Small amount of blood after defecating

I've noticed my kingsnake passing a little bit of blood after she poops a couple times now. The first was when she was in a tub while I was cleaning her tank, and she then shed about half and hour later. I was a little concerned but thought it might just have something to do with the shed and a sensitive vent, so I decided to wait and see if it would happen again. She pooped just fine a few times after that, but I noticed it again today. To clarify, the actual feces look very normal, the blood isn't passed with them, and it's just a tiny amount that comes out at the end. From some searching I've found a few situations that sound similar to mine, but I haven't been able to find many clear answers. What sounds most likely is overstraining or possibly parasites. Does anyone know why this is happening? Is a vet visit in order?

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...aae3ca6d16.jpg
here’s a picture to get an idea of what it looks like.


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If it's not associated with a fresh shed, I'd suggest talking to a vet. Agree it may be parasites* & if so, it's easy to treat & best not ignored. (I've never heard of a snake with a hemorrhoid?) *She probably just needs dosed with Flagyl (for protozoans) or something.

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Originally Posted by aurum

...What sounds most likely is overstraining or possibly parasites. Does anyone know why this is happening? Is a vet visit in order?

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I've never heard of a snake "overstraining", btw, unless she's been constipated? Even then it would most likely be irritation from dried urate stones, not actually straining?

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I've never heard of a snake "overstraining", btw, unless she's been constipated? Even then it would most likely be irritation from dried urate stones, not actually straining?

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I'm not exactly sure how that would work either, but it's the answer I saw most often when looking for people with similar situations.

Please do keep us posted- I hope your little cutie will be okay, & if it's what I suspect, it's usually an easy fix.

I was able to take her to the vet today and get a fecal sent out. She was a very good sport about the whole ordeal, and hopefully I should have more answers in a couple days when the lab results come back.

Thanks for the update- and :gj:

We got the fecal results back and it looks like she has pinworms. The vet prescribed some medication (I don't know the specific kind yet) to be given with a food item every two weeks for three doses. Is there anything else I can do to help treatment? I'm planning to switch her to paper towels and try to scrub everything down periodically so she can't somehow re-infect herself with the eggs. Do you have any suggestions for how frequent that should be?

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Originally Posted by aurum

We got the fecal results back and it looks like she has pinworms. The vet prescribed some medication (I don't know the specific kind yet) to be given with a food item every two weeks for three doses. Is there anything else I can do to help treatment? I'm planning to switch her to paper towels and try to scrub everything down periodically so she can't somehow re-infect herself with the eggs. Do you have any suggestions for how frequent that should be?

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:gj: I would say that for now, change the paper towels any time she defecates. You might ask the vet about this, as to their viability during her medication?

Actual worms tend to dry out & die on paper towels- when I've dewormed snakes, that's what I observed- some came out alive but didn't get very far. Gag.

But I've read that pinworm eggs can actually survive 2-3 weeks on surfaces (apparently they stick on rather well) and please remember that you can catch them too- pinworms are all too happy to infect people, so wash your hands very well & securely dispose of her bedding. Might even want to use disposable gloves.

Aurum,

Sorry to hear about the pinworms. You've got great advice from Bogertophis and it sounds like your vet is on top of it too.

I would make sure the treatment last for a few doses if every 2 weeks. Did I understand that right? The dose is administered every 2-3 weeks? Bogertophis pointed out you want to kill the pinworms and their eggs. So if 2 doses kills all the pinworms, the third dose would presumably ensure that the eggs are dead too. Not an expert, but have dealt with parasites in newly acquired animals before. You want to give medication until all worms and eggs are dead.

Once the treatment is done I would clean the heck out of her tank. Anything plastic - hides, etc. need to be cleaned with F10SC and/or Chlorhexidine solution. Anything that is that is not totally smooth - throw out!

Fake or real branches, rough style hides, vines, etc. All gone. If you absolutely are set on these items, I would soak them in F10SC solution for a while - like days, then rinse with water, let dry and then put back.

However, I would recommend new furnishings.

