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Info BHB Poor Communications

BeauBoi said:
Hi All,
Well, it is definitely a Respitory Infection. The appointment was at 1:30pm, and I brought her entire RUB with me. Other than lifting her hide to see how she was doing, I hadn't taken her out since Friday. While the vet was holding her, you could see an occasional bubble from her nose. Also, she has managed to rub off her very front nose scale, which the vet said was probably from the inflammation.

She has been prescribed Ceftazidime injections every 3 days for 21 days, and she has a swollen area on her face right between and below her eyes (which I thought was just an oddity of face-shape particular to this animal--thus me wanting BHB to get back to m..) that the vet says is sinus inflammation. The vet gave her a shot of Meloxican to help,with the inflammation.

Luckily, I had a coupon for $20, which brought the price of the visit from $162 to $142 (but it still hurt!). Other wise the vet said to keep up what I had been doing: higher temperature, lower humidity.


The vet said that if I don't see marked improvement in the next 9 days, I am to make another appointment and we will try adding another intiboticmto the mix. To be honest, after speaking to the vet, I am a lot more worried that I was before. Of course, her nose bubbling didn't help...

~Beau
Click to expand...

Did the vet take a culture of any kind to ensure the antibiotic chosen is best?

I know sometimes a vet takes a culture and will prescribe broad spectrum antibiotics until the results are back. I'm just curious if this happened or not.
 
AaronSerio said:
Did the vet take a culture of any kind to ensure the antibiotic chosen is best?

I know sometimes a vet takes a culture and will prescribe broad spectrum antibiotics until the results are back. I'm just curious if this happened or not.
Click to expand...
Some do, others just hit it with a "big gun" like ceftazidime (fortaz), or combine that with Baytril, since it resolves the RI in the vast majority of cases without the added expense for the owner of doing a culture.

OP I hope your little girl gets healthy soon.
 
AaronSerio said:
Did the vet take a culture of any kind to ensure the antibiotic chosen is best?

I know sometimes a vet takes a culture and will prescribe broad spectrum antibiotics until the results are back. I'm just curious if this happened or not.
Click to expand...

Yes, the vet took a swab to send off, but said that getting cultures from mucus drainage wasn't always accurate. She ~wanted~ to keep the snake overnight and knock her out and do a culture directly from the lung, followed by flushing the lung with saline, but I don't have the money for all that (she said it would cost ~500 dollars).
~Beau
 
bcr229 said:
OP I hope your little girl gets healthy soon.
Click to expand...

Thank you! It has been a very disappointing experience, since I bought her to replace a breeder who won't be ready this year. Now it doesn't look as though this snake will be able to breed this year either, but I guess that is just the way it goes sometimes...besides, once I laid eyes on her I immediately became attached...
~Beau
 
bcr229 said:
Some do, others just hit it with a "big gun" like ceftazidime (fortaz), or combine that with Baytril, since it resolves the RI in the vast majority of cases without the added expense for the owner of doing a culture.

OP I hope your little girl gets healthy soon.
Click to expand...

Only if the RI bacterial. If viral, no amount of "big gun" anything will hit it. They either "get better" or they don't. This indiscriminate use of antibiotics is what leads to antibiotic resistance. You need a culture. Glad she cultured it and yes, aspirate from lower resp tract would be best.

Sorry your snake is sick. Hopefully things turn around quickly for you.
 
Docglock said:
Only if the RI bacterial. If viral, no amount of "big gun" anything will hit it. They either "get better" or they don't. This indiscriminate use of antibiotics is what leads to antibiotic resistance ...
Click to expand...

Agreed. And not just in animal care, but human care as well. All the best wishes for a speedy recovery of your girl.
 
Docglock said:
Only if the RI bacterial. If viral, no amount of "big gun" anything will hit it. They either "get better" or they don't. This indiscriminate use of antibiotics is what leads to antibiotic resistance. You need a culture. Glad she cultured it and yes, aspirate from lower resp tract would be best.
Click to expand...
I very much agree with this, but there's also the unfortunate reality that if a vet visit for an RI was $650 versus around $150, a lot of snakes would never see a vet for RI treatment, they would simply be replaced after they died - assuming their owners didn't try to sell them off quickly.

OP have you gotten in touch with BH to let them know the snake does have an RI?
 
bcr229 said:
I very much agree with this, but there's also the unfortunate reality that if a vet visit for an RI was $650 versus around $150, a lot of snakes would never see a vet for RI treatment, they would simply be replaced after they died - assuming their owners didn't try to sell them off quickly.

OP have you gotten in touch with BH to let them know the snake does have an RI?
Click to expand...

I thought about sending them another message, but at this point I don't really see what good it would do. They have never replied to a message, and I am sick of calling and never getting a call back. I have no intention of returning the snake, and I have lost all patience with their lack of communication.
~Beau
 
BeauBoi said:
I thought about sending them another message, but at this point I don't really see what good it would do. They have never replied to a message, and I am sick of calling and never getting a call back. I have no intention of returning the snake, and I have lost all patience with their lack of communication.
~Beau
Click to expand...

I might not even follow the advice I am about to give, so I understand if you do not take it. I would say to send them that last message to inform them of the confirmed RI. Not because of an expectation that this will be what finally gets you a better response or anything like that. Simply so you know you made absolutely every effort and the ball was completely in their court at the end with no ambiguity at all. It would only cost you a minute of your time.

In any event, I hope the animal is restored to good health and in short order.
 
