Broken tail

[LMS68]

I guess the sick bay decor is staying then? (paper towel, hide & water bowl) No probs! And I guess I'd better pay off a bit of my credit card before Tues. juuuuust in case. (Paying off a huge tab from my equine vet already.):crazy02:

So here it is from this morning, I wanted to show my husband what was going on in the basement for the past few weeks. Plus I needed him to hold her while I put on the cream.

See the lump on the 3rd saddle from the left? It never changed size & she still has normal tail mobility all the way to the end.

 

[LMS68]

Just back from the vet appointment. Vet was happy with how well so much of the tail healed but mentioned that unless the tip was surgically removed, there was a risk that it wouldn't heal correctly or maybe reinfect, plus with the vertebrae still sticking out, that would make Martha uncomfortable & probably miserable as it would catch. And believe me, she could really feel it when the vet gently & barely touched it, Martha bit her & broke skin.

Please, PLEASE someone tell me I did that right thing by agreeing to a very costly tail tip amputation surgery. (Let's put it this way, I could buy the 2 new good quality tires for my work truck that I need at the price I was quoted) My husband was brought up on a farm where an animal is just that: an animal. I was brought up differently. I couldn't bare to risk not getting the surgery when, if left alone, you take your chances but if we do the surgery, she has an excellent recovery. I feel sick to my stomach for having done, what I think, the right thing.

We left her there overnight, surgery is in the morning.

 

[WestCoast_Redneck]

Oh wow. You are an AMAZING AMAZING owner, and Martha is the luckiest snake alive to have ended up with you
I honestly admire all you've done for Martha. You absolutely have done the right thing, and I hope Martha will reward you for many years to come

I'm an animal lover through and through, but I admit I side more with your hubby. I don't know if our snake will be as lucky as yours if something happens to it....It's hard enough for my husband to fork out the price of a new dirtbike on our dogs vet bills. He says the same thing, it's just a pet. But our dog has cost us a small fortune and he has always been the first to say to the vet 'whatever it costs...just do it'
But when it comes to a reptile, there may not be as much of a financial cushion for our lil Redneck to do what you've done. I totally admire you and please keep us posted on everything. I'll be thinking of ya <3

 

[Alicia P]

I think you did a great job of keeping the area from getting infected and have helped the healing process along wonderfully. Now that she has shed and there's some caught up in the wound I think surgery is the best course of action. So yes I do think you made the correct decision :cheers:

 

[diamondlil]

Fingers crossed for successful surgery and a full recovery.

 

[bitsy]

I'd certainly have done the same in your position, even though at the moment for me it would have meant leaving the heating off for a couple of months and living on pasta. But I do see your hubby's perspective - with his background, his approach is logical, even if I disagree with it.

If it had been a choice between eating and the vet bill, or new shoes for the kids and a vet bill, then I'm pretty sure I'd have gone with your hubby's logic. For all we love them, sometimes pets just can't be the priority. But if I could afford it with some scrimping, then I'd still go with the op.

It isn't a clear-cut decision and I understand how you could end up feeling bad either way. But on balance, in your situation I'd have gone with the op as well.

 

[Nanci]

I think you did the right thing. I've spent $4000 (that I don't have!!) on my dog since October- I feel your pain!

 

[gsdbecca]

I've been on both sides of such a decision, I.e. spending much more than I had on vet bills, and saying, no, just can't do that right now. Both are personal and heartwrenching. Martha's a lucky gal.

 

[LMS68]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your words & to know that others understand the tough predicament. There was no way to make everyone happy in this situation & which ever decision I made, I would feel rotten either way. Yeah I maxed out my CC on this & put the well being of the animal before our needs... nope someone was going to get hurt by the decision. I can slowly pay off my card over time but a living being that you know that by helping with this one extra thing that will make it all better for certain... to not try, "I" would have tormented over that decision for a very long time. She would not know the difference of my decision but I'm the one that has to live & deal with it. That all mighty dollar *shakes head*

But what is done is done!

Martha's surgery went very well. The vet did a really nice & clean job. She has one stitch on the tip & a lose stitch that's keeping the side (that deep gouge near the end) partially open to help it heal better. *Knock wood* We don't need antibiotics, only pain meds (3 doses), as long as we keep it clean & moist, Martha should make a nice recovery.

