RI Treatment

[rj1204]

Well, I just went and checked my girl. I opened the left side of her mouth and it was fairly dry......normal looking. She was pulling pretty hard to get out of my grip but I had to give it a good, thorough check. I opened the other side and as she tried to pull away, a little saliva came out of the side of the mouth. I have no doubt their is a lot less saliva then she had 10 days ago, but still too much. I will call the vet and ask what he thinks, but I definetely cannot afford to drive to Texas A&M and put her under for the procedure, especially if their are breathing concerns. Maybe the vet will give me another round of meds or another type of med. If that does not work and she is not better after it (and another week) and she is suffering, I may have to put her down.

Thanks for the advice and I just hope my other BP's don't get an RI. I have been checking their mouths every 3-4 days (when I clean tubs/water) and so far, they are all good. My tubs are not wet at all and humidity is 57-60%. In a couple tubs, the humidity gets up in the high 60's and even low 70's but it is still dry. Other then them getting it from my sick girl, I don't see how they can get an RI. Thanks again.

[mykee]

A lung wash (or trans tracheal) wash can and is done while the snake is awake and alert. The vet will take a syringe filled with a few cc's of sterile saline attached to a long, flexible tube the width of a pencil lead. The snake is held up and once the opening to the lung opens (that little esophagus-looking thing at the bottom of the snakes mouth) the tube is fed into the lung.
When the tube is fully inserted, the saline is pushed into the base of the lung, and with the tube still in, the snake is rolled and rotated to allow the sterile saline to mix with the mucous and fluid already in the lung. When this is completed, the fluid is sucked back up into the syringe and is sultured to determine what bacteria is in the lung.
I would imagine that this method is slightly stressful on the BP, but really the only sure way to get a good fluid sample from the lungs.

[mpkeelee]

a minute of stress is worth a good culture in my book. but why would the bacteria in the lungs be different than the bacteria in its mouth??

[Freakie_frog]

a minute of stress is worth a good culture in my book. but why would the bacteria in the lungs be different than the bacteria in its mouth??

Some RI's are caused when the Bacteria from the mouth and nose moves down into the lungs and upper respiratory area. The reasons this happens is because of a lowered immune system either due to stress, injury, breeding, poor nutrition, the list goes on and on. Doing an oral swab is pointless since the bacteria is always present.

Not sure what a lung wash is but it sounds way more trouble that its worth all the stress its sure to cause on an already compromised snake..In the end trust your vet but rule #3 is Never believe what you're told always double check.

[rj1204]

If the vet is not going to do a culture, then their is no point in taking her there. If the culture can be done as stated, then I would love to have it done to find the cause and the cure. I am going to call the vet later today and talk to him about what needs to be done. At this point, if Baytril did not work, isn't one of the only other options I have Fortaz?

On another note, I am focusing some of my worries on my other BP's. My hot spot is at 92* (3" flexwatt across the back of the tub) and my cool side is at 82-84. My humidity is in the 65-70% range now as I lowered my ceiling fan to low (the entire tub is dry with this humidity).....humidity was 55-65% before. I moved my rack from an area that was about 2 feet from where my ac came out to the corner of the room, a good 8+ feet from the ac vent. I cleaned all tubs with a 5% bleach solution and then another wipe down with Chlorohexadine. I clean the water weekly and I disinfect my tongs after every feeding.

Thanks for the replies. It seems all the vets I call either do not want to do a culture on a snake or they may just not know how to do it.

[BluEyedLeu]

Why did the Vet administer Baytril, without doing a Culture/Sensitivity test? How did your Vet know the RI would respond to Baytril? Baytril is the least harmful antibiotic compared to Amakacin and Fortaz, but it is also the least effective. Also 6 injections sounds way too small. When treating my Green Tree Pythons with Baytril, the schedual is 1 injection every other day for a month(14-15 injections).
I would have a culture(make sure your Vet gets the sample from the animal's Trachea, and not it's mouth) and sensitivity test done on your BP. This can be done by waiting for the BP to "take a breath", when the Trachea opens the Vet can slide a steryl swab in and get a sample.
Mouht and Lung bacteria may NOT be the same.

[Freakie_frog]

Why did the Vet administer Baytril, without doing a Culture/Sensitivity test? How did your Vet know the RI would respond to Baytril? Baytril is the least harmful antibiotic compared to Amakacin and Fortaz, but it is also the least effective. Also 6 injections sounds way too small. When treating my Green Tree Pythons with Baytril, the schedual is 1 injection every other day for a month(14-15 injections).
I would have a culture(make sure your Vet gets the sample from the animal's Trachea, and not it's mouth) and sensitivity test done on your BP

Baytril is a wide spectrum antibiotic used for many different types of treatment's in reptiles. I've used it to treat wounds, RI's and even to ward off infection from Belly Rot.

Many vets will start with this as it is merely the first step in a treatment. As for the number of injections it all varies from vet to vet. I've given as many as 10 and as few as 4 before it depends on how bad the RI is and the over all health of the snake. A snake that is relativity healthy will be give Baytril to supplement it's own immune system where as a snake in poor health will be give Baytril piggy backed with something like Fortaz and maybe even an appetite stimulant.

So would I dis-agree with the vets decision nope..

[rj1204]

My vet swears that Nebulization of the meds works great. He said by the snake having to inhale the meds they go deep into the lungs and treat the source directly. The problem is it cost $20 per treatment so bringing her in for 2 treatments a day for 3-4 days is going to cost me $120+. I have said that the cost is not a big concern, but I do not want to spend hundreds of dollars if I can handle it on my own with a series of shots. Also, I know the stress is not good for her while she is sick either.

Your thoughts on nebulization (not sure of the spelling)?

[BluEyedLeu]

Freakie Frog, sorry but the Vet is wrong. To send him home with Baytril injections and not even do a culture and sensitivity.... wrong

[Freakie_frog]

Freakie Frog, sorry but the Vet is wrong. To send him home with Baytril injections and not even do a culture and sensitivity.... wrong

What other drugs are available and proven to treat URI in Ball Pythons??