I would also plan to keep your snake on printless newspaper or paper towels for a while so you can spot any unusual waste easily. I would note that it might not get back to normal right away after medication even if the pinworms are gone.

Finally, I would be changing your water frequently. If you normally change and clean your bowl weekly, do it every 3 days instead. Make sure your snake is staying hydrated with clean water.

Good luck and keep us posted on the progress.

Besides paper towels, other paper (newspaper & such) is fine for substrate too, I just didn't think to mention it- maybe because my "newspaper" is now online & far less absorbent? :D

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Originally Posted by dakski

Aurum,

Sorry to hear about the pinworms. You've got great advice from Bogertophis and it sounds like your vet is on top of it too.

I would make sure the treatment last for a few doses if every 2 weeks. Did I understand that right? The dose is administered every 2-3 weeks? Bogertophis pointed out you want to kill the pinworms and their eggs. So if 2 doses kills all the pinworms, the third dose would presumably ensure that the eggs are dead too. Not an expert, but have dealt with parasites in newly acquired animals before. You want to give medication until all worms and eggs are dead.

Once the treatment is done I would clean the heck out of her tank. Anything plastic - hides, etc. need to be cleaned with F10SC and/or Chlorhexidine solution. Anything that is that is not totally smooth - throw out!

Fake or real branches, rough style hides, vines, etc. All gone. If you absolutely are set on these items, I would soak them in F10SC solution for a while - like days, then rinse with water, let dry and then put back.

However, I would recommend new furnishings.

I would also plan to keep your snake on printless newspaper or paper towels for a while so you can spot any unusual waste easily. I would note that it might not get back to normal right away after medication even if the pinworms are gone.

Finally, I would be changing your water frequently. If you normally change and clean your bowl weekly, do it every 3 days instead. Make sure your snake is staying hydrated with clean water.

Good luck and keep us posted on the progress.

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Thanks for the note about still having abnormal waste even after medication, I was wondering about that. At that point, if that is happening, I'll probably check in with my vet again too to see what they say. And yes, treatment is given every 2 weeks, 3 times, for a total of six weeks. I gave her the first dose a couple days ago, and it is panacur by the way.

So far I've scrubbed out her enclosure and everything else with clorhexidine, changed her over to paper towels, and taken out all decor except two hides, her water bowl, and some paper towel tubes. I also change her water almost daily anyway so it looks like I'm on track with that.
I would preferably like to keep her other decor items, so I was actually thinking of getting a steam cleaner to really kill everything with the high heat. I think it would also be good investment for future tank cleaning and other jobs around the house. Does that sound effective as well?

I'm also wondering if there's better technique for injecting the panacur into the feeder rodent. This first time I tried to stick the syringe in the mouse's mouth and get the medication down its throat, but that was pretty messy since most did not go down and just kind of just spilled out of its mouth. My snake still got the full dose when she ate it, but if there is a neater way to do this I'd like to know :D

Lastly, since I've read deworming basically decimates the gut flora, I was thinking about getting her this bird and reptile probiotic and mixing it into her water: https://www.amazon.com/Bene-Bac-Bird...0002ASS3E?th=1
I saw this recommended on an old old post on this forum. Would it hurt to try?

When I've given Panacur, that's how I did it too- in the oral cavity of the rodent. It's too thick to literally inject into the rodent, & a snake would literally choke on the stuff if it's not in a rodent.

Agree with using Bene-Bac too (wait until after all treatments are done)- it's good stuff & probably helpful. I've used it too, after antibiotic therapy, etc. :gj:

You might check with your vet, but I can't imagine any pinworm surviving a steam cleaner- sounds like a good idea to me. Hang in there...:cool:

Since my last post she's passed waste three or four times already. It doesn't contain any stool, and I don't even know if it's actual urates. If it is, they are not the urates I'm used to seeing. They're kind of a brownish white and more stringy (?) than clumpy in appearance, if that makes sense. They are also passed with a lot of liquid.
I think this might just be her body's natural response to the dewormer, but the frequency and weird look is concerning me a little. Does this sound like what's expected?

