RIP Morzan

[bigsnakegirl785]

After a long, hard battle and a lot of consideration, I had Morzan euthanized today. When it became clear even 2 pinkie mice every 4-6 days wasn't helping him to turn around, I figured it was best to end his suffering. He would have been 2 years old next month. :(

These photos were taken outside today before taking him to the vet's office. He just keeps withering away, and I knew last night he was just too far gone to help. As you can see in the photos, he was losing coloration and is almost skeletal. He has been kept nice and humid, and not too wet, so this isn't a hydration issue. He just got so emaciated his skin was losing health.

When he passed, the vet picked him up and his skin just tore away at the neck. The vet used lethal injection, but he was gone in seconds. I'm just glad his suffering is over. I am going to try to get a necropsy done, hopefully the injection won't mess with the results too much, but at the very least maybe they could see if it was a physical deformity causing this condition. Whether or not I get the necropsy done depends on if my vehicle is reliable enough to make the 40+ minute drive to the diagnostic center, since I only have a short window of time to get him in for results.

In the shade.

http://i.imgur.com/NU5ngkt.jpg

In the sunlight.

http://i.imgur.com/wordpCd.jpg

His head is the main area losing color, but there's also a thin strip following his spine that was losing color, too.

http://i.imgur.com/JkJgudZ.jpg

As he got thinner, his belly go wrinklier and wrinklier. There's also that big dark area that's worrisome. It's pretty much always been present.

http://i.imgur.com/sNR6IAE.jpg

A close up of the dark area.

http://i.imgur.com/4J8256e.jpg

If anyone isn't familiar with his story, he has this thread (http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/epicrates/113185-brb-losing-scales.html) that I've kept updated fairly well, detailing the majority of everything I've tried with him.

[Tiny Boidae]

I'm so sorry that this has happened to you. Hard as it might have been, you made the right decision and I'm sure you did everything in your power to try and alleviate his suffering.

[Tsubaki]

I'm sorry for your loss, you made the right decision ending it here. Poor little guy...

[EL Ziggy]

I'm sorry for your loss as well BSG. You did your best but sometimes they just don't thrive no matter what we do. RIP Morzan.

[dannybgoode]

Sorry to hear this bsg. You put everything you could into this snake - no one could have done more - and I think you made the right call at the end even though I can only imagine what a hard decision it was.

[SnoopySnake]

Im so sorry-you did great with him and made his life as good as you could. It's good he's no longer suffering

[Scubadiver59]

Heartfelt condolences, that was a beautiful snake!

[ThirteenRavens]

I'm so sorry for your loss :( I know that when we do necropsies, most of the time the animals have been euthanized and we haven't had any issues as far as that goes with interfering with the results we need. I hope you can find the answers you seek <3

[bigsnakegirl785]

Thank you everyone. I'm glad I had time to get used to this outcome, so I could come to peace with the decision quicker. I still cried a decent bit yesterday, but I'm feeling better now.

I'm so sorry for your loss :( I know that when we do necropsies, most of the time the animals have been euthanized and we haven't had any issues as far as that goes with interfering with the results we need. I hope you can find the answers you seek <3

That's good to hear, he'll be dropped off at the end of the wait period (3 days) since the center is closed Sat and Sun, but he was immediately refrigerated after euthanization so it shouldn't affect the sample too much.

I'll update this thread with the results once they're in.

[Albert Clark]

Geez, what a terrible outcome after all the exemplary care you've given him. Truly sorry for the loss. I'm with EL on the failure to thrive with all the multifaceted possibilities. Kudos to you for all you've done to try and get him well.

[dave himself]

I'm very sorry for your loss BSG :)

[bigsnakegirl785]

Well I got the results in today. :(

They said that there were multifocal areas of hemorrhage in the wall of the proximal intestine, which I assume was from the injection. They did also say the esophagus was thin-walled, and his digestive tract was empty save for a small bit of feces in the distal intestinal tract. He had eaten 10 days before euthanization, but I had not found any feces in his tub so I hadn't fed him yet just in case he was backed up. I guess he wasn't.

The histopathology showed that "moderate to marked autolysis of liver and mild to moderate autolysis of sections of intestines precludes proper histological assessment." Which I assume means that the destruction of his tissues in these areas was unable to be properly diagnosed?

His kidneys had tubular gamonts and oocysts, moderate with tubular hyperplasia, and mild to moderate granulocytic and lymphoplasmacytic nephritis. From what I can find on google, gamonts are organisms, and are classified as hemoparasites if I'm understanding correctly. Oocysts are associated with crypto. It looks like tubular hyperplasia is a congential heart disease that constricts the aorta. I'm having a hard time finding information on the nephritis, but appears to basically be renal failure, possibly chronic. If that is the case, then the renal problems probably came before the injection. More gamonts were found in the ureter.

In the intestine there was "erosive, granulocytic and lymphoplasmatic enteritis, multifocal, mild with mild to moderate lamina propria fibrosis." The granulocytic enteritis seems to be associated with worms. It's hard to find information on the enteritis, but the lymphoplasmatic seems to be associated with crypto, and appears to be an infectious stomatitis.

In the liver signs of sinusoidal fibrin deposition was found, which as far as I can tell is basically saying there was cell damage.

So basically the diagnosis is renal coccidiosis, with Cryptosporidium being a major concern. They couldn't find a cause for the repeated regurges, so it seems crypto is just a possibility.

So basically he had a lot wrong with him, with a parasite problem. :( I really, really hope it's not crypto. I'm going to call and see if I can speak with the ones who did his necropsy and see if they can further explain this. I've had him 1.5 years and as far as I know, none of the other snakes have shown signs of crypto.

I can PM a copy of the necropsy if anyone is experienced with clinical terms and would like to read it, or post it in the thread if that's allowed. It's very possible I missed a lot or misunderstood what I did find.

[bigsnakegirl785]

So I talked to the vet, turns out there wasn't anything wrong with his heart, so not sure what the tubular hyperplasia is as that's the only thing I found related to that. He said that crypto was mentioned as a possibility because of his history, but they didn't actually find any physical evidence. After discussing the other snakes with him, and with the amount of time I had him (1.5 years), he seems to think crypto isn't likely since I haven't experienced symptoms in my other snakes during this time. So for now, I don't think crypto is likely but I'll keep an eye out for the symptoms he mentioned and intervene immediately if I suspect crypto. He said to look out for diarrhea, stomach swelling, regurgitation, weight loss, and anything else odd like that.

So, basically, they found a bunch of scarring and internal damage from his chronic issues, but they couldn't identify a cause 100%.

[Andy_G]

Oocysts are simply zygotes of an internal parasite and may have nothing at all to do with crypto. Don't think he would've lived that long with crypto.

Sorry for your loss.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Oocysts are simply zygotes of an internal parasite and may have nothing at all to do with crypto. Don't think he would've lived that long with crypto.

Sorry for your loss.

That's what I figured, but I don't know enough about it so I figured better to look into it as a possibility anyway. It's unfortunate they weren't able to find a cause, but at least now I know that there was simply too much wrong with him to have any hope of turning him around.

[Shauna0522]

I'm so sorry for your loss I can't imagine how hard that was.😭 So glad he's not suffering anymore, you definitely made the right decision. Chin up, things can only get better from here. 😃