HELP!!! Blood comming from mouth and nose!!!

[Pokey]

So here’s the deal, I thought that the female hog island boa that I rescued had fully recovered from her Respiratory Infection when last night out of nowhere she started bleeding and bubbling blood from the mouth and nose. Blood was everywhere since and since it was coming from her throat and lungs and not the mouth it was spraying and splattering with every breath. My shirt looks like it came off the set of a cheap horror film. I freaked and rushed her to the 24hr emergency vet here locally. Providentially an exotic vet just happened to be working that night and she said that it’s a 90% chance that its pneumonia or basically the respiratory infection in an even more advanced stage. So antibiotics were administered and the vet sent me and Miranda on our way. Since my home facilities are better for snakes than their basic incubators at the vet clinic, she said it would be better for me to control Miranda’s temps (a bit higher than normal per vets orders) and humidity (a bit lower than normal per vets orders).

So here is my question. I already have another course of antibiotics waiting for me at my normal vet clinic. I am going to start on these right away. But has anyone else ever experienced this? If so were the antibiotics enough to take care of the problem? The vets here locally are good, but not great. The only great reptile vet moved last month to some project dealing with the new Georgia Aquarium here in Atlanta and is no longer working at a clinic.

If anyone can offer further advise please let me know.

[tigerlily]

By no means am I an expert, but I'll go ahead and give you my thoughts. First off I hope you have different anitbiotics than the first course. What was she on for the first RI and for how long? How long has she been off the meds? It sounds like the other antibiotics didn't do much, or not enough. I think the vets are able to do cultures of the bacterica and determine which antibiotic will be most effective. I would talk to your vet about possibly doing this. It sounds like you have a very seriously ill snake. (make sure she's not anywhere close to any other herps!!) I wish I could be more help, but hopefully someone else will chime in here soon.

[SatanicIntention]

You may need to prepare yourself, hun. Your snake could very well suffocate on its own fluids.

With that said, the emergency vet gave you good advice. Raising the temps and lowering the humidity will help her fight the infection off as well as dry up the secretions in her lungs. Those antibiotics will need to be given very religiously for quite a long time to get her cleared up(more than a month). If you can rent a nebulizer and get antibiotics from the vet that can be nebulized, that would be a good idea. She'll need the meds to get directly to the source of infection. Pneumonia also dehydrates animals and humans alike, so she may need to have subcutaneous fluids administered 2-3 times per week. She will probably be mouth breathing and won't drink as often, or at all. The subQ fluids will help her stay hydrated so she can fight the infection. It would be good if the vet can send you home with a butterfly catheter, IV line, (but a 18 or 20g will work better and allow more fluids to be given) and a liter bag of Lactated Ringers solution(warmed in microwave before administering). The vet can show you how it is done(getting the needle underneath the skin but not in the muscle), and how fast the drip rate should be.

I think that with a diligent antibiotic routine, as well as regular subQ fluids, she may be ok. If she recovers, she will have permanent scarring in her lung, and may have off days for the rest of her life. Temps and humidity will need to be monitored extremely closely as any fluctuation could cause her to relapse, thus causing her to have an infection worse than the previous one(sometimes resistant to the same antibiotic tried previously).

Good luck and please update us on her progress. Many well wishes sent to her and you.

[Pokey]

Thanks guys.

Yeah, I have been lucky with finding some really good vets arround now that i am looking hard for them. I think everying will come out alright. Miranda will start on her second course of antibiotics today, and her breathing isn't short and rapid. As a matter of fact she is quite lethargic, but then again i would be too if i had blood in my air system. I think it will be a long recovery but i am confident she will make it through.
It just makes me so angry when people mistreat their animals and then dump them at the local pet store to rid themselves of the hassle. When i got Miranda she was underweight and hadn't shed in over 8 months. Since i got her a month ago and started her on her first course of antibiotics she has shed, has had improved eating habbits, and is finally in a thermo regulated environment. I am an optimist and am fully confident that she will be fine and at same time i am a realist and know that it may be a long process. Today i spoke with several local vets to get oppinions, and without seeing the snake (which the all recomended) the general consensus is that another course of antibiotics is in order. Now the original antibiotic was Baytril administered every other day for 20 days. She was doing notably better during the treatment, and all the vets recomended that I stay with the same med for another 14 days of treatment to see if it clears up the suspected infection. After last night's treatment and injection at the emergency vet the bleeding seems to have stoped or at least it isnt so bad that its comming our of her mouth and nose anymore.
Does anyone have thoughts on this, or has anyone had any experience with the effectiveness of Baytril? I will be monitoring her temts and humidity like a hawk. She will be weighed on a regular basis and will be administered fluids if needed. I was not given any fluids to administer, but i will ask tomorrow about them. She seems fine tonight, I am not sure if i should handle her much. I am assuming that i should not, but i don't want her to become timid and in constant fear of me. Although I would rather have her mad at me than sick.
I will keep you guys updated on her progress.

[Adam_Wysocki]

Baytril is an extremely effective anti-biotic if used properly ... many people stop too early and sometimes it takes several consecutive courses for the drug to be effective.

I would VERY STRONGLY suggest having your snake cultured to make sure that the bacteria causing the infection is not resistant to enroflaxin (Baytril) or any other gram neg anti-biotics. With a culture, a vet can prescribe a drug that might be more effective at treating the infection.

You may also want to enlist the help of Dr. Scott Stahl (http://www.seavs.com). He's in Northern Va, but he does phone consultations with vets and has had great success treating URI's with combinations of anti-biotics such as enroflaxin and ceftazidime or amikacin and ceftazidime.

-adam