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Originally Posted by aurum

Since my last post she's passed waste three or four times already. It doesn't contain any stool, and I don't even know if it's actual urates. If it is, they are not the urates I'm used to seeing. They're kind of a brownish white and more stringy (?) than clumpy in appearance, if that makes sense. They are also passed with a lot of liquid.
I think this might just be her body's natural response to the dewormer, but the frequency and weird look is concerning me a little. Does this sound like what's expected?

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Hard to say, but probably normal under the circumstances (medication & all)- but you should ask your vet. I've dewormed snakes but not for pinworms.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Hard to say, but probably normal under the circumstances (medication & all)- but you should ask your vet. I've dewormed snakes but not for pinworms.

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Just contacted my vet - will update with their reply. On the slightly bright side, I forgot to add that I haven't seen any blood with her waste the past couple times she's gone.

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Originally Posted by aurum

Just contacted my vet - will update with their reply. On the slightly bright side, I forgot to add that I haven't seen any blood with her waste the past couple times she's gone.

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Good, & I think what you're seeing is normal but better to ask your vet. :gj: And no blood is definitely a win!

I'm still in the middle of correspondence with my vet. They do think this is abnormal, but we haven't come to any conclusions yet. In the meantime I'm trying to think of how she contracted pinworms in the first place. I'd like to think I've been pretty on top of hygiene for her because although I don't keep in the most sterile set up, I spot clean daily, change her water almost daily, scrub out the water bowl around every two weeks, change the substrate and disinfect everything with clorhexidine roughly every 2-3 months, and anything from outside that I've put in her tank has been scrubbed and baked. The only other thing I can think of is through her feeders, which I originally didn't consider since they're all frozen, but apparently pinworm eggs have been known to survive at 18*F, so I'm not going to rule that out completely. Any thoughts?

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Originally Posted by aurum

The only other thing I can think of is through her feeders, which I originally didn't consider since they're all frozen, but apparently pinworm eggs have been known to survive at 18*F, so I'm not going to rule that out completely. Any thoughts?

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What temperature is your freezer, most are 0*F so they likely wouldn't survive. However if your freezer is a higher temperature it is a possibility.

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Originally Posted by Erie_herps

What temperature is your freezer, most are 0*F so they likely wouldn't survive. However if your freezer is a higher temperature it is a possibility.

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Just checked and yeah, it is around 1*F so it looks like I can get rid of that theory. Thanks for the info.

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Originally Posted by aurum

I'm still in the middle of correspondence with my vet. They do think this is abnormal, but we haven't come to any conclusions yet. In the meantime I'm trying to think of how she contracted pinworms in the first place. I'd like to think I've been pretty on top of hygiene for her because although I don't keep in the most sterile set up, I spot clean daily, change her water almost daily, scrub out the water bowl around every two weeks, change the substrate and disinfect everything with clorhexidine roughly every 2-3 months, and anything from outside that I've put in her tank has been scrubbed and baked. The only other thing I can think of is through her feeders, which I originally didn't consider since they're all frozen, but apparently pinworm eggs have been known to survive at 18*F, so I'm not going to rule that out completely. Any thoughts?

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How long have you had this snake? I believe she most likely had them already when she came to you. Snakes are stoic & not everyone is an observant keeper- children can easily pass along pinworms to pets or vice versa, & snakes can have worms for a long time if no one is paying any attention or thinks that the minor symptoms are "normal".

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

How long have you had this snake? I believe she most likely had them already when she came to you. Snakes are stoic & not everyone is an observant keeper- children can easily pass along pinworms to pets or vice versa, & snakes can have worms for a long time if no one is paying any attention or thinks that the minor symptoms are "normal".

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I've had her for a little over a year and a half now and she was only a couple months old when I got her. I never noticed any of the blood until recently and I am pretty observant of her. What are the other minor symptoms I could have missed though?

