14 months since this guy ate....

[CritterVet]

Just want to make a few points here....

Metronidazole (Flagyl) is an antibiotic that also has anti-inflammatory effects in the GI tract. It also kills some flagellated parasites. It is not considered a GI irritant. Whether or not it actually stimulates appetite, I don't know, but it does get snakes eating again so who cares.

To the OP: offer your snake a small meal, as her body has adjusted to starvation mode and may not be able to handle a big meal.

Regarding what human docs do:
Comparing what human doctors do to what vets do is like apples and oranges. A huge difference in the fields being that MDs' patients can talk to them about what's going on -- MD's get a lot more information from that. Vets generally need to do a lot more tests to find out what is going on because patients can't tell us things like "it hurts when you poke there," "I have a headache," etc. Some animals, especially exotic animals, are very stoic and it's really hard to figure out how they are feeling.

Secondly, a hell of a lot more is known about human medicine than veterinary medicine. Even in well studied species, like horses, cows, and dogs, what we actually know is tiny compared to what we know about human medicine. What we know about reptiles is depressingly small.

Thirdly, human docs often do a poor-ass job working up their patients. A thorough physical exam is rarely done, and the database collected on patients is pathetic. And guess what, lots of stuff gets missed because of it.

Fourth, vet medicine is paid for out of pocket, and a lot of vets' hands are tied by what the client is willing to pay for. Standard of care often can't be afforded (or the client just isn't willing to cough up the dough for the health of his pet), and so the vet does the best they can with the situation they are given.

My point is, the way MDs and the way DVMs practice medicine is totally different for many reasons. And the way dogs & cats are treated is totally different than how reptiles are treated. Ideally, we'd do aerobic, anaerobic, fungal, and viral testing for all RI's presented, but rarely do clients want to pay for that. So we put the snake on antibiotics and hope the client follows our instructions to prevent resistant bugs, and hope that the critter gets better.