Update on Emilia The Sick Noodle

Any update? A mammal would have gone septic and passed from a GI blockage by now (within a day or two, depending on species). :worried: Hopefully either the surgery has been performed or she was alleviated of suffering by this point. If not I would venture to say you are likely out of time and need to make a choice right away, a reptile vet would be able to run some fresh diagnostics to try and get best guess as to whether it’s too late. You don’t want to take her to surgery without these rechecks, or you could end up paying for a surgery where they discover upon starting that nothing can be done. If she must be euthanized by a cat/dog vet, make sure they are aware of AVMA sanctioned practices for reptile euthanasia.

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Sorry for no update as of late, a few things within my family have happened. Anyway, we haven’t had the time nor money to get Mili to Ohio yet BUT she is seeming to be doing better. She has gained weight and is growing slowly, almost as if she knows that we found out what was wrong. A strange thing honestly. This is the good news, but her blockage has turned into looking like impaction.

I am getting ready to call our local vet, hoping to get a new set of X-rays to see if it is impaction or not. We are praying that our little girl is alright but knowing her past issues it would make sense.

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Honestly, this doesn’t sound like impaction at all. Is she eating? Has she been passing urates or feces? The fact that she’s gaining and growing makes a GI issue like impaction far less likely.

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What part of Ohio are you traveling to?

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I second this! Unless she has passed both feces and urates this is an urgent situation. Definitely do not feed her. If you can’t get her to a vet soon, you could reach out to reptile rescue groups and humane societies that might be able to take her on and pay for her veterinary care. (edit: I’m a retired dog/cat veterinarian, if that gives my opinion any additional weight.)

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Also, in case you want to pursue other options:

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Unsure, we were only told Ohio. I tired calling Dr. Lammie yesterday but she was busy, I will call back in a few moments and get back to you on that hopefully.

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Thanks! She passed urate this morning, giving me some hope! I am calling Dr. Lammie again right now, hopefully she can point us in the right direction.

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She is eating, we have tackled that well. She has been passing well, but her cloaca looks strange and is almost swollen.

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She is in a surgery atm, hopefully she calls back and I don’t miss it this time.

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Okay, so she’s eating and passing…Which makes me suspect that she’s got a birth defect or disease process causing her issues and not impaction, unless it was an impaction and it has already passed. If she were still impacted, she wouldn’t be eating or passing waste, and continuing to feed would cause her health to decline, not improve. Can you perhaps post photos of her cloacal area?

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I am not sure if the pictures do it justice, her cloaca tends to stay open, and her belly is always thick like that. She is super think at the base of her tail, right at her cloaca. She also has a dark, almost bruise looking area there as well.

Mili Cloaca 1
Mili Cloaca 2
Mili Cloaca 3

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Interesting, she does look impacted, so it’s still a possibility. Does the area smell at all? The appearance of her cloaca makes me a bit concerned about something like secondary infectious cloacitis.

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Nope, no smell at all.

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Is there any sort of discharge from the area? Also, how long has the bruise-like area been visible?

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We haven’t seen any discharge; we are unsure how long the bruise has been there. We noticed it about a week ago.

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I would say if it’s going to still be a bit of delay until you can get her to a specialist yet, that you consider starting something like vibration therapy if you haven’t already, and continue soaking her. The cloaca being open like that will allow for water absorption through the tissues. The problem with impaction is the longer a snake is impacted, the harder it is to remove non-surgically and the higher the chance of death before treatment. The fact that she’s passing anything and that the distended area is so close to the cloaca itself means there’s a chance she could end up passing the blockage herself if it is just feces and there’s no secondary factor.

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@noodlehaus maybe it is a cyst that needs to be drained?

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Or maybe very hard dehydrated poop that is stuck? Maybe a very warm bath with a bit of manipulation gently?

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Don’t you think impaction would be further up in the tract?

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