JD's Problems...

It all started a while back when I noticed JD had a lump not long after she had laid her last lot of eggs. I'd assumed it was a retained egg so on her vet visits that's what she was being treated for. Eventually we got to the point where the vet and I agreed that it would be surgically removed as some time had passed and she had stopped eating. When she was opened up it was discovered that the 'egg' was in fact a large tumour growing from her kidney! (On the way to the vets I'd even commented that I hoped her kidneys were ok because her weight was down even when she was eating well). The histopathology report came back with a diagnosis of renal adenocarcinoma, perhaps the most common tumour found in Colubrids (such as corn snakes), and isn't expected to make a resurgence. Now that the tumour was removed it became apparent that some of her poo was being held back by the mass, she managed to expel much of it but became obstructed so after she had sufficiently recovered from surgery I'd stared bathing her daily to encourage a bowel movement. She got moved from her sterile quarantine enclosure to her larger enclosure so she could move around more and be exposed to higher temperatures (that enclosure has a heat lamp for additional heating). Her bowels are now cleared but she had also produced more eggs so now she's having great difficultly passing as the eggs are being retained due to the narrowing from the surgical scarring. They're massing just above her cloaca so we're hoping it's just a matter of time until she's able to pass them all, so far she's produced about 5 of them. Some have inspissated so it seems they've been present for a while. The vet was able to collapse a few of the eggs to make them easier to pass by draining the contents out with a syringe.

She's currently staying in a moist hide and having a bath each day, all this moisture I didn't want as her stitches would heal better if kept dry but apart from the scabs dropping off there's thankfully been no sign of infection and no issues in this area. her stitches are covered in Flamazine cream to keep them clean. she's still not eating so i've been given some Emeraid Carnivore which needs to be gavaged. 

So current treatment is:

Bath in the morning - critical care formula added to bath - second short bath to clean off formula residue plus F10 added to water to keep site of surgery clean.

JD is then dried and Flamazine applied to site of surgery.

Emeraid Carnivore prepared and fed to JD via feeding tube

JD is left to relax for the rest of the day (although feeds will be extended to twice a day as advised, soon).

Reptoboost also added to drinking water.



She's come out to bask under her heat lamp a few times but apart from that she's stayed hidden in her moist hide. She's still quite inquisitive but starting to get a little exhausted with all these eggs, thus the reason for the nutritional support. The vet commented on how she recovered from surgery much quicker than expected and how much of a nice snake she is (friendly), she is a real trooper and generally has a positive attitude so I hope her strong personality helps her through this.