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Originally Posted by aurum

I've had her for a little over a year and a half now and she was only a couple months old when I got her. I never noticed any of the blood until recently and I am pretty observant of her. What are the other minor symptoms I could have missed though?

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The first "thing" would be general "unwellness"- a vague sense that something's not right & underweight compared to her intake of food; my guess is that if she's had them this long, that may be why you're still seeing what the vet considers to be abnormal stool. Snakes are stoic & king snakes are typically such voracious eaters, there was probably nothing else you could have seen until you noticed the blood in her stool. (As in the list below, I'm quite sure you'd have noticed, so don't beat yourself up.)

Has she ever been fed live or fresh-killed prey? That could have been the source. Frozen prey seems very unlikely.

Quick general search from "Dr. Google":
Among reptiles, the most common infections are roundworms (including ascarids), hookworms and pinworms.
...
Reptiles with intestinal parasites frequently have the following symptoms:

• Poor appetite.
• Weight loss.
• Vomiting or regurgitation.
• Abnormal appearing stools.
• Diarrhea.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

The first "thing" would be general "unwellness"- a vague sense that something's not right & underweight compared to her intake of food; my guess is that if she's had them this long, that may be why you're still seeing what the vet considers to be abnormal stool. Snakes are stoic & king snakes are typically such voracious eaters, there was probably nothing else you could have seen until you noticed the blood in her stool. (As in the list below, I'm quite sure you'd have noticed, so don't beat yourself up.) Has she ever been fed live or fresh-killed prey? That could have been the source.

Quick general search from "Dr. Google":
Among reptiles, the most common infections are roundworms (including ascarids), hookworms and pinworms.
...
Reptiles with intestinal parasites frequently have the following symptoms:

• Poor appetite.
• Weight loss.
• Vomiting or regurgitation.
• Abnormal appearing stools.
• Diarrhea.

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Just for clarification, this abnormal waste only showed up after giving medication, and I have never seen anything like it from her before. Or were you saying that having parasites for so long would have caused a reaction like this to medication?

She has never seemed "unwell" to me. Even now when I know she's internally sick, she's very bright and responsive, and when the vet gave her an exam they said everything looked in really good shape externally. With weight, her body condition and growth rate has also always appeared fine to me but I don't have a lot of experience especially with normal growth rate. If it helps: she was about 10g and 1ft at a couple months old, and she is about 200g and 3ft now at a year and a half.
It's possible that her breeder fed her live pinkies at some point, but I don't know that for sure and she has only ever eaten f/t with me.

Also, my vet responded, and the plan is to do another fecal to see how much the first dose helped reduce the parasite load. They don't really want to give her a second dose since she had such an abnormal reaction to it, so I guess this test would see if that would be necessary or not.

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Originally Posted by aurum

Just for clarification, this abnormal waste only showed up after giving medication, and I have never seen anything like it from her before. Or were you saying that having parasites for so long would have caused a reaction like this to medication?

She has never seemed "unwell" to me. Even now when I know she's internally sick, she's very bright and responsive, and when the vet gave her an exam they said everything looked in really good shape externally. With weight, her body condition and growth rate has also always appeared fine to me but I don't have a lot of experience especially with normal growth rate. If it helps: she was about 10g and 1ft at a couple months old, and she is about 200g and 3ft now at a year and a half.
It's possible that her breeder fed her live pinkies at some point, but I don't know that for sure and she has only ever eaten f/t with me.

Also, my vet responded, and the plan is to do another fecal to see how much the first dose helped reduce the parasite load. They don't really want to give her a second dose since she had such an abnormal reaction to it, so I guess this test would see if that would be necessary or not.

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You've got the right vet, sounds like to me. And no, I didn't mean it was a reaction to the medication at all: worms can do some damage, & my thought was that some tissue was sloughed off from the medication, not just worms being expelled. But from your description, I suspect she'll be fine. Her growth sounds normal to me. And I can tell you that in the wild, these (speckled king snakes) are almost always heavily-parasitized, & yet they survive.

