SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — San Diego County has experienced a spike in rattlesnake sightings since early this year due to warmer weather. Now, a local veterinarian says their hospital is seeing an increase in dogs and cats suffering bites.

“What he does, and I’ve seen him before with snakes, he grabs them and flicks them. The gopher snake or king snake don’t hurt him, but this one got him,” said Tim Knowd.

Nine-year-old Ollie was in the backyard of his Ramona home when he encountered a rattlesnake.

“We have a half-acre property, but it abuts an open space preserve area, so we get probably three or four snakes a year. It’s not uncommon, but maybe one rattler a year,” said Knowd.

Knowd said his family had been lucky enough to avoid bites for both themselves and their pets until Wednesday, when Ollie was bitten on the tongue.

Rattlesnake encounter tips from the Snake Wrangler during heat wave

“He was out of it, bleeding from the mouth and swollen. I know my snakes. It was a Southern Pacific rattlesnake,” Knowd said.

Ollie was rushed to Stitch Veterinary Urgent Care, where he was stabilized and given antivenom treatment.

“The majority of the bites that we see here are from Southern Pacific rattlesnakes. They can have a mix of hemotoxic and neurotoxic venom. Typically, we see bleeding and a lot of swelling, but if they’ve got that neurotoxin, that’s when we can start to see seizures and coma develop,” said Dr. Rob Brooks of Stitch Veterinary Urgent Care.

Brooks said the practice has seen an increase in bite cases since late February, when warmer weather arrived in San Diego County.

“The best thing to do is get them seen straight away. The longer you wait, the more time venom has to damage the tissues,” Brooks said.

Unseasonably warm weather brings spike in rattlesnake sightings

While Ollie appears to be on the road to recovery, Brooks said pets must be monitored after a bite to better understand the extent of their injuries.

Experts say to be aware of your and your pets’ surroundings, stay vigilant, and you can explore the option of a rattlesnake vaccine, which can be given annually.

“It’s not necessarily going to eliminate the need for treatment if a pet does get bitten by a snake, but it does help to potentially reduce the severity,” said Brooks.

If your animal is bitten by a rattlesnake, it will help to share when the bite happened, where on the body it occurred and, if possible, what type of snake was involved. However, the most important step is getting your pet to a veterinarian as quickly as possible.

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