites. On Thursday night, Haus' health was still touch-and-go.
"Just based on temperament, he was standing up for my daughter, he was standing between, he didn't budge," said DeLuca. "He kept taking hits, she was on the other side of him, and so was my mom."
The snake managed to inject Haus with so much venom, vets were giving him a steady drip of antivenin, instead of the more typical one or two doses.
"I feel really grateful for the dog," said DeLuca. "It is frightening to think it could have been my daughter. I don't know if she would have made it."
The DeLuca's are thankful, but fearful, their hero won't get a welcome home.
"I couldn't even sleep last night. I barely slept because it is bittersweet. I am doing everything I can. I feel like I owe it to him to keep trying to save him."
The family set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for Haus' mounting veterinary bills, which, they said already reached $10,000 Thursday evening.
https://www.gofundme.com/savehaus
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http://www.fox13news.com/news/local-news/140498960-story
lpbk2713
(42,757 posts)I hope to hell he makes it.
Edit: Per the GoFundMe ... any excess in donations will go to a worthy cause.
PDittie
(8,322 posts)Purveyor
(29,876 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)if I ever get some property (I want about 10 to 20 acres in the country), I plan on getting two.
mindem
(1,580 posts)It felt good to donate and help.
tabasco
(22,974 posts)I hope you recover and think about getting another baby from the local shelter. So many good doggies need good homes.
mindem
(1,580 posts)I couldn't have wanted a more loyal and loving friend. She was a blessing for my mother too, I was her care giver, I lost my mom March 7th. I'm having a rather rough start to the new year. I am a performer and have a ton of shows this summer, when my schedule settles down I am off to the shelter to get a new forever friend.
You sound like a really great person.
renate
(13,776 posts)tom_kelly
(959 posts)What a blessing you were to both your mother and your pup. The next shelter dog will be just as fortunate to have you too.
tabasco
(22,974 posts)They are an amazing species!
trof
(54,256 posts)Studs, Max, Gypsy, and Nasha.
Nasha was a rescue.
All highly intelligent.
Charmingly playful.
Fiercely loyal.
Protective to the last breath.
Damn I miss them.
We're geezers who travel a lot now and just can't give them the attention they need.
Our daughter, who was raised with them, says "Every time I see one it feels like I'm seeing a sibling."
It's a long story, but Max kept us from being burglarized (or worse) twice.
Boy, did HE earn his keep.
Hope Haus pulls through.
intheflow
(28,464 posts)For all its cruelty, humanity really can be beautiful and generous sometimes.
Purveyor
(29,876 posts)with Haus when I watched the vid.
Will be giving my Riley extra hugs & lovin when we crawl into bed tonight!
ailsagirl
(22,896 posts)That's fantastic!!
Beautiful dog.
yourpicturehere
(54 posts)that dogs rarely die from American pit viper bites. He said that he has had one die on the table that was bitten in the jugular and the anticoagulant in the venom made it impossible to stop the bleeding.
We have had four dogs bitten by water moccasins ( I had a neighbor ask me where there was any water. I told her "the creek, the ponds,etc." The first two were bitten on the same day. I noticed someone whining, but every time I would go look, they would be standing there wagging their tails. I finally noticed two tiny (I mean tiny) fangs marks on the girl's face. We went to the vet.
It gets better...another one of the girls developed a small abscess on her back. I got it to pop and put Neosporin on it and didn't think anything of it, til it spread in a weird way. Finally looked on the internet and she had all the symptoms of a water moccasin bite. Back to the vet. (Mind you, it had to have been about a week before the abscess showed up.)
The fourth one was last summer when another one of the girls developed a limp. Now, when your dogs have a quarter acre to play in, sometimes they get overzealous and hurt themselves. I went all over her and could find nothing, til about a week later when the same type of abscess showed up. Back to the vet.
Except for the first dog that died of old age, they are all still alive and healthy. One is 13, and frisky and FAT.
The moccasins only seem to show up when it gets dry. I do believe that they are crossing from the creek to the pond and that damn quarter acre is in their way. My husband put mothballs all around the dog yard and under their deck to run the snakes off. It works. Go into Lowe's and smell their "snake repellent", it's mothballs.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I hope he makes a full recovery and lives happily ever after!