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Has anyone used Liquid Paraffin in snakes?

Helenthereef

Helenthereef

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I have a snake with a faecal impaction (confirmed by Xray) and the vet suggests tube-feeding him oil to help him pass it.

I have seen cases where Mineral Oil was prescribed, but that is unavailable where I live. We can get Liquid Paraffin, but my (non-reptile) vet doesn't know if it's OK in snakes.

Any experiences? Would you give Liquid Paraffin to a snake (or any other reptile for that matter)?

Many thanks for any experiences/ suggestions.
Photos: Lump seen in September
Xray 6 January
X ray 19 Jan after he had passed two large stools
 

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Randall Turner said:
Man, that's upsetting to see. I wish you luck treating him.
Click to expand...

Thank for the good wishes. This snake has had a rough time. A few years ago he had a bad respiratory infection and then went off feed for a year and a half and had to be tube fed.... but he had been feeding and defecating normally for over a year when this happened.
 
Have you tried something simple and easy like just letting him soak in warm water for a while?
 
WebSlave said:
Have you tried something simple and easy like just letting him soak in warm water for a while?
Click to expand...

Yes, and I managed to get the first 2 stools out that way, but I can't move these remaining ones. I didn't want to massage too hard until we got the Xrays and were sure there wasn't any twist or obstruction.

I've tube fed him liquid food once, but he won't voluntarily take anything solid, and I don't want to force feed him solid food and make it worse. My hope is to tube feed him again, but with oil in the feed, then go back to baths and massage.

I'd be really grateful for any other ideas, he's had this problem since September last year and he's now losing weight so it's time for an intervention.
 
I have not, was just thinking of different ways to help with blockages in people and other animals. From what little I read up on it, it's used to collect samples for testing, as well as administering medications, and hydration.
 
I would think a warm water enema would be better than ingesting oil at this point. I'm not a vet though. I would get a second opinion at a different vet.
 
snowgyre said:
I would think a warm water enema would be better than ingesting oil at this point. I'm not a vet though. I would get a second opinion at a different vet.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately I think her options are limited due to her location.

I would think a warm water enema would also be less stressful on the snake than tube feeding, especially since the blockage is so close to the vent.
 
Thanks to both of you.

You're right, the only vets here work on cats, dogs and the occasional goat.... no reptile experience available.

When I have a problem I usually come on here to get other reptile people's advice and experiences, go back to the vet for X Rays (newly available only last year, very exciting!) and medication and usually end up administering it myself. I'm fairly competent with injections and tube feeding.

My vet has just found that they have a mutton bird paste that I have seen advertised as a snake food supplement and is fairly oily. Some pharmacies here apparently do stock Flax Seed oil as a human health supplement (in capsules but I can open them), so I'm going out today to see if I can get some, and maybe I can make a reasonably oily soft paste for tube feeding.

I'm willing to give enemas a go, but would love to hear exactly how to go about it if anyone on here has ever done it?
 
Just had a happy event: he took food voluntarily today :)

I had diluted Herp-a-Vite (which includes Mutton Bird Oil) ready to go with a tube, but yesterday he was fairly lively and looked like he was looking for food, so I decided to try something solid first. I don't want to add problems by loading his guts, so I offered him chicken hearts, which are small and soft, and I'm hoping will be pretty much 100% digested.

To try and get some oil down his digestive tract I put a fish oil capsule into the chicken heart (pharmacies here do theoretically stock Flax Seed Oil, but we are only getting irregular shipping deliveries due to Covid-related restrictions, so I haven't actually found any yet). I know it's likely that this will be digested before it gets down to the rectum, but I figured it was worth a go.

Anyway, he took the first heart, and I followed it with a second as he was swallowing, so he's had two oil capsules encased in heart muscle and fat. Then, for good measure, he took a small portion of chicken wing - not the drumstick with the large bone, the middle portion with the two small bones which are usually easily digested.

This is the first meal he's taken since July last year, and he still has some impaction in his rectum, so I don't want to overload his system, but I'm very happy he has some food inside him.

My plan now is to wait 4 or 5 days to see if he manages to defecate (or regurgitates) and then to go back to the vet for another X ray before I try to feed him again.

So, today it's hopeful, I'll be coming back with defecation news if and when.
:time_waiting_01:
.
 
Still no faeces, but a bit of additional interesting information I have gleaned that may be of use to others.

According to an on-line vet I consulted through the "Just Answers" website, Mineral Oil is the same thing as Liquid Paraffin, and can be used to relieve constipation by tubing down the throat. For a 2 Kg snake this vet recommended starting with 2 ml, but said the dose could go up to 5 - 6 ml. As this is not animal or vegetable oil, it is not digested, so should reach the rectum unchanged and hopefully grease the impacted stool.

He further recommended enema with a stool softener, like glycerin or docusate sodium. I'm not quite at the enema stage yet, still hoping that bathing and massage plus the introduction of small amounts of soft food might work some magic.

One more interesting thing: when I bathed and massaged him yesterday he did excrete some urates, and along with that there were some drops of oil. This has to be the fish oil from the capsules I put inside the chicken hearts he ate, so at least some of it was not digested and may do some good.

I can only hope.....
 
It worked!

This morning one large stool in his water bowl, and no palpable lump.

I'm very relieved (and so, I imagine, is he). I'll try one more soft chicken heart with fish oil meal, and take him back for another X-ray before I try to feed him a normal meal.

I'll post photos of the X-ray when I get it done.

Thanks all for the advice and support. 👍
 
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