Dog bitten by venomous snake dies, brought back to life in 'miracle'

When Portia was rushed in to her local vet two weeks ago, she was dead.

One week later she walked out happy and alive, as if nothing had happened.

The dachshund was bitten by a venomous snake at home in Valdora, north of Brisbane, more than two weeks ago.

Kathy Hamer, who is caring for Portia while her father-in-law is in hospital, found the 10-year-old dog on the ground, seizing, and racedher to their local vet.

On the short drive there she stopped breathing.

"She literally had a heartbeat until we pulled up," Ms Hamer said.

When she got Portia inside, there was still no heartbeat, her pupils were dilated, and her tongue was blue.

Beachside Veterinary Surgery director Daniel Capps said they did not know at the time she had been bitten by a snake, but clinical science and Portia's history steered him in the right direction.

"Every snake bite is different, and every dog is different in terms of the reaction to it," Dr Capps said.

"Portia had clotting deficits, meaning she wasn't clotting her blood, and from the history they live in an area with snakes, so it was a high possibility, and she was well treated for tick prevention and all other things."

They got to work to get Portia breathing again.

Ms Hamer, a midwife by trade, helped with CPR initially.

"You just don't think, you just do what you've got to do," she said.

Dr Capps then gave Portia a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart to get it going again.

"We got the heart kick started, we got an IV catheterplaced, and we still provided manual ventilation of compressions until we got that heart rhythm back," Dr Capps said.

"We got a tube down the throat and we started bagging her ventilation exactly like a human would've done."

About 10 minutes after getting her heartbeat back, they were able to start using an antivenin.

"Portia was lucky, snake bites are horrible things in cats and dogs. They don't often go well," Dr Capps said

"She was one of the very, very lucky ones."

The first four days of Portia's treatment were the most intense.

"She had a lot of antibiotics and drug therapy, and she started breathing after 18 hours on her own … then she started oxygen therapy," Dr Capps said.

Portia was released on Saturday, a week after she was admitted.

"It's just a miracle. She was literally dead and they just bought her back," she said.

"You would not know there was a problem, she's running, she's eating, she looks completely normal."

http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/dog-bitten-by-venomous-snake-dies-brought-back-to-life-in-miracle/ar-BBKMQlL?ocid=ientp