Yesterday we were at vet for the third day in a row. Kismet passed egg yolk, which means we are dealing with an egg issue. Now we have to decide whether or not to

(1) continue on the antibiotics and hope for the best. Dr. White said he actually has seen some broken egg issues resolve themselves in otherwise healthy iguanas as long as everything passes through the oviduct with no leakage. He said there is a fairly good chance that she will resolve this on her own and if she wasn't such a special family pet, that would be his recommendation.

(2) have the vet do a risky exploratory/corrective surgery right away and possibly clean out any infection. I don't want the surgery unless it is absolutely necessary so this factor's in to our decision. If it is a choice between the spay or her life, I'll take the spay.

(3) have an ultrasound done to see if the surgery is absolutely necessary. We found a vet who will do the ultrasound for $300 (our vet does not have an ultrasound machine). Since it is not invasive and it's possible we could avoid surgery we are thinking in this direction. But we also could be looking at having the ultrasound show that she needs the surgery and then we are dealing with the cost of surgery on top of the cost of the ultrasound.

Right now she is alert, fairly active, and still strong. Her bone density is excellent and she has been in excellent health except for this issue. If I did not know Kismet so well, I wouldn't think she was sick. If we have to do surgery, I want to do it while she is still strong, but I am really scared of the anesthesia because I know that there is always a chance she could go under and not wake up. I know that there are various methods that make it safer and our vet has explained what he will do. He's even said he will do the surgery after the office closes for the evening, rather than during the regular surgery hours to make sure he can spend an unlimited amount of time with her.

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