Chihuahua saves boy from rattlesnake

�

The Refugees Unleashed Forum Index -> Animals

Chihuahua saves boy from rattlesnake -

View previous topic :: View next topic

tulsad

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 5:52 am

Chihuahua saves boy from rattlesnake

Dog takes bites meant for 1-year-old, survives to prance with pride

MASONVILLE, Colo. - Zoey is a Chihuahua, but when a rattlesnake lunged at her owners’ 1-year-old grandson, she was a real bulldog.

Booker West was splashing his hands in a birdbath in his grandparents’ northern Colorado back yard when the snake slithered up to the toddler, rattled and struck. Five-pound Zoey jumped in the way and took the bites.

“She got in between Booker and the snake, and that’s when I heard her yipe,” Monty Long, the boy’s grandfather, said Thursday.

The dog required treatment and for a time it appeared she might not survive. Now she prances about.

“These little bitty dogs, they just don’t really get credit,” Booker’s grandma Denise Long told the Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19901704/?GT1=10150

Denise Long holds her grandson, Booker West, 1, as he pets Zoey, held by grandfather Monty Long in the backyard of their home near Masonville.
http://www.reporterherald.com/Top-Story.asp?ID=11372

Sparkly Tree

Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10139

chance

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 12:50 pm

Oh that brave little girl. I hope she didn't have any lasting side effects. Rattlesnake bites are scary. Female dogs tend to be more protective with children. I didn't realize Chihuahuas were that brave and protective. The only ones I have seen shiver and bark a lot. Good to know that the breed isn't all that way.

Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 2784
Location: Deep in the heart of Texas

dithers

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 3:09 pm

Yuk! What were they doing letting that kid play in the birdbath in the first place? With all of the assorted horrible bacteria, viruses and assorted "you name it" out there today I believe a birdbath is something to be treated with respect and caution.

We have two birdbaths and the birds usually line up to use them and they are quite a delight. But after just a couple of days they look pretty bad. I even put a little gizmo in that is supposed to retard algae, etc. but they still can't go much longer than a couple of days before I have to hose them out and put in fresh water. Even then I have to use a scrub brush and cleaner at least every couple of weeks. I realize it's a bit different here in S. Fla. for mold and algae growing conditions but still - birds carry lots of diseases and have mites and who knows what can grow in the water! I actually wear rubber gloves anymore when I'm cleaning it out. One of my greatest fears of doing anything outdoors these days is Necrotizing Fasciitis. I saw just the other day where a man contracted a form of it whilst swimming in the Gulf of Mexico.

Not to take away from the good part of the story - that is quite a cute picture of that little doggy. It looks almost as if she knows she did something good. My sister has a chihuahua and you really do just want to squeeze the stuffings out of them they are so cute.

Pretty in Blonde

Joined: 17 Apr 2006
Posts: 3468

danascully

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 5:25 pm

Hey, Tulsad. I had noticed this in today's paper as well. For such a little dog, Zoey is a big hero. Very Happy

Smoke Stack

Joined: 31 Mar 2006
Posts: 3092

Fu-Gee-La

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:28 pm

dithers wrote:

OMG. has my grandmother risen from the dead? Laughing

That isn't meant to be a derogatory comment, she really WAS like that. This is something she would say. Laughing

I miss her dearly.

There are plenty bird bath swimming, dirty mud yuck digging, horse shit muckin', soggy swamp dwelling, dirt digging messes of children that make it just fine through life. Kids from country club pools also swim with floating Doodies and buckets of urine, and they make it. Laughing

Kids that live in the cleanest environments run around without their shoes and pick up unknown amounts of human spit, urine, gum, gawd knows what else on the pavement. Laughing

Gimme the algae over the barefoot pavement "osmosis" and chlorine doodie bath any day- at least it's organic. Laughing

Was this out in the middle of nowhere? It doesn't sound like your normal rattlesnake attack. This child was playing in a yard, correct?

