$195 !!!!!!!

[AngelOfDeath]

I had to take Loki to the vet on monday for an prolapse and it cost $195 to correct and to take samples of his feces to check for parasites ..... is that too much or did i get a good deal i have no idea never had to have this done before

[Jeanne]

Prolapse of what? You lost me.

[mlededee]

prolapsed bowels i'm guessing? that price seems pretty high--did the vet give you some kind of medicine or anything along with what he did at the clinic? meds can be pretty expensive, but still, that seems really high. at least compared to anything i've ever paid--even getting my cat spayed didn't cost that much and that included anesthesia and everything.

[SatanicIntention]

Actually, prolapses are a pretty serious issue. There's the whole bacterial infections thing... For prolapses we usually put a sugar paste to make the swelling go down, and then stitch everything back up so the muscles can tighten again. That isn't too high of a price considering your snake could have died from a bacterial infection or septicemia if that hadn't been taken care of. They probably anesthetised him, gave him an injection to make the swelling go down or did the sugar solution, and then pushed everything back in and put a few stitches in.

He might have parasites, and prolapses can usually occur from having so much diarrhea and the bowel straining so hard against nothing. Has he had runny feces lately?

mlededee, a cat spay is invasive, but the outside is very sterile before the invasive surgery. It doesn't usually require antibiotics and the cat is under for a very short time. Animal birth control clinics have very low prices so more people can afford to come in and get their animals fixed. Prolapses are very different, since the area isn't sterile to begin with, and you are pushing the non-sterile bowels back into the fairly sterile body.

I hope your snake isn't sick, parasites are easily gotten rid of, and hopefully there isn't an underlying issue other than parasites. Hope everything goes well

[Ginevive]

What would cause prolapse in a ball python? Besides parasites, as was mentioned.
I know that they can be caused in frogs and other amphibians if a solid piece of substrate or gravel is ingested and too big to pass out. So I am thinking it'd be double-bad to feed a BP on a loose substrate. I use cypress mulch in my cages, but I lay a few layers of enwspaper down atop it before every feeding.

[SatanicIntention]

It can be caused by many things. Ingesting the substrate, parasites, genetic issues, constipation... There are just a number of things. I hope everything got itself resolved and it won't happen again.

I know if it happens in cattle or horses, you push everything back in after sterilizing it and sew the opening shut. I don't think that would work in snakes because of the longer healing time, so the vet probably just put a few stitches on the inside to keep everything from coming out again.