Beloved pet dog dies after venomous snake bite on the mouth

A North Fort Myers family is mourning the loss of their beloved pet after a venomous snake bit it over the weekend.

“She was wrestling with something,” Anna Wallace said about her dog, “and I was like, ‘what does she got?'”

That’s when the Coral Snake bit Zoe on the mouth.

“I brought her inside because she was already foaming at the mouth and had blood coming out of her mouth,” Wallace said. “I put her in the sink and started rinsing her mouth out trying to find if I could find a bite or something.”

Wallace rushed her beloved Zoe to the veterinarian. But it was too late. Now the family and their other dog, Baby, are left mourning.

“Our other dog is just kind of lost now,” Wallace said. “She doesn’t really know what to do with herself since Zoe is not here.”

But the most difficult part was not being able to help.

“To find out that there really wasn’t much they could do because there’s no antivenom,” Wallace said. “I was just astonished by that.”

Paige Davidson treated Zoe at Blue Pearl Animal Hospital. She said because these type of bites are so rare, anti-venom is no longer being produced for dogs. Even if they try to treat dogs in other ways, such as ventilation or a feeding tube, it typically ends with them putting it down.

“It’s kind of a helpless situation for everyone involved,” Davidson said.

Now an empty Kennel where Zoe used to sleep is a sad reminder for Anna to fight for something to be done.

“What if it happens to a police dog?” Wallace said.