Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Original topic:
http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=636483,636483

Hi all! Following your suggestions, i've taken Boris to a vet. We made an X-Ray and found lot's of fecal material stuck. I think the correct term for this problem is "fecaloma".

Boris received a dose of antibiotics and some of the fecal material was removed by "washing" it's internal intestine with saline and mineral oil and performing massage.

The vet says boris will loose some of it's color as a side effect of the antibiotic. I didn't know about that. Can anyone confirm it?

He will remain on antibiotics, saline and vitamins for a few days, we hope he gets better.

Regards to everyone.

Leonardo.

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The vet suggested we use 5mg / day for 15 days. He has some marks around the shot spots, this medication defenitly altered his skin color.

Any thoughts?

Cheers

Leonardo.

Also sometimes called Baytril, enrofloxacin is in a class of safe antibiotics called fluoroquinolones which have a common side effect of causing tissue damage and discoloration at the injection site. It is typically used for respiratory, skin, and muscle infections. I could be wrong, but I am assuming it was given to counter any enteric (intestinal) infection that could be involved with the fecal impaction. Another fluoroquinolone antibiotic known as ciprofloxacin, or Cipro, is not as well known by most vets because it is a human drug. It comes in pill form, and if the snake is feeding, it is a great choice for enteric infections. The appropriate size dose can just be inserted into a small prey item. It has a little better bacterial spectrum of activity and you avoid the tissue damage caused by enrofloxacin. Any vet can write a prescription for it and help size the dose for you. Hope this helped.

Kelly

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Good to hear he is getting help. I guess the urate guess wasn't too far off. In the future it would help to soak your animal every once in awhile to try and avoid clog ups like this. You can usually cup your hand on the side of the snake and run your fingers vertically on the belly and feel for fecal matter. If you feel a lump its probably time for a soak, tho having at least a once a week schedual is definately a good idea. Hope his condition continues to improve, all the best to ya.

J
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"It's my snake, I trained it, so I'm going to eat it!" - Mad Max, The Road Warrior