Recently I have found myself once again contemplating the hardest question of all for a pet owner with a sick animal... am I doing the right thing for him? The last several times I have fed Silv, he has vomited up a decent portion of his food. The last time I went to his second vet (we did see vet #3 after that, haha), she told me that an indication that maybe he would be better off put to sleep is if he started vomiting up his food - which he now has. I also find I am having a hard time keeping down the infections in his eye socket (the side where the eye has degraded), and his lips are often inflamed. I do not know how to assess pain well in a snake - sure, he doesn't really like it if I poke on his face repeatedly, but... he never liked that, heh. It would seem to me if his mouth and eye are constantly infected that would be painful? I don't know... I love the little guy, he is such a sweetie, and I am totally willing to continue tube feeding and treating him as long as he is alive. But it is the right thing for him? Or am I just prolonging a painful and unhappy existence for him for my own sense of well-being? I don't know all that much about snake behavior, is there anything you guys can tell me about how to assess quality of life of a snake? Even a brain-damaged one.

Any thoughts appreciated.