First, this seems 100% crazy.
Second, I am 98% certain it actually happened.

A guy I know was bit on his foot today by a pretty big Rattlesnake down in central Texas. The guy is in his late fifties and about as red ass as you can possibly get. I am not sure he has ever had a job that did not involve a horse or a cow. Good dude. He gets bit by the rattlesnake that made no noise at all. He didnt even know it was there until after he was bit.

He goes back to his house which is not far at all, takes a stun gun, and shoots himself right on the wound twice. His wife then takes him into the country clinic hospital place that sees rattlesnake bites fairly regularly. He is still in the hospital, now in I think Round Rock or Temple, but has not been given any antivenom. His foot hurts a bunch, but he has shown no signs of the kind of progression you would normally see. Doctors dont know what to think, and they dont think its a dry bite(I kind of lost the story at this point as this happened later in the day. Apparently it is clear there was some venom but not sure how they know that.)

I had never heard or this before, but googled it and apparently it is used quite often in other countries and has been used here. But the AMA thinks its ineffective. Yet there are vets out there that swear by it.

Have any of you heard of this or know anyone that has tried it, people or dogs? Did he just get lucky with a dry bite?

Curious to know what yall think of this.

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But the AMA thinks its ineffective.

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Maybe this is a simple misstatement, but you lost me right here. The AMA is an advocacy group. I doubt they would offer an opinion on such an issue.

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But the AMA thinks its ineffective.

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Maybe this is a simple misstatement, but you lost me right here. The AMA is an advocacy group. I doubt they would offer an opinion on such an issue.

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Its a misstatement. I read it in a scientists blog. Its not the AMA. My bad.

I have heard that anti-venom is not being used much any more. Turns out the survival rates of people bitten by North American snakes is about the same if they get anti-venom or not. And it's very expensive, and has a short shelf life.

So that may account for that part of the story

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I have heard that anti-venom is not being used much any more. Turns out the survival rates of people bitten by North American snakes is about the same if they get anti-venom or not. And it's very expensive, and has a short shelf life.

So that may account for that part of the story

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Not a herpetologist, but:

From what I understand, Crofab isn't used as much as you think for snake bites due to the adverse side effects, such as heart failure and death. Most of the time the patient is just monitored and only in severe cases when the risks are worth it, will they administer Antivenom.

Dry bites do happen..... I was tagged buy a water moccasin when I was about 12 on my left thumb but it was a dry bite. Venom is a very valuable resource for these snakes and as the snakes mature, they learn this and often become more conservative with it.

This is why young venomous snakes often get the reputation of being more venomous. They are no more potent than their older counterparts they can just lack the experience and understanding to ration their venom.

Again, zoo guy or someone else will weigh in on this with much better facts, but this is what I have read, watched, or experienced. May not all be right.

I treated myself for a brown recluse bite in 96 using a stun gun. It was suggested by a herpetologist friend of ours. Basically 3 or 4 shocks to the bite for as long as I could stand. Probably no more than 3-4 seconds each time. Hurt like hell. Whether this worked or I just had a mild reaction to the bite is hard to say.

I think this method has been proven to not work like it was presented. Basically lucked out with a dry bite. Maybe NW80 can chime in if he happens to read this thread.

Does "stun gun" = "hot shot"?

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I think this method has been proven to not work like it was presented. Basically lucked out with a dry bite. Maybe NW80 can chime in if he happens to read this thread.

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From what I have read, and since I know the guy and am real curious, its not so much that it has been proven not to work as it has not been consistently replicated in a lab environment.

I have no idea what a stun gun is. I'm assuming a cattle prod or a hot shot.

Fabulous story!

Fokker: I've never milked a cat on the farm, but I tazed the shart out of one that was snake bit...... Funny stuff right there.....

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All I can think about right now is two grown men trying to hold on to a psycho cat while tazing it in the face with a stun gun!!! The laugh cry face has never been more appropriate for me than right now. My wife just asked me if something was wrong. AWESOME story!!

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Just to make it more interesting, now imagine a 6/7 year old little sister showing up in the middle of it while Fluffy is getting fluffed. The added drama would be awesome.

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My father told me this when I was in high school. Something in the electricity neutralizes the venom. He went out and got a couple of stun guns and kept them in the house and the trucks in case we ever needed them. We got to try it out on one of our outdoor cats that year. She got bit in the face and it swelled up like a melon. Don't know if it worked or not because it went bat **** crazy when we shocked it on its head and around the bite. Luckily we had gloves and jackets on because we new we were going to be holding the tasmanian devil. Never saw the cat again when we let go of it. Don't know if it died or decided to find a new home out in the woods.

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I have heard that anti-venom is not being used much any more. Turns out the survival rates of people bitten by North American snakes is about the same if they get anti-venom or not. And it's very expensive, and has a short shelf life.

So that may account for that part of the story

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Personally have not seen any decrease in utilization, and BUD is a non-issue. I can verify it is expensive.

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My father told me this when I was in high school. Something in the electricity neutralizes the venom. He went out and got a couple of stun guns and kept them in the house and the trucks in case we ever needed them. We got to try it out on one of our outdoor cats that year. She got bit in the face and it swelled up like a melon. Don't know if it worked or not because it went bat **** crazy when we shocked it on its head and around the bite. Luckily we had gloves and jackets on because we new we were going to be holding the tasmanian devil. Never saw the cat again when we let go of it. Don't know if it died or decided to find a new home out in the woods.