So we are to:
- apply the polysporin every 24 to 48 hrs to keep the area moist until it's all healed up.
- keep the tank minimalist, so paper towel, a hide, a water bowl & her UTH until it's all healed.
- handle her only when necessary & when we do, on a smooth fabric or bare arms to prevent any rubbing.
- continue to offer little feeds on her regular schedule but not force the issue or when she's hungry. So offer food after the pain meds; a pain free snake is more apt to eat & keep its food. (makes sense)
- keep a close eye with the next few sheds & make certain the skin where the stitches are is moist so it won't snag the shed & if it does, give her a short soak (10 - 15min). And again a couple of sheds after the stitches come out as well.
- follow up & stitch removal in 8 weeks.

They rolled her up loosely in paper towel, so we just left her in it & put her on the UTH side. We'll check up on her by lifting a corner, just to see if there's movement but otherwise, we're letting her rest. I'll take photos when we apply the cream tomorrow late afternoon.

 

[LMS68]

Poor wee thing, hadn't come out from where we'd left her last night but the vet had called & wanted an update. So we had to go & handle her to assess her behaviour & check the tail.

After lifting the PT. Has the "whaddaya want, I'm not here, leave me alone but woe is me" look. :nope: At least she wasn't doing a scary python look by flattening her head & threatening to strike.

Trying to figure out how to pick her up without touching the tail & letting her see who it is

No thank you! Making a run for it

Her left side

Her right/top

Right/bottom

Top close up of the two stitches

With polysporin. Wasn't easy applying it, so I put it on thick as I really didn't want to rub it too much with the Q-tip.

 

[LMS68]

She was quite agitated & sniffed a lot too. She refused water & kept going for my eyes flicking at them & wanting to go in my hair. I'm 5'1", my son, who was holding her, is 6' 3" so she's always doing that to a certain extent when I'm looking at her. Otherwise, she just wanted to go hide in our sleeves, which we couldn't let her do as well.

On a few occasions she would stop moving (as normal) but this I didn't like.

She just dangled there & I was concerned but my son reassured me that she does that sometimes. Though from what I've observed, yes she freezes but not dangle! She was ok though, that was maybe a minute max.

Regardless, the vet felt that she could benefit from a shot of pain medication tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow at noon. And then if her behaviour is still the same, call them (vet) with an update & give another shot (24 hrs apart from tonight's). After that wait 48 hrs before the third shot. Though I may have to drive in to get a 4th syringe for a Sunday shot. We'll see tomorrow.

We put her hide on the layers of PT over her UTH. She sniffed around, looked up at my son, then looked over at me before retreating into her hide.

 

[Alicia P]

I think her tail looks amazingly well. She's had quite the ordeal over the last couple of weeks, poor gal! I'd try to leave her alone as much as possible for at least a few days and let her de-stress a bit.

 

[LMS68]

I'm really torn right now... (yes again )

Our vet's instructions post surgery were to not give her any pain meds before noon tomorrow. The vet I spoke to tonight wants me to give her a dose tonight regardless of the instructions & then to give her another dose tomorrow night, making them all 24 hrs apart. Original vet's instructions are 48 hrs apart, no less.

I say leave the poor snake alone to "lick her wounds" sort of thing & just rest because I see how easily stressed they can get. But on the flip side, I don't want her to be stressed so much more because she is in pain... I don't want to OD her since I've no clue how much they gave her before I picked her up. And I have been in a situation before, with one of my horses, where my regular vet said one thing & then when his partner filled in for him once, he totally went against what my usual vet said. And he was very adamant about it too! (the partner)

A few months later, the horse was brought to the university hospital & they concurred that my usual vet had been correct all along. His prognosis was a life threatening ailment & his partner said it wasn't. My horse somehow survived it.

So... who's instructions does one go by? Had it been Martha's vet saying to give the shot a day earlier, I would not question it. I don't know this other vet at all.

 

[Alicia P]

Oh gosh, I dislike conflicting info, grr.
Just a thought, you said you were concerned about her hanging her head down when your son was holding her, but maybe the pain meds were making her muscles relaxed and sleepy. I know that's how they make me feel lol. I don't really know what I would do about giving her more pain meds before she was scheduled to get them, sorry I know that wasn't helpful at all

 

[Cronsnakes]

I'm really torn right now... (yes again )

Our vet's instructions post surgery were to not give her any pain meds before noon tomorrow. The vet I spoke to tonight wants me to give her a dose tonight regardless of the instructions & then to give her another dose tomorrow night, making them all 24 hrs apart. Original vet's instructions are 48 hrs apart, no less.

