What's Wrong With My BP ?

[angllady2]

I am sorry for your loss, and I know you made what you felt was a good decision, but the chances your ball python had IBD are slim to none. In ball pythons it kills very quickly, and almost certainly wasn't "born with it".
I don't think this vet gave you accurate advise at all, and if you decide to get another snake in a year when the chance of IBD infecting a new snake has passed, I most certainly would not be returning to that vet. Any vet worth anything who treats snakes would know that IBD cannot be diagnosed until after the snake has died. They would also know there are MANY things besides IBD that can cause they symptoms you describe.
A good reptile vet would start with asking you about your husbandry, feeding schedule, where the snake was purchased to ascertain the chance of IBD exposure, and a number of other questions to make sure other causes could be ruled out before making a diagnoses of IBD. Especially since any good reptile vet would know IBD is extremely rare in ball pythons, not extremely common.

I do feel sympathy for you, but I still believe a mistake was made and that your snake did not need to die.

Gale

[John1982]

In ball pythons it kills very quickly

Sure about that?

[Skiploder]

For the sake of the community, I think it would be good to post the name and location of the vet who gave you this half assed and dangeroous advice.

That way, other members can be spared being fed a line of crap and having to euthanize an animal that may have been just fine.

Now before you restate again what that quack told you, let's correct some stuff have been were told:

1. IBD is rare. It is even rarer in ball pythons. There are many things that could have been going on with your snake. Most of them conditions that could have been addressed. Most of them conditions that were not causing the animal any pain or suffering.

2. IBD often times does not present with any neurological symptoms.

3. Dr. Hack McQuack had no way of telling whether or not that animal was suffering.

4. IBD does not kill ball pythons quickly.

You were robbed of the examination fee and the euthanasia fee by a hack vet who didn't know her left ear from her ass. You can rationalize that you did the right thing over and over again despite what Nikki is trying to tell you but the fact remains - you euthanized a snake that may have been fine on the advice of an ignorant vet.

Please post the vet's name so that any members in you area can avoid her like the plague.

[JLC]

...

Please post the vet's name so that any members in you area can avoid her like the plague.

They did say this much:

... I went to Chadwell Veterinary Clinic in Abingdon ....

[angllady2]

I will certainly defer to Skip's experience in this matter. I was always told IBD kills quickly if present in a ball python. Never having had a snake that had it, I merely repeat what I was told. Skip I believe has had a snake or perhaps snakes that were diagnosed if I remember correctly. If Skip says it does not kill ball pythons quickly, he certainly knows more about it than I do.

Honestly, I wasn't trying to make you feel badly. To blame you was not my intention at all. I simply feel you were badly misinformed in this case, I would hate to see you loose another animal to a vet you trusted and who lacked the experience to guide you and treat your animals. It's happened to me before. I lost three animals to different vets I trusted to tell me the right thing, and to know what they were diagnosing and treating. It made me very cautious about going to a vet and very reluctant to trust one.

Happily I finally found a vet who is worth her weight in gold to me. She is very knowledgeable, but can and does admit when she's in over her head and needs to contact someone with more experience with a particular problem or animal.

I know this was very hard on you, it was on me as well. To loose a much loved animal is bad enough, but to loose it due to the mistake of the person you trusted to make the animal better is beyond hard. I am not blaming you, I know you are doing enough of that yourself. I simply hope you will consider seeking out a different vet in the future, to prevent another tragedy.

Gale