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Post by cat001 on Dec 11, 2016 17:53:22 GMT
I thought I'd do a thread on Eddy's medical issue, she's suffering from some form of Oedema which may be the result of a poorly functioning heart. It's not certain if this is a genetic or congenital issue, she's 3 years old now and this is a pretty new issue for her so the vet and I are uncertain if this will be a life-long issue for her but for now she's on Frusol. Interestingly, this is a loop diuretic and in mammals would take effect in the loop of henle in the kidneys, but reptile kidneys don't posses a loop of henle as they have an alternate means of water conservation, despite this the medication still seems to work. She's been on the medication for 4 days now and it seems to be working! I noticed after the first dose she passed quite a lot of water so the medication is certainly doing its job, and now it's physically evident with the way Eddy's neck no longer swells with the excess fluid. Very happy with the results!  |
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Post by cat001 on Dec 11, 2016 17:55:35 GMT
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Post by tonib on Dec 12, 2016 1:00:57 GMT
That is certainly a real visibile improvement - I hope it continues cat001. |
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Post by cat001 on Dec 13, 2016 1:41:58 GMT
She's got another week and 2 days to go of medications, after that it's wait and see if the problem returns, if it does then she'll have to be medicated for life. A short video I made of her after she had her dinner and medicine.
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Post by cat001 on Dec 27, 2016 10:08:28 GMT
A quick update, she was on her medication for one week and one day. I decided to stop medicating as she was starting to seem unusually complaisant. She'd not grip when I picked her up (although she is often laid back with handling anyway) and didn't put up much resistance while medicating which rang alarm bells for me (especially since the medication was off license for use with reptiles). It's been about a week off medication and she seems perkier now. The fluid hasn't seemed to build back up but I'll give it more time and keep observing, so far though things are looking good!
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Post by cat001 on Dec 27, 2016 23:30:19 GMT
There can be no doubt now that Eddy is back on top form. I saw her trying to get out of her viv so I open the door and she comes zooming out, stretching towards me. I position my arm towards her so she can climb on but instead she smells a mammalian scent on my clothes and immediately tries to eat it, very typical Eddy behaviour. Realising she can't eat my arm she turns her attention to a pile of clothes which she smells with interest, meanwhile I'm stroking her back and she's not the least bit concerned, she was getting slightly flinchy while I was medicating her but is back to being totally unconcerned about being touched again. She's due a feed and I'll be picking her dinner up tomorrow  |
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Post by tonib on Dec 29, 2016 1:13:07 GMT
Sounds promising cat001. Now she's off the meds how the oedema? Glad she's back to her normal self, sounds like a balancing act on the effectiveness of the meds versus the side effects. |
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Post by cat001 on Dec 29, 2016 12:04:41 GMT
So far things are still looking good, we got what we wanted from the medication after that week so with her seeming a little lacking in energy I didn't see the point in taking risks and continuing for another week. She's a little hard to determine if somethings up with her because she's so quirky, snakes usually grip you like they would a branch when you pick them up so they don't fall but Eddy quite often lounges on my arm and trusts that I won't drop her, so it's hard to tell if she's listless or super relaxed at times. Also snakes usually don't like being stroked but Eddy will let me pet her on the head and stroke her body so it's hard to tell if she's unresponsive or or simply doesn't mind. I can tell for certain how she is at dinner time by how much energy she puts into looking for food (she's usually a bundle of energy when she's hungry and knows food is around). Just like the other night when she decided to test my arm for edibility because she was so excited about dinner time.
Yesterday I saw her fully stretched out asleep in the open which worried me a little but then I remembered that it's Eddy, she's just comfortable with being out in the open and doesn't always hide like a normal snake would. I gave her a stroke and she just turned her head and looked at me, flicking her tongue enthusiastically so she was very responsive and the tongue flicking indicated she was alert and well so nothing to worry about.
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