East Hampton Dog bitten by rattlesnake

By Eliza Kruczynski

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    EAST HAMPTON, Connecticut (WFSB) — A scary snake encounter last week landed an East Hampton puppy in the hospital.

Leo, the 3-year-old hound mix, was playing in his backyard when he was bit by a timber rattlesnake, one of the two venomous snakes in Connecticut.

“He’s awesome, he’s like the biggest goofball ever. He just makes your day, he cracks you up,” Leo’s owners said. “He’s Leo, he’s not afraid to be who he is.”

Last Wednesday afternoon, things took a turn for the worse at the Trudell household.

“I heard a loud yelp. There was a rattlesnake crawled up in the vicinity of the yard,” Leo’s dad said.

When that timber rattlesnake bit Leo, he immediately ran away.

“I found him laying in my driveway underneath my truck and he was waiting for me to come down there and find him,” said Leo’s dad. “I knew it was a matter of time. I knew enough about rattlesnakes growing up and learning about them that you have to get them there.”

There are only two venomous snakes in Connecticut, the timber rattlesnake and the copperhead.

“If you are bitten by either of those, either can be fatal. So we had to work quick,” Dr. Matthew Turner, Resuscitation and Critical Care, Pieper Veterinary.

Within an hour of being bitten, Leo was brought to Pieper Veterinary and given two doses of antivenom. He was monitored there for a couple of days.

“I know we live amongst snakes, but a rattlesnake in our own backyard, that hits literally close to home,” said Leo’s mom.

Pieper is one of the few vets in Connecticut that supplies antivenom, and getting the antivenom as soon as possible is key.

“It was tragic, it was tragic what happened. I can tell he’s shaken by it. He’s hesitant to come in his own yard where he felt safe forever,” Leo’s dad said.

The majority of rattlesnake bites happen between April and October. The past few weeks Pieper has seen a couple of bite patients.

“Prevention is key. Prepping your yard to make sure that there’s no habitat where snakes can go,” Leo’s mom said.

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