Update on Frankensnake

[AnniesMom]

For those of you that gave me encouragement with Jake the snake and all his health problems... thank you!

It has been two weeks of Genthro shots and water supplements to deal with the persistant abcesses on his face. He has been a trooper, not fighting me when I have to give him his shots, and being fairly good about being intubated to supplement his water intake. The stitches are healing up well and will come out tomarrow. We are going to the vet again because I want to make sure that the remaining abcess on his face is clearing up. I'm really hoping that I will not need to do another course of drugs, but we will see. The tissue around the stitches looks good and he has been more active lately. Still hasn't eaten, though, and it has been 2 months. I'm gong to try him today or tomarrow, see if he will eat. He has been cruising the cage a little, possibly trying to hunt. My roomie has a digital camera and I will ask him to take a pic of Jakes stitiches and face tonight before they come out.

I'll let you all know what happens tomarrow.
Tracy

[AnniesMom]

We are keeping the stitches in for another 3 weeks or so. He is on another course of Genthro shots and we cleaned out the small abcess that was still on his chin. However, he ate!!!! Friday night and a full sized Jumbo rat. Very encouraging. There was a bit of splitting at his stiches due to the size of the rat, so I need to buy him a smaller size until he is all healed.

[Linds]

Poor guy. Quite an ordeal for him. Have you isolated the cause of the abcesses? That is a very long time to be on antibiotics, they are very rough on the system. It's a good sign that he is feeling good enough to eat though :)

EDIT: After re-reading the above post I noticed it was one run (2 wks) on antibiotics. Was he not on antibiotics before for something else for a length of time?

[AnniesMom]

He was on Bayril for 2 weeks in November(mouth rot), 2 weeks in December( abcess). He was then put on Genthro shots for 2 weeks in January(abcess/surgery) and then this present round of Genthro 2 weeks for abcess.

The vet and I suspect that the abcess are secondary to the mouth rot that he had before. I have taken his cage down to a minimum of stuff (ie paper substrate, hide and water dish). I have also raised the temp of the cage to a higher range to encourage his immune system. The drugs are hard on a body, in particular the liver and kidneys, and I have had to force water into him to help flush his system. With every shot of Genthro he gets 18-24 cc's of water injected orally with a catheter down his throat. He is not overly keen on this, understandably, but tolerates it well. He has been very active since his last visit to the vet and since eating. Pooped tonight. Has enjoyed a couple of baths that he had to have from sliding through pee. He puts his head under the water and blows bubbles.