When regurgitation is cancer

[squatsnstilettos]

It's been 6 months since my King passed. I am just now able to share. May his story help others.

My King Khyan was with me for 2 short years. I rescued him from a place of neglect, and while he had a feisty nature, thanks to this forum, I learned to work with him. Over time, I fell utterly deeply in love with him. My beloved King was always a champ eater. One night over the summer, he decided he would not eat. I had just blasted the AC and thought it had been caused by the sudden drop in temperature. I waited 2 weeks and tried again. This time Khyan ate, but the following morning he had regurgitated. I posted in the forum and spoke to every snake expert I could call, including a Vet. The verdict was that "this happens" and lack of heat was again the culprit. I made modifications to increase and waited 2 more weeks. I tried a tiny/smaller feeder to make it easier on his stomach. He wanted to eat, and was trying, but for some reason could not get it down. This is when things took a terrible turn and his disease showed its ugly face. Khyan started getting very aggressive, attacking his water dish, stargazing and "corkscrewing" his head. I rushed him to the Vets and took blood work. His count came back astronomically high and the Vet recommended euthanizing.

I did a post-mortem because I also have a Python and needed to rule out anything contagious. The results came back as lymphoma cancer.

Although there is no cure, I wish I had sounded the alarms sooner and brought him to the Vets. However, other than not eating, there was no change in his behavior and he still acted social and cheeky. He was a master at hiding his illness. God bless his beautiful soul.