Hume and Melrose animal hospitals have treated an animal a day for the past seven days.

Dr Rohan Goyne from Melrose Animal Hospital said there had been an increase in cases since last year.

“We have had a bit of a rush, we’ve had three and our Albury clinic has had four in a week,” Dr Goyne said.

“Last year because of the weather we saw very few, I personally didn’t treat a snake bite all summer.

“Whereas I’ve already treated three this year.”

The cats and dogs were all treated successfully with antivenom.

“This year they’ve all been success stories, but I’ve seen an animal bitten and they’re dead 15 minutes later, other times it can be quite a few hours.”

Dr Goyne said there were a number of factors that influenced how quickly a pet would be affected including activity levels after the bite, how many times the animal was bitten and where they were bitten.

“If the bite has gone into an area that has lower blood supply you’ll tend to get a slower absorption, if it’s in a high blood supply area it will be very rapid absorption,” he said.

Terriers and oriental cat breeds like Siamese were more likely to go after snakes and were therefore common bite victims, Dr Goyne said.

He urged pet owners not to go near snakes or kill them in front of their pets.

“If somebody kills a snake in front of a dog it will sometimes encourage the dog to go after a snake itself, it thinks ‘well my owner wants me to kill snakes’,” Dr Goyne said.

Yesterday the Family Vet Centre in Wodonga was treating 10-month-old kelpie-cross Ellie after she was bitten on the neck by a red-bellied black snake at Yackandandah.

“She’ s potentially been bitten Sunday night and yesterday morning was just subdued and flat,” Dr Justin Clancy said.

He said the pup was being monitored for kidney damage but was otherwise healthy after being treated with antivenom.

“If you’re concerned that your dog has been bitten by a snake the most important thing is to be in direct contact with a vet as soon as possible,” Dr Clancy said.

“Treating with antivenom is always going to be the most important thing.”

The Family Vet Centres in Albury and Wodonga have treated about six bites this season.

Dr Clancy said pet owners should mow around their homes and any water sources close by to make snakes easier to spot and avoid.