Post Compaction Advice

[guidofatherof5]

Since the passing of my girl Honda I have been thinking about what I could have done to catch any problems caused by the fur impaction she had.
After removing the impaction she went off food for 7 days but then started eating again. She seemed to be hungrier then normal but I equated that to be off food due to impaction.
Her feces were normal again but her vent was still a little dirty.
This is the first time I have had to deal with post-impaction and wonder if there is some advice anyone can add to my "what to do" thoughts.

[kibakiba]

I'm not knowledgeable in this area, but perhaps soaking in warm water every day for a week and no food to make sure that every bit of impaction is gone.

[Mommy2many]

With people we have the following concerns, besides not removing all of the impaction:

*Can cause tissue to become damaged, ulcerated, or even necrotic.*

Perhaps this was a contributing factor to her death.

[guidofatherof5]

I'm not knowledgeable in this area, but perhaps soaking in warm water every day for a week and no food to make sure that every bit of impaction is gone.

Good idea Chantel.
She was off food for a week.
I let her eat when she was ready hoping that her body had told her to start eating again and the time was right for that.

[guidofatherof5]

With people we have the following concerns, besides not removing all of the impaction:

*Can cause tissue to become damaged, ulcerated, or even necrotic.*

Perhaps this was a contributing factor to her death.

That is what I think happened to her. Her gut went septic.
I had no idea how old she was also. Old age may have contributed to this whole situation.
I had two wonderful years with her.

[kibakiba]

Well, I meant another week after that. Or perhaps a small amount of liquidy food to soften.

[mb90078]

You mentioned that she might be pretty old, and it got me to thinking cause-effect. Maybe, that she was old, caused some sort of malfunction in the digestion process that lead to the impaction in the first place? Maybe the impaction was a symptom of a larger problem, rather than the problem itself?

[chris-uk]

To be honest, I don't have experience of bowel obstruction in snakes, but if it broadly equates impaction in other animals and people I don't think there is anything you didn't do that would have helped.

I think Le Ann's point about the damaged intestines is most significant. If the impaction caused tissue damage it was likely to be a matter of time - either it would go septic, perforate, or just interupt the digestive tract enough to prevent proper absorption of food. As far as I'm aware the only course of treatment for damage to the bowel is surgery.

In humans you're talking about an enema to lubricate and soften the impaction, then "digital manipulation" to break it down into smaller pieces. I don't know about giving a garter an enema (I'd expect to be bitten if I tried), and you managed to massage the impaction out, so I think it was just too much damage to an old snake.

[guidofatherof5]

Well put Chris. Thanks.

[ConcinusMan]

This is one of the reasons I don't feed garters hairy mice. While there very well could have been something else going on that caused her to be more susceptible to impaction, hair just doesn't digest so it can "dam up" easily, where other food items could likely pass.