Stewart Street Veterinary Clinic has seen a number of pets brought in by owners in recent weeks after an encounter with a snake.

Stewart Street Vet partner Ewald Jooste said it's vital that owners get their pets in as quickly as possible if they suspect a snake bite has occurred.

The earlier animals are treated the better their chances of survival are.

"We have seen lots and lots of animals bitten by snakes or the owners suspect they might have been bitten by snakes," Mr Jooste said.

"What we recommend is that as soon as they suspect there might have been a bite to head in because it saves time, rather than sitting around and waiting for symptoms, just come in.

"Even if they sit around here, at least they're close because for a small dog bitten by a big snake it could be 15 to 20 minutes, so time is critical."

While each situation is different depending on the size of the dog, the size of the snake and where the bite site is, there's two obvious signs to look out for.

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One is vomiting, because usually the venom makes the dogs feel sick as it puts their bodies into shock, and the other sign is unsteadiness, because the venom is designed to incapacitate the prey.

Mr Jooste said if owners are unsure whether their pets have been bitten or not, it is better to still make a trip to the vet where symptoms can be monitored or a blood test can taken.

While the test doesn't conclude if there is or isn't venom in their system, it can show any abnormalities that could occur following a snake bite.

"The test we do is an indirect test, it doesn't actually tell us if there's venom but it tests for the consequences," Mr Jooste said.

"So tissue damage is one, there's various components in the poison, so one of them is a toxin that breaks down tissues so we test for that, and the other thing we test for is the poison stops blood clotting, so we test to see if the blood's clotting.

"If we're suspicious and there's evidence of tissue breakdown and the blood's not clotting properly than we're fairly sure there's been a snake bite."

With many residents in Bathurst taking to social media sharing posts about snake sightings, people are reminded that staying away is the safest option, and if a pet does encounter a snake then take them to the vet immediately.

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