MegF.
That's for sale???
I recently had a watersnake die from a tumor in his intestine but about a month prior to this I had an Amazon that began to deteriorate. I took him to my reptile specialist upstate and we did bloodwork (thanks Dr. Ogburn for showing me how to do this) and gave him fluids. I really didn't think he was going to make it. He was almost lifeless there, pupils were not looking normal on both sides...one reacted more slowly...and worst of all...he wasn't trying to bite the hell out of me. I went home with more fluids to inject into him if necessary and some antibiotics to start him on should the bloodwork show an infection. Sadly, he died that night. The bloodwork came back showing normal white blood cell counts (no infection) but extremely high uric acid levels, potassium and calcium....glucose was extremely low....at a 1. We thought that perhaps he had age related kidney failure accompanied by gout. I necropsied him myself and sent photos off to the vet. I also had gotten some formulin in a jar for tissue samples from my local vet (thanks Dr. Jones) so that the tissue would last until I could get it up to the upstate vet for pathology. I finally got a chance to do it and we were very surprised to hear that he actually had cancer.....final pathology report: Disseminated round cell neoplasia (presumptive neoneoplasia) liver, intestine, heart, lungs, thyroid, vessels, testis, kidney and pancreas.
Final remarks: Numerous tissues submitted for histopathologic reviewed are infiltrated and effaced by sheets of neoplastic cells. Additionally, large rafts of neoplastic cells fill vessel lumena. The exact cause of acute death is unknown but most likely due to cardiorespiratory compromise with almost complete effacement of faciolar septa with most likely a lack of gas exchange throught the lung and frequent effacement of vessel walls with most likely a decrease in blood transport ability. These neoplastic cells favor a hemic neoplasm with what appears to be scattered granulocytic cells to suggest a possible myeloid leukemia but the exact origin of this particular neoplasm is unknown. No sign of gout....
It was a sad day to lose this boy as he was an amazing producer of some fantastic babies and was one I'd had for a long while. He was anywhere from 11-14 years of age....an import that I purchased along with Ember from a guy in Florida....no telling how old he was just that he was smaller when he got him......
This was the heart...I did not open it but sent the entire heart as is:
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This was the lung.....sent a good section of that...
Liver and liver opened....
gall bladder and what I think was his other kidney....kidney did not look right....
This was the "normal" looking kidney...Dr. Ogburn did say that some species of snake only had one functional kidney.....don't know if this is true of Amazons....I've only necropsied green tree pythons and a false water cobra...
Kidney cut open...the tubules look thickened to me but I'm not a vet...
Close up of external wall of kidney with striations...
Stomach and intestine.....found neoplasms (which I thought were gout crystals) inside the stomach cavity.....you can see them in the second photo
Backside of gallbladder/pancreas
More neoplasms when I opened up this area...
Final remarks: Numerous tissues submitted for histopathologic reviewed are infiltrated and effaced by sheets of neoplastic cells. Additionally, large rafts of neoplastic cells fill vessel lumena. The exact cause of acute death is unknown but most likely due to cardiorespiratory compromise with almost complete effacement of faciolar septa with most likely a lack of gas exchange throught the lung and frequent effacement of vessel walls with most likely a decrease in blood transport ability. These neoplastic cells favor a hemic neoplasm with what appears to be scattered granulocytic cells to suggest a possible myeloid leukemia but the exact origin of this particular neoplasm is unknown. No sign of gout....
It was a sad day to lose this boy as he was an amazing producer of some fantastic babies and was one I'd had for a long while. He was anywhere from 11-14 years of age....an import that I purchased along with Ember from a guy in Florida....no telling how old he was just that he was smaller when he got him......
This was the heart...I did not open it but sent the entire heart as is:
This was the lung.....sent a good section of that...
Liver and liver opened....
gall bladder and what I think was his other kidney....kidney did not look right....
This was the "normal" looking kidney...Dr. Ogburn did say that some species of snake only had one functional kidney.....don't know if this is true of Amazons....I've only necropsied green tree pythons and a false water cobra...
Kidney cut open...the tubules look thickened to me but I'm not a vet...
Close up of external wall of kidney with striations...
Stomach and intestine.....found neoplasms (which I thought were gout crystals) inside the stomach cavity.....you can see them in the second photo
Backside of gallbladder/pancreas
More neoplasms when I opened up this area...
And would I be out of line to thank you for sharing the photos? Completely fascinating (I work in a vet clinic so I've assisted in a few necropsies, but not with snakes)...reptile anatomy is so interesting. I wonder how common this is within the reptile spectrum? We see cancer in dogs and cats all the time...