When Ray Grasshoff saw his 3-year-old beagle, Jack, tossing a brightly striped snake violently in his mouth on June 9, then rubbing his snout, he remembered a rhyme from his childhood days working around cattle: "Red on yellow, kill a fellow." Sure enough, Jack was tossing a poisonous coral snake, identifiable by its red stripes next to yellow.

Grasshoff, 54, raced his pet from the family's backyard to an emergency veterinarian in nearby South Austin. Jack was panting heavily and vomited in the car.

But soon after they arrived, Grasshoff learned the emergency vet couldn't find any coral snake antivenin for animals in Austin.

That's because the company that used to make the antidote, Wyeth, now owned by Pfizer Inc., closed the manufacturing plant and stopped making the drug in 2003, Pfizer spokeswoman Gwen Fisher said.

That has led to a nationwide shortage of the rarely used antivenin, and no other company has stepped up to make the drug.

$1,556 per vial

The antivenin, which Fisher said costs $1,556 per vial (and generally requires several for treatment), is evidently not profitable because of its infrequent use, according to published reports.

After Oct. 31, existing supplies will finally expire. The Food and Drug Administration twice extended the deadline on vials that were to expire Oct. 31, 2008, saying testing showed they still were viable.

There will not be a third extension, FDA spokeswoman Shelly Burgess said Friday.

"We still have supply on hand that we are carefully managing," Pfizer's Fisher said. "We, as a company, do realize the critical medical importance of the product, and we are exploring alternatives."

Chews on its prey

Luckily, bites by shy coral snakes account for fewer than 1 percent of U.S. snakebites, and antivenin is not always needed. Only one human coral snake death has been reported in the more than 40 years antivenin has been available in the U.S.

Without it, deaths are about 10 percent of those bitten, according to an online eMedicine article.

Unlike a rattlesnake, which has front fangs that strike with efficient force, a coral snake has much smaller fangs and teeth.

It chews on its prey to deliver its venom, and "most people don't tolerate that very well, and they rip the snake off" before they get much venom, said Dr. Pat Crocker, chief of emergency medicine at Dell Children's Medical Center.

Emergency treatment

He said he's seen about a dozen coral snake bites in 30 years, but has used coral snake antivenin only once.

People and pets who are bitten still need to get emergency treatment and might need to be hospitalized and placed on a ventilator in case the person's or pet's respiratory system is paralyzed, Crocker said.

Jack was not showing any neurological damage, said Dr. Stephanie Fletcher at the Emergency Animal Hospital of Northwest Austin, South location.

He survived after spending the night at the hospital and being sent home with medicine, Grasshoff said.