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That was a pretty ****ty cat if it got bit by a snake. Our yard cats used to treat snakes like little *****es until they got bored, and then they'd kill them. It sounds like the stun gun or the snake did you a favor.

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My father told me this when I was in high school. Something in the electricity neutralizes the venom. He went out and got a couple of stun guns and kept them in the house and the trucks in case we ever needed them. We got to try it out on one of our outdoor cats that year. She got bit in the face and it swelled up like a melon. Don't know if it worked or not because it went bat **** crazy when we shocked it on its head and around the bite. Luckily we had gloves and jackets on because we new we were going to be holding the tasmanian devil. Never saw the cat again when we let go of it. Don't know if it died or decided to find a new home out in the woods.

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that made my morning

Cat story made me laugh out loud in the office this morning. Thanks for sharing

Heard a snake charmer guy tell a group of people this once. He was one of those guys at the gun show that would walk around in a "cage" full of rattle snakes. Claimed to have used a stun gun twice on bites. Had one on his hip while walking around in there, and his wife was holding another one just outside the cage.

No idea if it works but that guy seemed to think it did...enough so that he had two handy.

In the early to mid-90's it was a popular idea that turned out to not be remotely based on anything scientific. General theory is the person ended up with a dry bite to begin with. As mentioned above, when tested in a lab, the electricity didn't do anything to "neutralIze" the venom.

OK

Let's have fun with the library:

Use of stun guns for venomous bites and stings: a review.
Welch, E. Ben ; Gales, Barry J.
Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, 2001, Vol.12(2), pp.111-117

The authors reviewed published literature on the use of high voltage direct current (HVDC) therapy for various bites and stings, to include spider, other arthropod, and snake envenomation. The various "studies" include controlled trials, anecdotes, personal testimonials, and uncontrolled case reports.

Methods of delivering HVDC include stun guns and car ignition systems, among several others.

The thought is that by introducing HVDC, the vasculature is constricted which may reduce or prevent anaphylaxis and may restrict the distribution of venom throughout nearby tissue. Also, the application of high voltage may disrupt the metal ions found in some venom and may render it harmless (or at least less toxic).

Interesting quotes from the article:

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In an interesting experiment, Dart et al attempted to simulate the conditions present in the Ecuadorian jungle. During the preliminary phase of the experiment, mice were injected with Western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) venom and then shocked using a spark plug wire from a 1956 Ford truck. Results from the preliminary phase of the experiment were inconsistent. However, the fact that some groups of shocked animals appeared to respond to the therapy prompted the authors to conduct a second, better controlled study. During the second experiment, 40 Sprague-Dawley rats were injected with 80 mg/kg of C atrox venom. The HVDC treatment group immediately received ten 1.8-second shocks (25 Hz, 25 kV, and 1 mA) from a modified automotive ignition system, whereas controls received no treatment. No benefit of HVDC therapy was identified in this study and mortality was similar in both treated and untreated rats at 12 and 24 hours.

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Lots of 1956 Ford trucks in Ecuador? I've never been.

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Dart and Gustafson described in detail the case of a 28-year-old man who was bitten near his right upper lip by his pet Great Basin rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis lutosus). The patient had been previously bitten 14 times. During treatment for 1 of these 14 bites, the patient had experienced an anaphylactic reaction to antivenom. On the basis of information they had read in an outdoorsman's magazine, the patient and his neighbor developed a plan to use HVDC shock treatment in case the patient was bitten again. The patient and his neighbor were provided with the opportunity to test their plan after the patient's 15th rattlesnake bite. The snakebitten patient was placed on the ground close to the car. The HVDC shock was delivered by attaching a lead wire from one of the car's spark plug wires to the patient's lip. The neighbor then started the car and revved the engine to 3000 revolutions per minute repeatedly for approximately 5 minutes. The patient reportedly lost consciousness during the first HVDC shock treatment. The ambulance crew, who arrived about 15 minutes later, found that the patient was unconscious and had fecal incontinence.

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BTW, he lived after being administered 27 vials of antivenom. He needed reconstructive surgery to put his face back together after it rotted off from the necrosis.

The author's conclusion is that although there are anecdotal accounts of HVDC successfully being used, the objective evidence via controlled laboratory trials provides no support for the use of such therapy.

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All I can think about right now is two grown men trying to hold on to a psycho cat while tazing it in the face with a stun gun!!! The laugh cry face has never been more appropriate for me than right now. My wife just asked me if something was wrong. AWESOME story!!

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Im half tempted to sign up for a pay account, only for access to the laughing/crying face, and all due to the cat/snakebite/tazer post. Awesome.

I can't help but wonder what's going through that cat's mind when, thinking it's hurt and in need of help, its owners then decide to tazer it in the head. Something along the lines of, "Really?!?!?!....God ****it, what else can go wrong today??? F this, I'm outta here..."

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The HVDC shock was delivered by attaching a lead wire from one of the car's spark plug wires to the patient's lip. The neighbor then started the car and revved the engine to 3000 revolutions per minute repeatedly for approximately 5 minutes. The patient reportedly lost consciousness during the first HVDC shock treatment. The ambulance crew, who arrived about 15 minutes later, found that the patient was unconscious and had fecal incontinence.

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what in the absolute ****