I agree with Mr. Anastasiou. I would consider it my duty to warn someone that they may have a problem with husbandry and dealing an possibly ill snakes.

I understand that this will probably caused by the shipping and stress about that, but if you don't know it happened you can not take possible steps from it spreading. I am kind of shock that they have not responded to this thread. I am going to try to send them an email see what I get back.

I talked to Mr. Barczyk at the Hillsboro reptile show last week. It was a quick hello goodbye, because I am kind of shy.
 
Ok. I went ahead and called BHB. Stephenie answered and when I told her who I was, she remembered me. I just let her know, as Nick suggested, about the animals health.....at which point, she said some things that actually ticked me off quite a bit:
Me: "I just wanted to let you know that the snake does have RI, so you will be aware of it for husbandry purposes."

Stephanie: "Lori is at the gym right now, but I will let her know when she gets back. They will probably offer to replace the snake for you."

Me: "Well, the snake isn't in good enough health to ship, and she has to have an injection every 3 days. I have spent enough on the vet at this point, exchanging her for another snake is just out of the question."

Stephenie: "Yeah, that's the thing, it costs them so much less to get a snake treatment. It's a shame you didn't wait and talk to Lori before going and incurring a big vet bill."

Me: "Lori never called me back after I told you the snake was sick. In fact, I left a LOT of messages both before I bought the snake and after I got it that were never returned."

Stephenie: "We have just been really busy and I have been the only person in the office lately, but Lori will want to call you back. They will want to make sure the snake gets the right medical treatment and that you get a healthy snake."

Me: "Pfft! O.K. Well, you have my phone number and email address, and Imstarted an Information Thread on the BOI. Lori has all the information she needs to get ahold of me, but I'm not holding my breath. Have a good day."

I don't expect to hear from them any more now than I did the first dozen times I called and left messages.

"It's a shame you didn't wait and talk to Lori before incurring a big vet bill..." REALLY TICKS ME OFF! I guess me calling and leaving messages wasn't enough?

No, the real shame is I didn't post this as a Bad Guy thread in the first place.

In any case, if they DO get in tou with me, I will post whatever comes of it here on the BOI, but like I said I'm not gonna hold my breath...

~Beau
 
bcr229 said:
I very much agree with this, but there's also the unfortunate reality that if a vet visit for an RI was $650 versus around $150, a lot of snakes would never see a vet for RI treatment, they would simply be replaced after they died - assuming their owners didn't try to sell them off quickly.

OP have you gotten in touch with BH to let them know the snake does have an RI?
Click to expand...

I totally get it, a lot of folks either don't have the cash or don't want to part with it...however, antibiotics are not without risks...they can pose nephrotoxicity to your snake, they WILL kill good bacteria as well as bad guys (supposing there are any bad guys- see comment about culture)...Antibiotics don't discriminate...so you could potentially have an overgrowth of opportunistic pathogenic bacteria. Is it likely? Maybe not, but does it happen? Yep. Hospitals are full of people with C. difficile colitis from this. I have this conversation daily with my patients about antibiotics and why they may or may not need them. Animals are no different when it comes to medications.

And, OP...we do hope your snake recovers. Best wishes.
 
BeauBoi said:
I thought about sending them another message, but at this point I don't really see what good it would do. They have never replied to a message, and I am sick of calling and never getting a call back. I have no intention of returning the snake, and I have lost all patience with their lack of communication.
~Beau
Click to expand...

Just an FYI, you can send them a certified letter (with return receipt) through the postal service. It costs around $6, but well worth it. Someone has to sign for it, and if they refuse, that says a lot about the company.

Also, for what it's worth, I've had poor communication issues from BHB as well. I live not too far from them, and have been to their facility to pick up rodents. I had a batch that smelled awful when thawed, and my calls and emails went un-returned.

I'm sorry that you're going through this, and I hope your girl recovers.

Kathy
 
I'm so sorry to hear that your snake is sick and that they responded that way to you on the phone. You probably don't want to, but I would send Brian or Lori a message on facebook and let them know the issues you had on the phone with their employee. They may read it or may not, but if it was me, I would want to be as thorough as possible. I hope your snake improves.
 
Ok. Stephenie just called to relay a message from Lori to me. The message was that, due to the snake passing a health check when it left their facility and the fact that I didn't not notify them of the snake having visible symptoms within 3 days of purchase, they are protected by their TOS and don't owe me anything.

To which, I informed her that I NEVER asked for anything! I am DONE with this, and these people! I don't know what is going on that they are too busy to deal with their customers, but I hope I never get to that point. If I do, I hope my customers find better sellers. I know that I won't order from them again.

~Beau
 
BeauBoi said:
"It's a shame you didn't wait and talk to Lori before incurring a big vet bill..." REALLY TICKS ME OFF!
Click to expand...

I would have felt the same way. They have seriously dropped the ball on communication.



BeauBoi said:
Me: "Lori never called me back after I told you the snake was sick. In fact, I left a LOT of messages both before I bought the snake and after I got it that were never returned."

Stephenie: "We have just been really busy and I have been the only person in the office lately."
Click to expand...
See my previous post in this thread. If they do not hire enough help so that the really important communications get taken care of then that's on them.
I get that breeding season is busy, but you can lose your good rep while getting the future snakes ready but not taking care of your customers who bought existing snakes.
 
LOL what a convenient way to get out of your TOS. We're not going to answer or return phone calls for a few days, that way when you do have an issue and try to complain, its past the time frame and our hands are tied!!
 
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