From wikki-

Chihuahuas seem to have no concept of their own size and may fearlessly confront larger animals, which can result in injury
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chihuahua_(dog)
Geeze no doubt! LOL Laughing

***Deactivated: Pending Review***

Joined: 03 Apr 2006
Posts: 7247

dithers

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 12:49 pm

Fu-Gee-La wrote:

dithers wrote:

OMG. has my grandmother risen from the dead? Laughing

That isn't meant to be a derogatory comment, she really WAS like that. This is something she would say. Laughing

Kids that live in the cleanest environments run around without their shoes and pick up unknown amounts of human spit, urine, gum, gawd knows what else on the pavement. Laughing

Gimme the algae over the barefoot pavement "osmosis" and chlorine doodie bath any day- at least it's organic. Laughing

What kind of pools are you swimming in Fu? Floating doodies? I admit it happens but you make it sound like a common occurence with stuff floating around like dumplings in stew. I remember exactly one instance of that whilst growing up and we were all so grossed out we left the pool immediately. Urine is virtually sterile although it can pick up bacteria on the way out of your body but one would imagine the chlorine in the pool would make short work of that. In fact, that's the big difference between pool water and bird bath water - chlorine. Check a drop of water from both under a microscope and I bet the pool water wins hands down everytime - no matter how many buckets of urine or floating doodies.

Many germs/bugs do not continue to live once exposed to air - such as HIV which will not live on a toilet seat. So as far as going barefoot I would imagine one's bigger fear should be puncture wounds and the chance of tetanus. The other big difference is the bottoms of your feet don't generally come into contact with your mouth as your hands will. Personally, I can't stand to go barefoot outside of the house simply because I hate for my feet to be dirty. Yuk. I also don't know how people can sit on airplane seats in shorts, etc. I was recently sitting in the doctor's office with my arms on the armrests when a man at the end of the room started showing his wife his forearms and said "Look, it's almost all cleared up now." Of course, he'd had his arms resting on his chair just like I did. Gross. I immediately laid my arms in my lap.

Yes, there are many kids who make it through life just fine being exposed to many kinds of germs. And I was one of them. But take a look at kids in third-world countries and you might find a different story. Sanitation is one of the greatest advents ever discovered toward eradicating disease.

You failed to tell us how old your wise old grandmother was. Odds are good she was smarter than you give her credit for. Perhaps she lived during a time when we weren't all so lucky to be generally unencumbered by daily fears of infection.

Prior to the 1920's we didn't have penicillin or tetanus vaccines. The polio vaccine wasn't developed until I was in grade school. I can remember during parts of the summer when we had to stay out of the water, etc. because of fears of contracting polio. You talk to anyone my age and we can all remember those horrible images of people in iron lungs. A hundred years ago diarrhea was one of the leading causes of death.

We've all been able to become pretty complacent because we've grown up with all these antibiotics and vaccines and generally sanitary conditions. Heck, nowadays there are measles and mumps vaccines which we never had. And it wasn't until the 1940's that kids were immunized against diptheria. The list goes on and on. Can you imagine how life would be if we still had to worry about catching all of these communicable diseases on a daily basis?

And this is where my newfound respect for germs comes from. The big problem is that there are many new bugs cropping up that are resistant to all known antibiotics. And so soon we could find ourselves back in those pre-1920's-1940's days. Not a pretty picture to contemplate. So I say - Stay out of that birdbath water!

Pretty in Blonde

Joined: 17 Apr 2006
Posts: 3468

Fu-Gee-La

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 2:20 pm

Quote:

What kind of pools are you swimming in Fu?

Quote:

You failed to tell us how old your wise old grandmother was. Odds are good she was smarter than you give her credit for. Perhaps she lived during a time when we weren't all so lucky to be generally unencumbered by daily fears of infection.

Oh BELIEVE ME- I give her plenty credit, and I could only hope that some day I will be HALF as wise as she. I have NO idea where you got the idea that I didn't give her enough credit. She is one of the smartest women I have ever known- a world traveler, spoke 3 foreign languages, etc. etc.

The reason that she was the way she was has a lot to do with the fact that she was a germaphobe (or whatever they are) She was clean to a fault- Hypochondriacish- not a hypo but very close to being one. NEVER a dust particle in her house- made me use a dang kleenex to turn the spout in upscale restaurants, and GAWD HELP me if I happened to lose my balance and fall back on the toilet seat that was covered with a full roll of TP. It was a pain. LOL

Yeah, there are always going to be new "bugs" popping up. I think it is a gamble in a lot of ways unless of course you live in a 3rd world country. That is an entirely different beast...

