My Snake is Very Sick, But I Refuse To Go To a Vet!

#veterinary #sickpet #snakevideo

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Adam Wickens
221 Glendale Ave
PO Box 25037 Pen Centre
St. Catharines ON
L2T 4C4
Canada

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[WickensWickedReptiles]

Have you ever had a sick animal before?

[haydens]

there’s not a single ‘exotic’ animal vet near me and i’ve been looking for a solution ‘just in case’ i ever need one. thank you for this man!

[kaytescarlettsenyitko]

My best vet experience was with my boa. He broke his jaw after a feeding response vs. glass door interaction. We went in for regular rechecks and to get him cleared for more appropriately sized food. He's much better now. Took my bamboo rat snake to the same vet and he was willing to research the species before we even went in. Very positive exotic vet experience

[RattlesnakeSolutions]

We have around 90 animals and having relationships with qualified vets is critical. I get what you're saying here and it has to be hard being out in an area where there are few to choose from.

The telemedicine message would be great to open with, since we all know this is going to be misinterpreted by some keepers as a message to not go to the vet if their pets need it. Super useful! I wish more did this.

[mylesgouws]

As a vet student I think this video is great. There simply isn't enough money nor the case load in exotic medicine to allow most vets to be experts in the field. Telemedicine is a great option for exotic animals, but with dogs and cats in person, physical exams are crucial.

[MrBrndin]

I just heard a story of a Giant Pixie frog that had a prolapsed butt, and the dude said he went to 2 vets, and they both offered to euthanize the frog, because there was nothing they could do.
He said he had his mother hold the frog and pushed his butt back in, and it worked fine, and the frog is still healthy 2 years later.
As much as I love my frog, spending 2K on a 40 dollar frog, just to be told "there's nothing they can do" is kinda wack.

[darinrhoton]

Seeing this video I feel incredibly lucky to live next to and date someone that works at a very well accredited and skilled Exotic clinic

[kellyu]

Ex exotics vet tech.
TLDR someone who didn't know their reptile anatomy ended up costing a guy thousands of dollars and almost killed his gecko

My internship clinic was a holistic exotics clinic. We did acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Aromatherapy, and dietary consults alongside typical Western Medicine. But our reputation was "a little out there".

Guy comes in and hands us his stud leopard gecko. 12 years old, super handsome boy - and in obvious distress. 3 days ago Stud had a prolapse of some sort. Of course it was 2 am on a Sunday so he went to a local E-clinic who told him they had a vet who saw reptiles. Awesome.

He gets there and they do an exam and say that he prolapsed part of his intestines from his cloaca. They put him under light anesthesia and suture the tissue in place.

Little Stud went home and by 9:00 that night, had chewed his sutures out and the prolapse returned. Went back to the e-clinc. Same routine. These sutures were gone by morning and the prolapse was inflamed, had sand sticking to it, the amount of swelling was insane.

Cue 3rd trip to e-vet. Put it back, suture it up. But when dad got home, Stud wasn't looking so hot.

Taking a chance on my clinic, we discovered that Stud didn't prolapse intestines, he had his hemipenes out (priamphosis)!! So this whole time the other vet had been forcefully shoving his Stud Sword up into his intestines- and then sewing it in place. No wonder little Stud chewed out those sutures!!

When we undid the sutures he let out a poop that was longer than his body! Full of sand and grit! Poor dude was miserable.

We weren't able to save all of the organ and did have to take half - turning his hemi into a mono. Surgery was less than 15 minutes. Got him fluids and some Critical Care and he was doing much better. Recheck went great. As far as I know, Stud fathered more clutches happily.

Moral of the story - don't mess with things you don't understand!!

[kimb]

As a 4th year vet student and reptile owner I really appreciate this video! With how difficult it can be to find exotic vets I think telemedicine is a great option to discuss, but I agree that it’s not a good fit for every situation. I’m also glad that you were able to share your experiences in such a way that still emphasizes the importance of a good veterinarian/pet owner relationship. I truly believe that mutual respect and understanding leads to the best outcomes for our animals!

[BettyGoBooom]

I took my snake to the only exotic vet around when she had what was assumed to be a respiratory infection. Three visits, an antibiotic, and $1, 000 later, the problem still wasn't solved. He wanted me to spend another $1, 000 to run some more tests. I wound up taking a full week off of work to tend to her more regularly, and she wound up getting better a couple of weeks later.