Some not great updates: I started hearing whistley breathing from her today. I checked inside her mouth and there's no excess saliva or inflammation as far as I can tell, and she was quiet when I held her up to my ear. It seems like she only whistles when exerting herself or just breathing out a little harder. I thought it might be shed inside the nostrils, but considering she isn't at full health right now I'm much more concerned. I let my vet know right away, and I'll see if they want to examine her again.
She also passed waste again. I'm very glad that the frequency has gone down, but this one still looked weird. More like actual stool than any of the others, but way too pale and mucous-y.
She did accept food today though, and like I've said before her behavior seems normal. I'm just so worried about her...I really want her to be okay.

I don't blame you one bit for wanting her to be 100% healthy as fast as possible (& so do I-), but unfortunately, it may take a little while for her body to make repairs & get back to normal. The mucus & appearance of the stool is a tip-off- just keep your vet informed & see what they say. Poor little snake has been thru a lot.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

How long have you had this snake? I believe she most likely had them already when she came to you. Snakes are stoic & not everyone is an observant keeper- children can easily pass along pinworms to pets or vice versa, & snakes can have worms for a long time if no one is paying any attention or thinks that the minor symptoms are "normal".

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By the way, just to be clear, when I said "not everyone is an observant keeper", I wasn't referring to you- I meant whomever you got this snake from. ;)

Hooray! After this week's meal (no panacur) she gave me a very normal stool, no blood even, after a normal amount of time digesting. I still have a lot to figure out with her treatment and everything, but I am taking this as a good thing.

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Originally Posted by aurum

Hooray! After this week's meal (no panacur) she gave me a very normal stool, no blood even, after a normal amount of time digesting. I still have a lot to figure out with her treatment and everything, but I am taking this as a good thing.

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:gj: Great news! "Normal" is exactly what we want to see. :)

The second fecal we did came back negative for pinworms, which is good, but I also don't know if I can trust it completely, since the stool sample I submitted was the weird, grayish, goopy one and not a normal stool. Based on the results though, my vet recommended that I don't give her the second dose of Panacur and just monitor and update them with any changes. Restarting treatment is an option in the future if necessary. I think this sounds like a good plan for now, and just for my peace of mind I'll also request another fecal in a few weeks.

I think the "grayish goopy stool" is probably just an upset tummy from the medication, but I agree wholeheartedly with your plan. When I've de-wormed snakes, I dosed on the light side too, knowing how sensitive snakes can be to various medications. You can always dose again IF you need to. It comes down to "First, do no harm." :gj:

How is she doing now? any change?

Her symptoms are largely the same: normal stool with a tiny amount of or no blood, and normal healthy behavior. I've been waiting for her to pass waste a few more times so I have some more data for the vet and then get their thoughts on what to do moving forward. I'd ask for the fecal then too.

Rats, I was hoping & thought there'd be no more bleeding. But it's good she's eating & acting normal, maybe just needs some healing? It's hard to "rest" the GI tract. Fingers crossed for her.

Getting another fecal sent out tomorrow, and unfortunately there was some dried blood with this one too. Another thing I'm concerned about is her whistle-y breathing. I've been keeping an eye on it ever since I first noticed and it is definitely still there, maybe even more frequent. The thing is I've also been checking her mouth periodically and I can't see any excess saliva as far as I can tell? I think I'll just book an exam and get a culture done for an RI anyway though, I don't know what else could be causing this and kingsnakes aren't known for being naturally "noisy".

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Originally Posted by aurum

Getting another fecal sent out tomorrow, and unfortunately there was some dried blood with this one too. Another thing I'm concerned about is her whistle-y breathing. I've been keeping an eye on it ever since I first noticed and it is definitely still there, maybe even more frequent. The thing is I've also been checking her mouth periodically and I can't see any excess saliva as far as I can tell? I think I'll just book an exam and get a culture done for an RI anyway though, I don't know what else could be causing this and kingsnakes aren't known for being naturally "noisy".

