After dog was bitten by rattlesnake in B.C. Interior, owner found only 1 vet clinic carried antivenom
Barry Stabeck had to drive 2 hours from Kamloops to Kelowna to treat his dog’s bite
A Kamloops resident's daily outing with his dog turned into a much longer saga when the animal was bitten by a rattlesnake and the only available antivenom was in a city hours away.
Barry Stabeck was walking near Tranquille Creek when Boomer, his Labrador retriever-great Pyrenees cross, suddenly became lethargic and laid down.
"When he tried to get up, he had one paw in the air," Stabeck said. "Then I noticed a couple of blood draws on his lower paws."
Stabeck realized the animal had been bitten by a venomous snake and rushed him to the nearest animal clinic in Kamloops.
"They didn't have any anti-venom," he told Shelley Joyce, the host of CBC's Daybreak Kamloops.
None of the veterinary clinics in Kamloops carry the antivenom, although the hospital has some for human use.
Rebeccah Steward, a doctor at Kamloops Veterinary Clinic, said the antivenom is very difficult to come by because it has to be specially ordered from the United States and imported under strict regulation.
"There is a lot of red tape," she said.
Only one clinic in the Interior carries the medicine for animals: Fairfield Animal Hospital in Kelowna.
Every use monitored
"I understand the panic for an owner to think they have to travel there," Steward said.
"But there is a bit of a misconception out there that without having this antivenom that the animals are going to die but that is not the case."
Without an antidote, recovery is longer, more painful and more expensive because of the extra time spent in care in a vet clinic.
Stabeck said he spent about $2,400 on vet bills, the antivenom and other costs.
Dr.Steven Ganton, from Fairfield Animal Hospital where Boomer was treated, said it took years before his clinic had access to the antivenom.
"We had to go through quite a bit of paperwork with the Canadian government and the [Canadian Food Inspection Agency]," he said.
"We have to sign off on every use, right down to the address of where it will be used."
Snakebites are not uncommon, Ganton said, and his clinic has treated about six cases so far this year.
With files from Daybreak Kamloops.