***Deactivated: Pending Review***

Joined: 03 Apr 2006
Posts: 7247

dithers

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 3:25 pm

Fu-Gee-La wrote:

dithers wrote:

OMG. has my grandmother risen from the dead? Laughing

That isn't meant to be a derogatory comment, she really WAS like that. This is something she would say. Laughing

Kids that live in the cleanest environments run around without their shoes and pick up unknown amounts of human spit, urine, gum, gawd knows what else on the pavement. Laughing

Gimme the algae over the barefoot pavement "osmosis" and chlorine doodie bath any day- at least it's organic. Laughing

Was this out in the middle of nowhere? It doesn't sound like your normal rattlesnake attack. This child was playing in a yard, correct?

(snip)

September 6, 2007 - 9:19 a.m. EST

2nd central Florida boy dead after catching amoeba swimming
ORLANDO, Fla. — A second child in central Florida is dead after catching a rare brain infection while swimming in a lake.

Ten-year-old Richard Almeida died Tuesday from amoebic encephalitis.

The Florida Department of Health is urging caution in warm freshwater bodies, where the amoeba live. Orange County's mayor recommends people stay out of the water altogether.

Eleven-year-old Will Sellars died last month of the same thing after wakeboarding on Lake Jessamine around Orlando.

The deadly amoeba enter the body through the nose. Precautions include using nose clips and swimming near the surface of deep water, where they are less prevalent.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/gen/ap/FL_Amoeba_Death.html

Pretty in Blonde

Joined: 17 Apr 2006
Posts: 3468

Schmerty

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:49 pm

dithers wrote:

Fu-Gee-La wrote:

dithers wrote:

OMG. has my grandmother risen from the dead? Laughing

That isn't meant to be a derogatory comment, she really WAS like that. This is something she would say. Laughing

Kids that live in the cleanest environments run around without their shoes and pick up unknown amounts of human spit, urine, gum, gawd knows what else on the pavement. Laughing

Gimme the algae over the barefoot pavement "osmosis" and chlorine doodie bath any day- at least it's organic. Laughing

Was this out in the middle of nowhere? It doesn't sound like your normal rattlesnake attack. This child was playing in a yard, correct?

(snip)

Thanks for posting that!!! My DH was telling me that even walking on the wet sand with bare feet you can get some unpleasant bacteria . It's been warm here & Mocha goes to the beach most days & runs & chases birds. My DH has to watch that she does sniff or eat sea weeds or dead birds or bird poop ,jelly fish etc& tells me to wear good thick socks & rubber soled shoes. Its too bad that there is so much contamination in our beautiful world.

Skipping along my own path.

Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 3335

diedre

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:58 pm

What a brave liitle dog. That breed thinks they are pit bulls .

Joined: 31 Aug 2007
Posts: 231
Location: buying high heels. I never wear rubber shoes-lol

SavannahStar

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 5:59 am

diedre wrote:

What a brave liitle dog. That breed thinks they are pit bulls .

**SuperStar**

Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 21279
Location: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

SavannahStar

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 7:42 am

dithers wrote:

September 18, 2007

Deadly amoeba lurks in Florida lakes
3 boys die from deadly amoeba in Orlando-area lakes this summer

Bathers warned to stay out of water warmer than 80 degrees Fahrenheit

Officials: Flu-like symptoms after swimming in a lake should spark alarm

By John Zarrella and Patrick Oppman
CNN

ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- Something in the lakes around Orlando, Florida, has claimed the lives of three boys this summer.

"This thing is just there. It's lurking like some deadly thing in the water which can take our children's lives and we all have to be aware," said Orange County Health Department Director Dr. Kevin Sherin.

The "thing" isn't a fish or alligator. It is so small it cannot be seen with the naked eye. The killer that lives in the hot, fresh water is a single cell amoeba that once exposed to the human brain through the nasal passages is almost always fatal.

At first people exposed to the amoeba, naegleria fowleri, suffer from flu-like symptoms. Very quickly, in from one to 14 days, the symptoms worsen, Sherin said. "There's a downhill course. Folks lapse into a coma; there are abnormal movements of the eyes and a terrible cascade of events leading to the actual death of parts of the brain."

Sherin said exposure to the amoeba can be detected by an MRI and it can be treated with antibiotics if caught early enough, but Sherin said he believes medical personnel are not in the habit of looking for the disease.

That is because the amoeba is very rare. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, has documented 24 cases in the United States since 1989.

Health officials do not know what caused three cases in Orlando in one summer. Theories range from warmer temperatures to a drought that has lowered lake levels. Sherin said officials considered closing access to the lakes, but concluded they did not have the authority. Even if public lakes had been closed, private lakes would have remained open.

