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Oral Meds help

S

snakemom47

New member
My snake recently underwent surgery to remove a cancerous mass from his liver. Although he is healing from the surgery well, the vet could not assure me that they removed all of the cancerous cells because they could not take clean margins and leave him with enough liver to function. Because of this, we are concerned that it could come back and of course, there are few treatments out there for snakes with cancer.
However, Doxycycline has potential as a cancer suppressant according to some studies done at Stanford. These studies of course were done with mice. But the vet thinks that it might have benefits to Apollo and certainly won't harm anything as long as administering it doesnt cause him undue stress.
Anyhow, I have been using the syringe to open his mouth and administer the meds, but he is really not thrilled with me or it. He has always been a mellow guy and I like our relationship. He is starting to get edgy and certainly is NOT happy afterward. I don't know if there is a way to make it anything other than stressful (I mean, how many of us really want something shoved into our mouths) but if anyone has any ideas, please share them with me. I would like him to live out his life but only if he is happy. And at this rate he just isnt happy with me.
 
Are these administered daily? If they were administed less often, I wonder if you could inject into the mouse you feed them and give it that way. Otherwise, there isn't much else you can do. It's kind of like a cat, they won't eat when they don't feel good, so you just have to stuff it in there. I'm really impressed that you had surgery done for cancer on your snake, especially when the prognosis is less than stellar. Not many out there would do the same. I commend you.
 
unfortunatly it is a daily medication.
When the surgery was done, we didn't know exactly what we would find. I had hoped for something benign, but didn't get lucky. But he is part of my family and I don't see any reason to not give him every chance to live as long as it doesn't make his life unhappy/stressful to an extent that it isn't worth living. Hopefully it won't come back.
 
I've found using a straight metal feeding tube to be a bit less stressful when administering oral medications to my snakes. It's probably due to the smaller diameter and round ball tip versus the size and shape of a syringe...even a 1cc syringe. Ask your vet if he would order one for you. The veterinary distributor I got mine from was the Butler Company, but others may carry them as well. They come in various sizes. I wish you the best of luck with your snake.
 
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