$700 vet bill, "solved" issue, now it's back - help

[cecilbaldwin]

Unfortunately the cost of medical care isn't based on the cost of whatever animal needs help...a $5 rat, a $10 snake or a $500 dog, it matters not at all. You're
paying for the education, skills, medical care & "over-head" (including the staff, building & utilities) of the vet whose help you seek.

It's encouraging that he/she is still "active, hungry and very strong" but I don't know what to tell you...seems to be a very resistant infection. Was
there lab work done to identify the culprit you're dealing with? Poor snake...

I'm definitely not saying the cost of the animal is indicative of the vet care costs, I was trying to say my friends and family think I'm an idiot for spending that much 1) on a snake and 2) on a snake I spent $10 on. Trust me, I work rescue for reptiles and birds, a free animal is almost always a more expensive one.

As for vet diagnostics, the initial visits didnt show anything abnormal about the infection so we didnt run any tests on WHAT the infection was since blood tests were showing raised white blood cell count. When we went on the antibiotics it all cleared up relatively quickly and the vet was really happy with it.

If I can cut food costs and go without heat for a little longer (we live in Wisconsin and it's already below freezing most of the time) I want to bring him in for one more consult with the vet after the tylan is through next week. I've just been smacked with almost 3k of vet costs in under two months and I make under 25k a year so its pretty substantial


And for the record I am not asking for vet or medical advice to heal my pet without a vet! I'm asking if anyone here has seen this and if anyone knows what it is. Its stumped our vet (clearly) and all our reptile friends have no idea. Our other two ball pythons and three hognose snakes are fine with no weird anything.

The closest any of us can guess is that it has something to do with his previous care, is something genetic, or has just been under the surface this entire time and is only now showing.