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Sorry to hear that you're still seeing a bit of blood. Wonder what the vet will say about that? :confusd:

I hate to say this but snakes can get worms in their lungs too. Do ask your vet. Search for lung worms in snakes- lots of links such as-

http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/oth...s/pentastomes/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2996842/

https://wildlife.org/watch-invasive-...lorida-snakes/

Thanks for the links, I sent an email out to my vet about the lung worms, but unfortunately he's not going to be in the office until June 10th. I really hope she doesn't have them though, it looks like there's basically no treatment :(

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Originally Posted by aurum

Thanks for the links, I sent an email out to my vet about the lung worms, but unfortunately he's not going to be in the office until June 10th. I really hope she doesn't have them though, it looks like there's basically no treatment :(

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I hope that's not her problem also, & I hesitated to mention it, but figured your own research could easily turn that up anyway. Sorry your vet is absent for a while, I know how badly you want some answers & help for your sweet snake.

Got the results from the fecal back and she does still have some pinworms. Given that she also still has a little bit of blood with her stool my vet recommended we deworm again even though she did have an abnormal reaction the first time, and to try and prevent that we are lowering the dose this time.
I haven't gone in for an exam for her respiratory issues yet, but one thing I've been thinking about is if nido is a possibility here? I know it's much more common in pythons, but colubrids can have it too, and based on some things I've heard about it, it can sit and be asymptomatic for years and then pop up as an RI when the snake is exposed to enough stressors. I just feel like that matches what I've seen with my snake where the respiratory issues only popped up after the stress of dealing with the deworming medication. No other husbandry factors had changed to incite a bacterial infection and kingsnakes aren't usually prone to those anyway. I'm not sure though, and it might just be my anxiety trying to find a scary answer before I have any real ones, so I thought I'd ask the forum.

Sorry to hear you're still dealing with this (pinworms) but it's not too surprising, considering the symptoms she still has.

I don't personally know enough about nido to answer that- I've happily never dealt with it, but you might ask the vet too. It's a great question that needs asking. Then again, it's easy for any of us to be anxious when our pets aren't well & when the treatment doesn't immediately resolve the issue.

I gave her the last dose of Panacur a few days ago and it seems to have helped somewhat? Sometimes I do still see a tiny amount of blood and sometimes I don't. I think I'll watch her stool for another couple feedings and then talk to my vet again if nothing improves. They recommended possibly doing a fecal culture or ultrasound if the Panacur treatment didn't work, so I might end up going ahead with that.
As for her respiratory issues I'm not really sure what to do about them. I was originally going to take her in for a culture to see if it was anything bacteria related, but the sounds I'm hearing are more like an occasional whistle than the wheezing and popping I normally hear about, and every time I check her mouth for excess saliva it looks normal to me. I guess I just don't know if there will be anything to find, and I don't want to put her through another vet visit if I don't have to.

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Originally Posted by aurum

I gave her the last dose of Panacur a few days ago and it seems to have helped somewhat? Sometimes I do still see a tiny amount of blood and sometimes I don't. I think I'll watch her stool for another couple feedings and then talk to my vet again if nothing improves. They recommended possibly doing a fecal culture or ultrasound if the Panacur treatment didn't work, so I might end up going ahead with that.
As for her respiratory issues I'm not really sure what to do about them. I was originally going to take her in for a culture to see if it was anything bacteria related, but the sounds I'm hearing are more like an occasional whistle than the wheezing and popping I normally hear about, and every time I check her mouth for excess saliva it looks normal to me. I guess I just don't know if there will be anything to find, and I don't want to put her through another vet visit if I don't have to.

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A slight whistle might just be normal for her- just like some people may have a deviated septum or other imperfection, it's possible your snake does too. And maybe it's just enough to trap water or debris that make the sounds?

