<P> Redback spider bites are difficult to diagnose in pets unless witnessed . Dogs appear to have some resistance . They are at serious risk only if bitten many times, and rarely need antivenom . Cats are likely to be more susceptible and require antivenom, which can reverse symptoms very quickly . Guinea pigs, horses and camels are very susceptible . As with humans, the symptoms are predominantly autonomic in nature alongside pain at the bite site . Dogs may also suffer vomiting and diarrhoea, muscle tremors or clonic contractions, and abdominal wall rigidity, while cats may salivate excessively, protrude their tongue or be overexcitable . </P> <P> Most traditional or historical first - aid treatments for redback spider bites are either useless or dangerous . These include making incisions and promoting bleeding, using ligatures, applying alkaline solutions, providing warmth, and sucking the venom out . In modern first aid, incising, sucking, applying bandages and tourniqueting are strongly discouraged . In 1893, the Camperdown Chronicle reported that a doctor noticed that a severely ill benumbed victim got much better overnight following treatment using injections of strychnine and cocaine; strychnine had been popular as a snake bite antidote, but it was not effective . As of 2011, administration of magnesium sulphate was reported to have had some benefit though evidence of effectiveness is weak . </P> <P> Indigenous Australians in New South Wales mixed the venom with that of snakes and pine tree gum to form a broth used to coat spear tips . Slim Newton drew popular attention to redbacks with his song "The Redback on the Toilet Seat", which won the Golden Guitar at the first Country Music Awards of Australia in 1973 . Newton recalled an occasion when a friend used his outside toilet where the light globe had blown and reported he was lucky there was not a redback spider on the toilet seat . The phrase inspired him to write the song . A sculpture of an impossibly large redback, one of Australia's big things, was built in 1996 at Eight Mile Plains, Queensland . The Angels 1991 album Red Back Fever takes its name from the spider . Matilda Bay Brewing Company produces a wheat beer called Redback, with the distinctive red stripe as the logo . The redback appears in the name and emblem of the South Australia cricket team . The Airborne Redback, an Australian ultralight trike, was also named after the spider . Redback Boots is an Australian workboot manufacturing company, which uses the spider in its name and logo . In 2006 a redback spider stamp was designed as part of a "Dangerous Australians" stamp series, but was withheld from general circulation by Australia Post due to concerns that the realistic depiction would scare people opening their letter boxes . </P>

Black spider with red dot on its back