It took THREE vets to diagnose this mouth rot and I am panicking, please help

[Damariscotta]

I've been to three vets with my snake and I am dumbfounded that it took someone this long to diagnose her with mouth rot when I suspected it from the beginning and voiced this to them. The first vet (non-ARAV certified) told me she had some kind of trauma in her mouth and gave me SS cream. I took her to this vet because my usual ARAV-certified vet was on vacation for two weeks. It didn't seem to improve at all so I took her to a second vet. While not my usual vet, this one was certified. They looked at her and told me they weren't able to tell what was wrong, so they put her on injectable Baytril. This didn't work either as she worsened. Finally, I was able to take her into my usual vet.

I was shocked when he told me that it was not mouth rot, and like the first vet said, some kind of trauma. At this point she had the cheesy white chunks in her mouth. He told me to continue with the SS cream on the affected gumline but to stop the Baytril. Well here were are a week and a half and $600 dollars later and her mouth had WORSENED. I take her back to my usual vet and he finally tells me that it IS in fact mouth rot. He shows me a big hole/ulcer behind her gumline and advises me to put the cream in there. I am so upset that it took a month for someone to diagnose this and that TWO certified ARAV vets were not able to diagnose something as common as mouth rot when I took one look at it a month ago and had strong suspicions.

I just got home and I'm not sure what to do from here. It's good that I finally got the proper diagnosis but I'm not sure if I should trust this vet anymore. I've been to all three reptile vets in my area so I feel very alone and lost on what to do. The vet did say in three weeks, if her mouth is still not getting better he will prescribe her Fortaz and something else that began with an "M." Can someone please give me advice on what I can do next. Will the SS cream really help her? The vet said there's only one ulcer as of now and it's not life threatening yet. I just feel like I lost so much time that I could have been properly treating her.

[bcr229]

What is SS cream? And did the vet say anything about cleaning the gunk out her mouth using a q-tip and saline before applying it?

I am surprised you were told to stop with the Baytril as only administering a partial course of antibiotics is how you end up with resistant bacteria.

[Damariscotta]

Silver Sulfadiazine Cream.

I did not stop giving her the Baytril despite what I was told. He told me to stop because of the possible necrosis that could occur but I figured it would be worse to just completely stop giving it to her half way through. She actually as her last injection tomorrow. He did not say anything about the saline.

[jmcrook]

Were cultures done on the bacteria in the mouth? That’s the best way to narrow down what antibiotic should be prescribed as many are resistant to various antibiotics. I had a similar issue with a retic a couple years ago and was prescribed Fortaz (ceftazidime) and Metacam for pain management.
Between 5 vet visits which included an X-ray, culture, and a surgery I spent about a grand on that animal in medical costs alone over 5 months. Best of luck and hope you get something figured out soon


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