Sorry that you're still seeing a tiny bit of blood when she defecates- that's a really stubborn issue, unusually-so. I agree that your vet can best help you if it continues. I was hoping it would have been all cleared up by now. :confusd:

After updating my vet they recommended another exam to try and figure out what else might be going on since the panacur wasn't working for her. They were very booked up, so the soonest I was able to take her there was yesterday.
She did well on her physical exam and instead of any further testing we decided to first try a new medication. My vet's theory is that the pinworms showing up in her fecal may actually be rodent pinworms from her food and are not what's affecting her, so the idea is that the new medication might be able to target something bacterial or parasitic that is not being reported on the standard fecal and could be the actual cause of her symptoms. The med is metronidazole/flagyl, and if this treatment doesn't work either our next step is a more in-depth fecal (I think he called it a fecal smear) that should hopefully reveal more about what's going on in her GI tract.

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Originally Posted by aurum

After updating my vet they recommended another exam to try and figure out what else might be going on since the panacur wasn't working for her. They were very booked up, so the soonest I was able to take her there was yesterday.
She did well on her physical exam and instead of any further testing we decided to first try a new medication. My vet's theory is that the pinworms showing up in her fecal may actually be rodent pinworms from her food and are not what's affecting her, so the idea is that the new medication might be able to target something bacterial or parasitic that is not being reported on the standard fecal and could be the actual cause of her symptoms. The med is metronidazole/flagyl, and if this treatment doesn't work either our next step is a more in-depth fecal (I think he called it a fecal smear) that should hopefully reveal more about what's going on in her GI tract.

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Good choice- I've used Flagyl in the past, it's pretty safe & effective- I sure hope this takes care of her lingering issue. :gj:

Huge breakthrough today!
To summarize the past few weeks: we did the flagyl treatment, and it went better than the panacur in that she had no weird reaction to it, but it still didn’t solve the problem of blood specks. We then did a fecal float, but that didn’t show any parasites that would need treatment, so my vet recommended we come in for blood work and/or crypto testing which is what we went in for today.
During her exam though they actually found what looks like the true cause of her issue. One of the scent glands in her cloaca (the ones that produce musk) is enlarged and inflamed, and any sort of abrasion makes it bleed slightly.
So it seems like her GI tract is just fine and the specks of blood are coming from when her stool passes over that scent gland.
We are still checking bloodwork and now cytology to see if the mass is cancerous, and it’s likely this will end with getting her scent glands surgically removed, but it’s still such a relief to finally know what’s going on.


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Wow, that really took some doing to finally figure this out. Makes total sense- it was so frustrating to keep putting her thru medications & their side effects. It's a very rare issue, & even if the tissue found isn't currently cancerous, it might still be best to remove it to prevent that possibility, or further abrasion that could cause a lot more bleeding suddenly (like if she swallowed a bit of something she couldn't digest, the bleeding might be severe from trying to pass it). You're a great owner for sticking with this to get to the bottom of the mystery, & :gj: to your vet also.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Wow, that really took some doing to finally figure this out. Makes total sense- it was so frustrating to keep putting her thru medications & their side effects. It's a very rare issue, & even if the tissue found isn't currently cancerous, it might still be best to remove it to prevent that possibility, or further abrasion that could cause a lot more bleeding suddenly (like if she swallowed a bit of something she couldn't digest, the bleeding might be severe from trying to pass it). You're a great owner for sticking with this to get to the bottom of the mystery, & :gj: to your vet also.

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Thank you! And yes, it took a lot of trial and error and vet bills, but it's all worth it now. I'm honestly just glad it's something fixable--my vet has even performed this specific surgery before, so I'm pretty hopeful that everything will turn out alright. Another thing to be happy about this is that my vet cleared her to go back to her normal setup with loose substrate and decor, so she can get back to burrowing and climbing after all these months :)

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Originally Posted by aurum

Thank you! And yes, it took a lot of trial and error and vet bills, but it's all worth it now. I'm honestly just glad it's something fixable--my vet has even performed this specific surgery before, so I'm pretty hopeful that everything will turn out alright. Another thing to be happy about this is that my vet cleared her to go back to her normal setup with loose substrate and decor, so she can get back to burrowing and climbing after all these months :)

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That's wonderful news- especially that your vet has done this surgery before too. :gj: I would think that after the surgery though, she'll be on paper towels for a little while again? When are you having it done?