Hello there. My name is Jenniffer and I am desperately seeking advise on what to do about my sick monitor. Blue, our 6 year old monitor has recently (in the past few weeks) become quite lethargic and refuses live food. His bowel movements have been limited if at all. He does eat raw meat and hard and par boiled eggs. We recently took him to a local vet that specializes in exotics but we are becoming quite frustrated at the lack of info we are getting from him. Blue had an overnight stay at the docs and during that stay stool tests, radiographs, bloodwork and was force fed food and laxatives. I spoke with the doctor and he said that Blue had a huge b.m. during his stay but that there were concretions in his stool that seemed excessive. He also informed me that a second radiograph revealed more concretions higher in his digestive tract as well as gas pockets that he was worried about. We love our pet beyond reason but cannot afford to go forward with surgery without more information. You seem to be extremely knowlegeable from your site and I was wondering if you have seen these symptoms in other monitors or other reptiles and if you might have a clue as to what may be going on. I would really appreciate any info you might be able to give me.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this.

I cannot be of any help to you at this point...hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be along...How is your monitor housed?? Temps, substrate, UVB???? .I am not sure what concretions are....I hope your monitor comes through ok....keep us posted!

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Warmest Regards from Lyn

So basically you are saying that he is impacted. If the vet says that he is passing but there are a lot of concretions in there and it sounds like the laxitive got some of it out. It also sounds like there is much more impaction left in the intestine. If the laxitive is not working to remove it all and the vet states he needs surgery, he probably does,
In my experience with intestinal impaction they still eat, but the amount starts to decline, as the bowel and intestines fill and there is nowhere left for it to go they stop eating, they become very ill and eventually death will occur. It is very toxic to the system to have waste in the body and not be able to expel it.

In my opinion I would have the surgery done to save your monitor, figure out exactly what it is that is causing the impaction and try to change that.

I do understand what you are going through as I just recently paid a few thousand for an iguana that was seriously impacted, without this surgery he would have died. The only reason mine was so high was because I also boarded him for almost 2 weeks so that they could keep him restrained so he would not rip the sutures out, I didnt have the heart to watch him restrained, LOL. You probably wont have to do that, but my iguana was and is psycho!

Another option is get another opinion, but I feel it wont be any different,

On another note WELCOME to HC and please keep us posted.

Nicole, well played.


HOWEVER...there is a great chance that any concretions are visible in an xray, prior to surgery. This Xray, while an awesome thing to photocopy and show off to friends, will give the doctor a great idea of what to aim for when probing around in there. This will cause the least trauma to the animal. Also, it might show another problem entirely, saving you a bill from the surgery while revealing something else.

I'd say, if you can possibly afford it, try to get the vet to do an xray diagnosis beforehand. This will give alot more info than "well, he kind of pooped out some concretions". It will increase, by an observable margin, the chances the vet will make the right choices and by extension the chances the monitor will live.

If I understood her post right it states she had a radiograph on the monitor? In my experience they will show the impaction, they used that On Lucky to show his. It also showed the massive amounts of blockage that was making him very ill and slowly starting to kill him.

I really wish you the best of luck and my thoughts and prayers are with you and your monitor.

That's what I get for skimming, eh? X-rays can still help to show a perhaps underlying cause of said impaction. Either way, since the radiograph has been done, I guess it would be an added expense.

...still cool to show to friends though.

I'll PM your question to Michael C he is very knowledgeable in monitors. Perhaps he can shed some light on this situation.

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Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

Hello Jenniffer

It is very difficult to help or give any advice, not seeing the animal and the radiograph. What are the concentrations referred to? It was not even mentioned what kind of monitor it is. From what you described from the limited information, it sounds like the vet is giving you the best advice that can be given.

You already have a problem on your hands and I hope that your monitor recovers. If everything works itself out, you will have to examine what caused this problem. Having your monitor as long as you have, you have been doing much better than the overwhelming majority of people, but impactions are rather uncommon in well hydrated monitors (if it is indeed an impaction that is causing the problem).

When you find out exactly what caused the problem, I would be happy to help you with figuring out how to avoid it in the future.

Sorry, but there is not anyone that could be of much help over the internet in a situation like this, without seeing the animals, the radiograph and the tests performed.

Cheers and best of luck,
Michael

Hello,

I too was going to ask some of the same questions that have already been asked. I was most curious about what the concentrations were referring too as well.

As Michael stated, it is near impossible for anyone to offer advice beyond what the vet has recommended without personal knowledge of the tests that were run.

If you already haven't, you could begin soaking the monitor several times a day and gently masaging the abdomen. If there is a blockage, these warm baths and massages can help aleviate some of the contents.

If you would be willing to have the surgery done if you could afford it, you should look into a care credit card.

Care credit is a credit card designed specifically for animals. It will allow you to charge th surgery to the card (accepted at every animal hospital I have encountered) and gradually pay it off, helping to prevent you from breaking the bank.

They have a website at: Vet Services

Here is there customer service number: 1-866-893-7864

Its a great program. I have had my card for about 6-7 years and use it as a security blanket for anything that may come up with my animals.

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thank you all so much for the info!

with a second radiograph and a second opinion we are down to either euthanasia or exploratory surgery.

the concretions I previously mentioned seem to be either pebbles he swallowed or urates.

the second vet said that these did not concern him. what concerned him was a mass that was very hard to see in the pics and he seemed to think it might be a piece of clear plastic.

there don't seem to be many vets knowlegable in the anatomy of savannah monitors. exotics are very popular here and it is frustrating that the best exotics specialist we can find is a bird doc.

i did look online and found something called neoplasia that seems to run along the lines of the symptoms our monitor is presenting with. does anyone know about this disease? has anyone ever had a savannah treated for this?
again, thank you all so much. this makes me want to go to school specifically for herpatology and divert from my business degree