So the story goes like this. I have a male cinny that has always been a problem feeder. So his weight has never really been that high up there. Then, he got bit inside his mouth by a rat. This caused an abscess to form and his face to swell. I took him to the vet promptly. The vet proscribed baytril and a daily mouth rinsing with a very dilute solution of chlorhexidine. In the last two weeks, I've been going with the daily injections and mouth rinsing and he has dropped weight dramatically and has become lethargic. His spine is peeked. His skin isn't loose though, probably due to the fact that he still drinks well. His mouth also hasn't gotten 100% better, if anything I'd say 50%. Now, in normal circumstances with an animal that had been a good feeder and had plenty of weight to fall back on and wasn't getting so thin and becoming lethargic I wouldn't second guess the vet when they said they want to try another antibiotic however, I don't know how humane it is to keep this going. I just don't know if he'd make it with any medication at this point as I've never seen an animal bounce back from this kind of weight loss. Then you add the lethargy in to the equation and it just doesn't bode well. Any advice at all would be very appreciated. I'm beyond upset with how this is turning out. Thank you all in advance for your time and consideration with this.

any pics?

Pitoon

Joe this may or may not be relvant, but I've got one with an infectio of some sort in his upper lip causing swelling on one side. Have tried baytril and fortaz with no lasting effect.

One thing I've found that helps but doesn't completely cure it is high heat, about 95 degrees. With the hot weather we've been having here lately, day time temps in the low 90's, my T-stat goes up to 105 - 115 degrees making the back heated rack I'm using average 95-97 degrees. This takes the swelling down long enough for him to get his appetite back and take a rat or two. I'm not sure if it's a fix but it's keeping him alive for now. Good luck.

He may not have had the best immune system with being a poor feeder, and skinny before the accident. I may sound a little cold, but we normally give animals 3 chances to feed. If they don't feed by the 3rd time, they're monitor lizard chow.

Whenever I've had any type of mouth injuries, I've filled a spray bottle with water, and squirt enough Betadine in it to make it look like strong tea. Mix it very good, and grab the animal behind the head. Hold it's head and point its nose facing the ground, and spray the mixture in its mouth, towards the ground to keep from any forceful swallowing.

We had a female tag the lip of her tub, when she grabbed at a rat. She tore her cheek open, and it looked like she had a red golf ball hanging out of her mouth. We used this method, and within 2 months, you would have never known.

Well I am not going to state anything other than my opinion....

Baytril kills everything even positive bacteria flora. Something that may help is probiotics, you can get them at g.n.c. or cvs/walgreens... Tube feed it to him... Try and find the liquid form not pills...

As for the mouth I use plain brown listerine and a clean q-tip.
Rub it all around the infected area and other areas evenly... Snake will not like this at all but it works...

Quig - He has been being kept at about 95 since this happened.

CeraDigital.com - He's about a year and a half old, he was maintenance fed by the person I got him from also. He was about 300 grams when I got him at the 1 year mark. At this point, he's sitting in at about 200. He's got almost nothing left to him other than skin and bones. Also, Betadine and Chlorhexidine are in the same family only Chlorhexidine is more highly recommended by every vet I've ever spoken to.

TwistedEvolution - The probiotic thing... I doubt it would help an obvious infection. The snake still has an abscess in his mouth. Not to mention now there's a red line thru the middle of it.

[QUOTE=Joe_S;606664]Quig - He has been being kept at about 95 since this happened.[QUOTE]

OK cancel that order then :D. Was just an idea. I DO hope you can get him back up and runnin'. :yes:

Joe this may or may not be relvant, but I've got one with an infectio of some sort in his upper lip causing swelling on one side. Have tried baytril and fortaz with no lasting effect.

My chondro girl mis-struck once upon a time and got wounded from the forceps. Since then, like Quigs animal, her upper lip will occasionally swell up but it goes back down without any intervention. Sometimes these things happen and they will self-resolve. Yours seems a bit more extreme right now but it may end up being a similar situation

Well I am not going to state anything other than my opinion....

Baytril kills everything even positive bacteria flora. Something that may help is probiotics, you can get them at g.n.c. or cvs/walgreens... Tube feed it to him... Try and find the liquid form not pills...

Speaking as a microbiologist, that is not going to work. The organisms that commonly colonize humans are evolutionarily adapted to mammalian, omnivorous primate digestive tract. So trying to get them to live in a snake gut is kind of like trying to get a salt-water jellyfish to live in a freshwater fish tank.

As for the mouth I use plain brown listerine and a clean q-tip.
Rub it all around the infected area and other areas evenly... Snake will not like this at all but it works...

This is a good idea though, locally nuke the problem spot. Alternating with peroxide might be a good idea too.

I have no advice, just wanted to tell you I'm sorry you're going through this & I hope the whole thing works out. :( ~

I may be a little late, just saw this post. Speaking as a veterinarian, I can address 2 issues, although it would be irresponsible of me to give you real medical advice without knowing more than I do. The 2 things I can speak to though are:
1. The probiotics designed for human/mammalian use definitely will not work.
2. No one except you should decide when it is time to euthanize your animal. You are the one who is the most familiar with it. What it really comes down to is quality of life. We really want these animals to perform for us in one way or another and that is what we buy them for, but ultimately it is inhumane to keep an animal around once their quality of life cannot be maintained. I believe it is you and only you who can determine when that animals quality of life is compromised. This is my opinion, other vets have other opinions. In 11 years of practice I have never one time suggested to a person it is time to euthanize or argued with a person when they thought it was time to euthanize. I just think it is a little presumptuous of me to think that in any situation I can know your animal as well as you do.
Hope this isnt too late for you.

Speaking as a microbiologist, that is not going to work. The organisms that commonly colonize humans are evolutionarily adapted to mammalian, omnivorous primate digestive tract. So trying to get them to live in a snake gut is kind of like trying to get a salt-water jellyfish to live in a freshwater fish tank.



This is a good idea though, locally nuke the problem spot. Alternating with peroxide might be a good idea too.

Thanks asplundii, I have been mislead to believe this would still benefit reptilian species...
However I am glad the listerine is still beneficial...thanks again. You know how it goes you are never to old to learn something.

dont know if this is still actuall and ive no tips on if u should put him down or not.

i just can give u tip to get him back a bit on weight without much force.


take 2 baby rats and cut em into small small pieces. so that theyre almost fluid. take the yellow yolk of an chicken egg and mix it with the rat stuff fluid. then take a bit of bioserin (at least thats what its called here. its a food replacer with high vitamins and all other needful stuff) and mix it in.


take this mixture and put it into a pump. take a tube and put it into his stomach (make it a bit wet so it goes easier). than put the pump and the tube together and shoot the mixture into his stomach.

do this every 3 to 5 days.


usually they gain weight threw this pretty good and develope a better immunesystem because of the ingredients in the bioserin.


i got a few pretty messed up snakes back to life threw this method.

Another supplemental option we have had great success with is Hill's a/d critical care dog food. It can be purchased over the counter at any vet office. We had a boa relinquished to us about a month ago. By an owner who felt he was all out of options. The snake had been to the vet several time with no progress. He had two large abcesses in his mouth and was drastically under weight. We put him on Uniprim, a trimethoprim and sulfadiazine combo, and started him on the Hills a/d. His mouth has completely healed and he just took his first meal on his own. I am not a vet, and not every animal responds the same, but it might be worth a shot.