So, at 15 parks and lakes around the city, warnings about the amoeba have been posted. The signs urge bathers to wear nose clips or stay out of water warmer than 80 degrees Fahrenheit, which can be a breeding ground for the amoeba.

The warnings provide little solace for Steve Sellars.

Health investigators said they believe Sellars' 11-year old son, Will, was exposed to the amoeba during an August weekend spent learning to wakeboard on Orlando's Lake Jessamine.

"You think it won't happen to me, it won't happen to my family." Sellars said. "You're wrong"

"[Will's] symptoms were like a flu bug," Sellars said, "We rushed him to the hospital and two days later he's passed away. It's like a nightmare."

A month later, a 10-year-old boy died from exposure to the amoeba. Investigators have not determined where he was exposed. The death of a 14 year-old boy in June in the Orlando area also is being blamed on the amoeba.

As he investigates the deaths of the three boys from the amoeba, Sherin is concerned these type of deaths may be underreported. Health departments in Florida are not required to report amoeba infections to the state. The illness is so rare, he said, it may be commonly misdiagnosed in the United States and internationally.

He said anyone who exhibits flu-like symptoms who has been in a lake recently should see a doctor immediately.

Speaking in Will's old bedroom, which Steve Sellars has decorated with photographs of his son, Sellars said he hopes he can help get the word out. He does not want anyone to lose a family member as quickly and mysteriously as he did.

"It's the worst thing we ever had to go through and I hate to see any other parent go through this and another child lose his life," Sellars said.

**SuperStar**

Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 21279
Location: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

chance

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:08 am

We are having the same problem here in Texas. Meningitis is a scary disease anyway in any form. My daughter was 18 months old when she caught the strain called H-Flu meningitis and almost died. There was an epedimic of it in Houston in the 80's and I know a man who lost 5 children (ages 6 - 15) to it so you can imagine my horror when I found out what she had. Flu like symtoms along with extreme neck pain. The only test back then to detect it was a milagram. She pulled through without any lasting effects but some people are not so lucky.

LCRA to warn swimmers about lake amoeba
06:37 PM CDT on Tuesday, September 18, 2007

By ERIN OCHOA
KVUE News

Although the summer is coming to an end, lake safety workers are stepping up efforts to educate swimmers about ways to stay safe.

Earlier this summer, two people died of amebic meningitis after swimming in Lake LBJ. This week, the Lower Colorado River Authority will begin putting up signs and handing out flyers to help raise awareness of the risks of swimming in lakes in rivers.

The signs will be put up at public-access points at lakes Buchanan, Inks, LBJ, Marble Falls, Bastrop, Fayette, and Lake Travis. The LCRA is hoping to warn people about possible hazards, from drowning and boating accidents to potentially deadly illnesses.

Lake Travis is a popular spot for boaters.

“We've been out here for three days just taking it easy, kicking back, and vacationing,” said Joshua Alexander, a boater.

It's what happened on Lake LBJ earlier this summer that's prompting some changes on area lakes. In August, a 12-year-old Travis County boy died from amebic meningitis after swimming in Lake LBJ. Nearly a month later, a 22-year-old man also died from the same thing after swimming on the same lake.

“Something has to be done,” said Melissa Brown during an interview earlier this month. She lost her son, Brandon, to amebic meningitis two years ago after swimming on Lake Somerville.

“How many more children are we going to have to lose before something is done,” said Brown.

“We had been receiving a lot of calls from the public, area businesses around the lakes and there seemed to be just a general lack of awareness of this common amoeba and this rare disease that it causes,” said Krista Umscheid, a spokesperson for LCRA. She says it will soon put up more than a hundred signs and hand out fliers, warning swimmers and boaters about the risks.

The signs will warn swimmers to hold their noses when diving or jumping into the water, use earplugs or goggles to minimize risk of infections, wash open cuts and scrapes, wear a life jacket, not to dive into shallow water, and always swim with a partner.

“We didn't want to just put a water-related illness warning out because then you would be diluting some of the other water safety messages such as drownings,” said Umscheid.

It's a warning that boaters like Joshua Alexander will heed.

“If there weren't signs, then people wouldn't know what was going on,” said Alexander.

The signs could be up as early as Friday.

Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 2784
Location: Deep in the heart of Texas

Display posts from previous:

	The Refugees Unleashed Forum Index -> Animals	All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

Jump to:

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