[Jobin]

Very cool to hear about swifttails. Many people are too quick to say “VET NOW” but don’t understand logistics. I’m 2 hours north of Toronto and the closest true exotic vet to me is in the GTA, and the ones more near me would be weeks for an appointment.

[k-kron]

This was so helpful! I have several reptiles, invertebrates, arachnids, and freshwater fish. I've had many different species for many years. Luckily, none of my animals (aside from a case of fin rot I was able to diagnose, quarantine, and successfully treat) it's a big concern of mine. I haven't had success finding a vet with sufficient exotic animal hands on knowledge (by that I mean after completing their education and working with exotic animals in their practice) within a few hours driving radius of my home, so I've spent enormous amounts of time researching various common issues and illnesses to prepare myself but if I needed to get a prescription, I don't know what I could do. I even have one of my savings accounts specially designed for animal emergencies. Thank you so much for making this video! I'm off to search for a US based telehealth vet!

[katiehodgson]

I don't even keep reptiles I only clicked on this video out of bordem but I've been looking for a solution to my pet rats vet care for years. Theres a telehealth vet next town over and they can ship medicine quick

Never thought to look for it, didn't know it existed. Thank you!

[Mukti]

I once owned a collard lizard who started acting sick ie. not eating well, and suddenly sluggish during all times of the day and night. I found an exotic veterinarian within driving distance and booked an appointment. When the vet came in, he came referred to my Collard lizard as a gecko and I knew this was not going to go well. When I returned home I tried fixing the temperature, checked the USB, and even feeding new types of food but he sadly passed away not too long after.

[nova-sa-]

Hope she gets better soon
Have a great day

[SkyeSalindar]

Not telemedicine but one of my cats have IBD and was going through some chronic problems 6 months ago. The vet put in the chart that we could pick up the pain and nausea meds as needed without having to be seen by a vet, so long as the meds were helping the cat essentially get over the hurdle at the time. The vet trusted me to know when he might need more extensive treatment such as subq fluids (which I also can do at home though the vet was iffy about it, having no prior knowledge that I had experience doing it at home with a different much sicker and stubborn cat).

I also suspect the vet figured at this cat's age of 12-13 that the IBD was getting to a point that we might have to throw in the towel, but was willing to oblige us to keep the cat comfortable until that time came. Happy to say its been about 4 months since he's had any major problems and is doing well.

I'd have to confirm with his pet insurance that they would reimburse for telemedicine, but if any available to us can send a prescription to a local pharmacy I'd be happy to use that service rather than an emergency vet whenever a situation arises where I'm pretty sure the treatment plan needed but the regular vet doesn't have any appointments.

Happens a lot for us, they don't have the staff to really handle a lot of same day appointments. We tried switching to other highly recomended clinic's for the litter we were raising and found similar problems too

[dirtiestbird]

I lost a boa last year. I took my boa to the vet and spent $300 for them to do an ultrasound and tell me they don't know what the issue is. They gave me a 30 day supply of antibiotics and said to see if it helps. If it didn't to bring him back and have a $900 procedure that still may not give me an answer. The boa was a $300 snake. I loved the snake, but I wasn't spending that $900. He lived for about another 4 months. I think it was an issue with his hemipenis. It was swelling at the vent that occurred when he was paired with a female. At first I thought he was constipated, but it wasn't.

[sociallyexhausted]

A few weeks ago my nephews leopard gecko passed away. She was 14 (rescued her two years ago, she came from a bad situation and it was sudden how we got her). We did our best to treat her with what we had (I was called in as the reptile person in the family) and I was about to try and get her to a vet when she ended up passing away. In the future, I will absolutely be leaning towards telehealth. (Note: For the record, she was not my gecko by any real means. She was my nephews but I helped with her and love her, too)

[annataymond]

A lot of exotic vets are good with things like leopard geckos and Guinea pigs, but less so with things like emerald tree boas and sugar gliders.

Exotic is such an extremely broad term. You can’t expect someone to be great with ALL of them but you never know which ones they will be besides the REALLY common ones.

[Weskey_Sour]

I live in one of the largest and fastest growing cities in America and after calling 10-15 places, only 1 would see my ball python when he needed surgery. It's tough to find anyone to see exotics.