Our mighty little rat terrier, Spartacus, finally met his match tonight. He was bitten by a rattlesnake around 8:30pm in our back yard. I heard him yelp and went over to see what was up, and saw a fat diamondback curled up behind our shed. I grabbed him, ran over to my wife who took him with her cousin to the nearest animal hospital. I ran back to the shed, grabbed a shovel to kill the bastard, but he'd already gone under the shed. I could see him through a hole but it wasn't big enough to get the shovel in. Since we live in the city - albeit on the outskirts - I couldn't shoot the damn thing with a firearm, so I grabbed my BB gun. Yeah. Fat lot of good that did. Just pissed it off and it snuck further under to where I couldn't see it.
Sparty was given antivenom and put on an IV at the hospital, and my wife came back home. They said they'd want him there for a couple of days to watch him.
Well, they just called about twenty minutes ago to say he wasn't breathing on his own... then ten minutes later they called to say he'd passed.
Spartacus was my wife's special little buddy. She took him everywhere, and he'd already been through so much, having fought through a parvo infection when he was just a few months old. He was a tough little trooper, but that snake was just too much. He topped the scales at five pounds max, so his little body didn't have much chance. We did all that we could getting him to the vet ASAP, but it wasn't meant to be. We're going to miss him terribly.
So long, little soldier. Rest in peace.
9 comments:
KILL the snake! Dammn I'm sorry to hear that.
So sorry to hear about your loss.
You need to enlist Will to help out with killing the snake. I am still shocked, I can't believe it. Poor Julie...
I'm so sorry about your pup.
Dude,
I am sorry to hear about that. Is it the same one that is in the pic between your feet (under the heading "About me")?
I'm with Dirtcrashr, kill the damn snake. Smoke it out and lop off its head.
Yup, same guy. He and my wife have been darn near inseparable since we got him. He couldn't abide sitting by himself - always had to find a lap. Fancied himself as cock o' the walk, too - he used to bug the crap out of the bigger dogs. That guy's been everywhere dogs are allowed, and most places they aren't (he was small enough to hide in a tote bag on the beach or in stores). I used to hate little dogs, but Spartacus sold me on them. I've lost dogs before, and its always been sad, but losing this little fella so suddenly and before his time was way more traumatic than I expected. I still half expect to see him scoot around the corner of the hallway to greet me when I come home. As bad as I feel about his loss, its at least an order of magnitude worse for my wife. This was devastating to her.
Sorry to hear about spartacus...but rattlesnakes!...I've a lot to get use to it seems.
I'm so sorry!
dadgummit! I've been so out-of-it after losing my dog on the 1st, and I'm so sorry I'm late to tell you and especially your wife that I'm so sad to hear about the loss of Spartacus. But if he'd had a choice, he would have died with his boots on, defending hearth and home. You must avenge him.
Cut off the snake head with a shovel and hang the carcass on the shed wall. Damn his eyes.
Bless your wife in her time of grief. I wish I didn't know the feeling.
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