I say leave the poor snake alone to "lick her wounds" sort of thing & just rest because I see how easily stressed they can get. But on the flip side, I don't want her to be stressed so much more because she is in pain... I don't want to OD her since I've no clue how much they gave her before I picked her up. And I have been in a situation before, with one of my horses, where my regular vet said one thing & then when his partner filled in for him once, he totally went against what my usual vet said. And he was very adamant about it too! (the partner)

A few months later, the horse was brought to the university hospital & they concurred that my usual vet had been correct all along. His prognosis was a life threatening ailment & his partner said it wasn't. My horse somehow survived it.

So... who's instructions does one go by? Had it been Martha's vet saying to give the shot a day earlier, I would not question it. I don't know this other vet at all.

If she is showing signs of pain or isn't moving and if she is but hesitantly i would give her a little bit of pain meds not the usually dose just a little then give her the recommended amount tomorrow.

 

[LMS68]

Thanks guys
I will wait till the morning to give her a dose. Unfortunately giving a partial dose is not that easy to do when the full dose is only 0.5mg (0.02ml). (Metacam is an NSAID) Martha only weighs in at 67g. She was on it when we originally saw the vet & even then, it was given every 48hrs. I would imagine the pain would be similar then & now?

I'm not familiar with this NSAID but I am familiar with 2 other brands that are for human use & if you do not take it as prescribed, meaning take more than you should in the prescribed time, you can easily OD. And that is not a pleasant experience!

And like I said, when you have two vets giving you different advice & one of them has not seen the patient throughout the whole ordeal. I'm not one to go against doctors' orders but...

I'll check on her before going to bed & see how she is.

 

[LMS68]

Yeah I was thinking about the side effects from the all the meds they gave her in conjunction with the anesthesia. There are 2 different types for humans, I've had both in surgeries & with both (though, from what I understood, one is like an upper, supposed to not make you as drowsy afterwards) I know I crash & will want to take it easy for the next 24 hrs min. So going from all those experiences, I can only imagine that she will stress more but tire quicker. SO I'm thinking she was probably a bit more weak than usual when she took a little breather & was quiet for that little moment.

 

[diamondlil]

I'd speak to the original vet before going ahead with an earlier dose, personally. NSAIDs can cause liver damage too easily to make a mistake with them, IMO

 

[LMS68]

That was one of the concerns I had also Diamondlil.

We ended up checking on her up until 3am. She came out of her hide & went under the paper towel at one point (with only her tail sticking out. That was cute). Last check, she had completely covered herself & she was alert. First thing this morning (6am) she had moved again, seemed a bit less on guard & a bit move "normal". By noon, she was much easier to catch, head was up instead of low & guarded. She was still agitated when being handled but closer to normal behaviour when compared to last night. She did not want the injection though, it took a while.

Once back in the tank she cruised around & stared out & around before hiding again. She did take one little sip of water, which is better than yesterday.

I asked my son again about the head hanging that I saw & apparently she does that normally. Usually she rests her head on him.

 

[LMS68]

We have a much happier snake today. :cheers:

Easy to pick up, at first she was trolling around wanting to go into the crevices of my sweatshirt & I noticed she still had a lot of flaking clear scales & what may look like scale rot? Not sure if it's dead scales needing to come off or SR. So brought her upstairs into the sunlight to have a better look. (Man I need to get my glasses fixed *rolls eyes*. Lots of squinting on my part) I still can't make out one spot & wanted to take photos. She was so much calmer when I was handling her & when I asked my son to hold her for pics, she became agitated. So either she had enough, prefers me handling her or she associates him with food, I don't know.

We put her back in her tank & her pinky should be ready now for feeding actually. She would have been scheduled a feed today anyways, she's acting pretty close to normal today & she finally drank a good fill when I took her out earlier. She also had a poop yesterday. Ok so it was a stress poop (when trying to give her the injection), but nonetheless...

To me, she looks like she's a little dehydrated & could use a snack, heck I can see just a bit of a ridge along the spine. Though I never noticed it before, I could be wrong & just acting like a typical concerned mother. Lol!