Vet tomorrow

Me and the rescue boa are going in for our 4th vet visit tomorrow (or I guess this) morning at 11. She went to a vet 2 times, and they just put my boa on a month of Baytril, 2 weeks each visit. A little over a month ago I took my snake to an exotics specific vet hospital with 2 vets that seemed to know a lot more than my last vet did. They put my boa on 5 shots of Azithro and the RI still hasn't cleared up, it actually seems to have gotten worse :(

I guess at this visit they will be doing a x-ray to see whats going on in her lugs, and take some samples to see if we can figure out exactly what she has.

She has gained 4 pounds (she weighs 15lbs now, and is about 5'8") since I've had her and she eats for me every week, so I'm hoping thats a good sign. Has anyone else dealt with a snake with such a long illness like this?

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...e/DSC08228.jpg

I don't think many people are interested but I'm posting an update in case anyone else goes though this.

This is all paraphrased from my vet report.

The vet did a bacterial and fungal culture to my boa's trachea, and after the results come back (3-7 days) we will discuss the treatment for whatever she has, and if the culture comes back with no real results we will do blood-work or an endoscopy to see if those come up with anything.

The vet said he didn't see any green mucus or red spots in her mouth/throat area and that was a good sign. He also said that the fact that she was eating and putting on weight was a good sign. He said that if she has ophidian paramyxovirus or inclusion body disease it will be hard to diagnose but they are possibilities.

As for now, I'm trying to raise ambient temps to 82-84 and raising humidity. The vet told me to soak her in warm water for an hour every 3-4 days. We also decided to give my snake 0.3 ml of Bird Booster orally (I'm glad shes such a good snake, I would probably die if any of my other snakes needed oral medication, they would put up a fight). The bird booster is a stretch, but other vets have reported it to help some snakes, and since my boa didn't improve with either antibiotics she was put on we are going to try whatever we can to get her immune system up so she can fight this illness.

I might also get some ecchinacea extract (I believe this is a human health supplement) for her as another way to try and boost her immune system, this is also another stretch, but worth a try.

I'll post another update after they call with the results, and if I have to go back in for further tests.

By the way, I'm not saying anyone should go out and use the ecchinacea extract or the bird booster! They're last resort options that might not even do anything, I'm just posting my experience.

wow i hope she gets better she's really cool lookin

so whats the verdict? was it simple URI or symptoms of OPMV or IBD?

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Originally Posted by kzooherpetoculturist

so whats the verdict? was it simple URI or symptoms of OPMV or IBD?

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We actually still have no idea, over $500 in vet bills and not much has changed. Whatever she has is immune to both of the antibiotics we have tried - the culture didn't show anything - the next step would be to put a camera somewhere? I'm not quite sure, but the vet said that it probably won't show much either. She eats for me every week, drinks, doesn't do anything abnormal except wheeze a little when she gets out of her cage. I have another snake I'm taking to the vet next week so I'll see what the vet thinks we should do about the boa then.

I'll post an update after the vet, I'll ask him some more questions and get some things cleared up.

Thanks for asking about her, she is a sweet snake

how long have you had her? And how's your humidity?

Have they tried a tracheal wash?

If she doesn't have any mucous in her mouth and her lungs sound good, then she's probably ok. My boa is 8ft and over 25lbs now and wheezes every so often when she's trying to get a better grip on me. I've heard alot of big boas/other snakes do the wheezing.

My boa, Sonja, had an RI way back before Jo(FrankyKeno) even rescued her and it wasn't treated properly, so she has some lung damage. Other than a wheeze every so often, she's fine.

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Originally Posted by qiksilver

how long have you had her? And how's your humidity?

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I think I've had her for 6-7 months now, the vet told me to raise the humidity to help with congestion (I spray everyday, it usually gets about 60%) and soak her every 3 days, shes also on bird booster which may or may not boost her immune system.

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Have they tried a tracheal wash?

If she doesn't have any mucous in her mouth and her lungs sound good, then she's probably ok. My boa is 8ft and over 25lbs now and wheezes every so often when she's trying to get a better grip on me. I've heard alot of big boas/other snakes do the wheezing.

My boa, Sonja, had an RI way back before Jo(FrankyKeno) even rescued her and it wasn't treated properly, so she has some lung damage. Other than a wheeze every so often, she's fine.

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They have not done a tracheal wash, I'll ask about that next week when I'm there with another snake. I got the boa from some very shady people, and have no idea how long the RI she has was left untreated before I got a hold of her. The vet said that she probably had it long before I got her and there may be nothing we can do about it, just keep running tests until they figure it out i guess.
Shes really the best eater I have here, she seems perfectly healthy except for the wheeze - shes even gained 6 pounds since shes been here (shes about 16-17 pounds now - 11 when I got her).

What do you mean by wheeze? It doesn't make any sense to me that there is even a problem. Does she cough phlegm up? Blow her throat out? Sneeze out bubbles? Blow bubbles? Breath with her mouth open? She probably had a slight RI for a long time and now has permanent damage because of it. That's my verdict.

i agree, could be some permanent damage if symptoms are mostly gone.. have you noticed any neurological symptoms or regurgitation? i'm sure you and your vets have a handle on it, i'm just curious because RI's don't take long to clear up...

one more question, have you tried a nebulizer or steam?

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Originally Posted by jim020cricket

What do you mean by wheeze? It doesn't make any sense to me that there is even a problem. Does she cough phlegm up? Blow her throat out? Sneeze out bubbles? Blow bubbles? Breath with her mouth open? She probably had a slight RI for a long time and now has permanent damage because of it. That's my verdict.

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Originally Posted by kzooherpetoculturist

i agree, could be some permanent damage if symptoms are mostly gone.. have you noticed any neurological symptoms or regurgitation? i'm sure you and your vets have a handle on it, i'm just curious because RI's don't take long to clear up...

one more question, have you tried a nebulizer or steam?

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Thanks guys, I was wondering if it could just be something she would live with. Her health hasn't seemed to deteriorate because of the wheezing, if anything shes healthier now than when I got her - people before me used a heat lamp on her in a screen top cage with no humidity. I haven't seen any regurgitation and no neurological symptoms, shes just a very mellow snake - gets active when I take her outside and she moves around a lot - nothing out of the ordinary.

She doesn't breathe with her mouth open, I saw bubbles come out of her nose once when I first got her but haven't seen anything sense. The vet looks in her mouth every time I take her to him and he said that the mucus isn't a weird color but it is there.

I have not used a nebulizer/steam, how would I use that?

I'll read all these posts again before I go to the vet, and make sure I write down some notes and ask some questions to see what he thinks.

Thanks for all the questions/comments!

I would ask your vet before you use a nebulizer or steam.

A nebulizer is a machine that makes liquid medicine into a light mist that you can breath in. My daugher has to use one occasionally and the thing was expensive. I have only put albuterol in it so I am not sure if it will make plain water into a mist or if the vet would want you it use some type of meds.

For the steam you could use a regular run of the mill humidifier in the room to boost the humidity of the room.

Good Luck and Keep us posted!!

the general consensus is that steam either from a shower running in a bathroom, or from a nebulizer filled with saline solution, is at least as beneficial as the meds themselves. it's definitley worth asking your vet about.

Colin and Jimi basically summed it up. Sometimes its just scarring or permanent damage. My 2 cents is that besides R.I. sometimes problems can just be caused by too low humidity over too long of a period. It happens more often with rainbow boas since they require such high humidity, but I have heard of it happening in boa constrictors kept in poor conditions. Which sounds like it happened before you picked her up, but that shouldn't be permanent.

Thanks guys, this is really going to help me have some new questions for my vet