Thoughts on veterinary estimate for belly rot treatment

[catzeye21138]

I just took a snake in to the vet to see if I could get some antibiotics to start treating his obvious belly rot. I'd been giving it providone-iodine baths for a week before making the appointment, and only seeing minimal improvements. She seems convinced it's a burn, but from what I know about the situation I'm pretty positive it's rot. The temperature had been consistantly regulated at 82 F, but the humidity was sky high and dripping. Anyway here is what she suggested:

Blood Culture, Aero & Anaerobic
CBC Full
Avian/Reptile Chem 21 (PHX)
Silver Sulfadiazene (for the supposed burn)
IDX Anaerobic & Aerobic Culture

Plus a few odds and ends brought me to a grand total of... $607.60

I'm having a hard time remembering how she described some of these, so I'm asking you guys. From what I was hearing some of it sounded a bit redundant, and at $70-$156 a pop I'd like to skip anything unnecessary (if applicable). Either way I have to bring this snake back in because it started shedding the morning of the appointment, and she did not want to mess with it in blue. Minus the clinic visit, it's nice because it gives me a few days to look over what she gave me. Plus I wanted to see how it's scales looked after the shed, so we're waiting on that too.

Opinions?

[DVirginiana]

Not sure how redundant or not those tests are, but one of my snakes needed surgery a couple years ago and it cost about that much. Don't want to comment on what may or may not need to be done without knowing much about the tests, but the cost seems kind of high for what you're treating.

[Sauzo]

I had to take my beardie in for RI about a month ago and that ran me around $270. I had a full exam done though as she has never been in so I had a full blood panel done as well as a mouth culture to find exactly what bacteria or virus it was causing the RI so I knew exactly what medicine to use. In your case, the blood panel and culture of the affected area would be a good idea as that will tell you if its a thermal burn or actually a bacteria like belly rot. The silver sulfade is understandable as its for the claimed burn, cant really hurt. As for the other stuff like reptile chem 21, im not sure what that is. My best advice is ask what exactly each test is for and what the vet is trying to achieve with it. If he/she doesn't want to explain it in detail to you, then its time to find a different vet imo. Although $607 does seems kind of high to just diagnose a burn vs belly rot but what do I know, I'm just a guy on the internet

[Sita]

As someone who works for an exotics vet, the bloodwork seems unnecessary, unless your snake is acting unusual. If they refuse to treat without bloodwork, only do the CBC. That will tell them whether or not the rot/burn has gone systemic (which would indicate how aggressive of treatment is needed), if the snake is anemic, and can even give a clue as to whether or not there are internal parasites.

Depending on the severity of the rot/burn, a culture may or may not be needed. Many times with those type of skin issues, we would start treatment, and if there was no improvement after about 2 weeks, then we would do a culture. Most of the time, it would clear up without needing the culture.

The silver sulfa cream will help either condition, so that's fine. But either way, they should be giving injectable medication, preferably Fortaz (ceftazidime). Fortaz does better for skin related issues in general, while Baytril (enrofloxacin) is more for respiratory problems. There's only so much that can be done from the outside, due to the repellant nature of scales, so an internal antibiotic is typically used. If they try to send you home with an oral med, find another vet. Snakes don't metabolize oral meds the same way, so they can be near useless.

Iodine soaks are good, another option is chlorhexadine soaks. Diluted to a very light blue color, twice a day soaks for about 10 minutes each, can really help skin issues.

Lastly, you'll definitely want to switch to either paper towels or newspaper, and clean out the cage throughly every 3-4 days, or if s/he goes to the bathroom.

How were the temps measured at 82? And was this the entire cage or the hot spot from a heat mat?

[catzeye21138]

Thanks so much for the insight, Sita! I'll bring some of these concerns up with the vet on my next visit. I used a temperature gun to measure the heat. It varied a degree or two depending on where I pointed it, but I had more newspaper in some places. His cage does not have a hot spot, because lengthwise is the only way it will fit into the rack. I've heard success stories of keeping them at one overall temperature. I've had him like this for well over a year now with no change in behavior or health (until now).

[catzeye21138]

Not him, my other snakes. The Q rack is limited

[Skiploder]

If the vet thinks the rot is bad enough, he/she may be performing the blood work to see if septicemia has set in. Then again, it's usually apparent when it has...

That estimate seems really high. For comparison, I had a corneal abrasion surgically treated in a snake (complete with anesthesia, post of meds, etc.) for $700.00. $600.00 plus seems high.

I also had eggs removed from a gravid snake suffering from osteomyelitis and it ran less than $600.00...

I pay about $20 for a tube of the sulfa and an office visit can run anywhere from $35 to $50 depending on your zip code.

[chrisv]

I've found herp vets to be all about the exploratory diagnostics. It seems criminal to me. My vet wanted to do a bunch of tests on a snake he deemed healthy during a new animal exam, "just to see if there are any issues we have no other way of knowing about"...to include a full blood chemistry and x-rays. For a snake that wasn't sick! It was nothing but an attempt at exploitation.

Every time your vet wants to do a test, ask them what the possible outcomes of the test are, how likely each outcome is and how the outcome of the test would alter a treatment plan. Don't think that vets are above taking advantage of clients and calling it patient care. Exotics vets are among the lowest paid in the profession and all of the specialized training is very expensive.

[bcr229]

I've heard success stories of keeping them at one overall temperature. I've had him like this for well over a year now with no change in behavior or health (until now).

The people who keep BP's at a constant temp keep them at 85-86*F, not 82*F. That low + too damp will give you a nice case of scale rot.

[catzeye21138]

The people who keep BP's at a constant temp keep them at 85-86*F, not 82*F. That low + too damp will give you a nice case of scale rot.

Thanks, I didn't realize I had it too low. Bumped it up a couple degrees.