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Ep. 17: Nepo Guppies
24 Plays6 days ago
Join Kel, Dr. G, and Dr. M as we spill the kibble on your submitted vet stories. In this episode we talk about revisiting the surgery room, fishy patients, and pet containment units. This episode is for entertainment purposes only, please talk to your vet before following any advice heard on this show.
Interested in sharing your own clinic stories? Email us at spillthekibble@gmail.com.
TW-surgery, snakes, eyes
"Happy Boy Theme" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Common (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Spill the Kibble'
00:00:01
Speaker
nor listening to Spill the Kibble, the podcast where I read your submitted stories and have real veterinarians react to them. If you are interested in sharing your clinic story, email us at spill at spill the kibble.com.
00:00:19
Speaker
Please note that this show is not suitable for all listeners. Listener discretion is advised. And with that, let's go to the show.
Meet the Hosts & Surgery Talk
00:00:29
Speaker
Welcome to Spill the Kibble. I'm Cal. I am Dr. G. And I'm Dr. M. And we're here to tell your clinic stories. But first, how are you both doing?
00:00:43
Speaker
Guys, I'm excited. Tell us. I popped into one of my relief clinics the other day and I shadowed a surgery morning to see how it flows because they want me to start cutting.
00:00:53
Speaker
And I'm going to do it. Baby boy, back in the OR. at it. I just need them to get the right side's gloves because I'm not going to shimmy into a six and a half. It simply will not happen. i am a gentleman's seven and a half through and through.
00:01:10
Speaker
Understandable. Those beefy fingers. be They're just there they're slender, but you know they've got length. Yeah. um I'm sorry, ladies. He's not single.
00:01:24
Speaker
hes Yeah, the seat's taken.
Preparing for Mass Removals
00:01:27
Speaker
um But the tech over there, she sent me three mass removals that they're trying to line up for it. And wow, one of these things is on an elbow. it looks like...
00:01:39
Speaker
want to say a walnut or a rambutan. Don't know that. Why do we always in relation to a mass?
00:01:50
Speaker
Always food. Related to food. Always food. You know, they do that with pregnancy, too Your baby is a kumquat berry. Lima bean, a boysenberry.
00:02:01
Speaker
It's always fruit, too. It's like, your baby's the size of a banana, and you're like, okay. Okay. I want candy, but I guess the shapes are wrong for that. And they don't get that big. Gummy bear?
00:02:13
Speaker
Babies? giant yourre baby Your baby is now the size of a giant gummy bear. like He is officially a sourpout kid. You all know what I'm saying. And it's rich reached maturation, so it's time to give birth.
00:02:26
Speaker
Your baby's the size of a bag of cotton candy, and it's time.
00:02:32
Speaker
mean, yeah.
Surgery Experiences & Tools
00:02:33
Speaker
so So this growth is the size of a baby's foot, let's say. Okay. Growing off of this dog's leg. Oh, now we're using baby's? Well, I thought we didn't want to use feet anymore.
00:02:43
Speaker
You mean food? what We don't want to use feet anymore. Okay, listen, I was thinking about baby feet. I was looking at my own feet and I'm looking at this dog's paws. Somebody's been reading a lot of such a collared coral. That's true.
00:03:00
Speaker
I'm all caught up and I'm waiting for the next. Perfection. I have finished book one. Yes. We'll take it. I love it. It's so funny. Yeah. I'm in book four. We love Princess Donut.
00:03:13
Speaker
We do. Of course. Princess Donut is the best. ah If listeners, if you all have not heard of it, if you like cats, check out Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Deniman. One of our two main heroes is Princess Donut.
00:03:27
Speaker
oh An incredible cat. Yeah, she's pretty fantastic. Persian cat, right? Yeah. Tortoise shell Persian cat. Anyway, the other is mast cell tumor, and the third one's like a little hematoma-looking blood blister or something or other. But I'm excited.
00:03:44
Speaker
You should be excited. i just took off a stage one soft tissue sarcoma just the other day. i like thought you were about to tell me i just took off a leg again. No, i haven't taken off a leg in years. I'm rusty. long as your little ah saw isn't. Exactly. Exactly. We're fine. We're ready at any moment, but we haven't done it in a minute. Razor sharp giggly. Yeah, exactly. Giggly puff.
00:04:13
Speaker
Giggly puff? I can't get off it. No, moving on. Okay. Surgery stuff. You guys good? Everything good? We good? I'm not doing any surgery. I'm not qualified. That's that. And that's that's OK.
00:04:25
Speaker
The only surgery i do is taking apart, you know, like the lint trap of the dryer or something like that. Is there a special way that we're supposed to clean it after a while? think we're supposed to get it serviced.
00:04:37
Speaker
Yeah. And you got to make sure the tube in the back doesn't have a lot of lint either. I'm just specifically the lint trap. The trap you're just supposed to clean out yourself in between every lid. But I have a thing that goes in it and gets more out. Me too.
00:04:51
Speaker
Little brush
Goldfish Surgery Story
00:04:52
Speaker
on a stick. might go brush. It's like a microfiber. right. I'm going to up my lid trap game. You should. That's important. I have cats, so I'm just like, oh, you never know. There's a lot of fur here.
00:05:05
Speaker
um My surgery game is going well. I've had a lot of really rank-a-doodle, rank-a-doodle-dandy mouths that I've been pulling lots of teeth out of. And I only swore a little bit at some of the teeth. Oh, because some of them hard to get out?
00:05:20
Speaker
Yes. And I find that sometimes swearing at them helps. Or sometimes you're like, you're in timeout, and I'm moving on to a different tooth. I'll come back for you later. You've got to think about what you did and go in the corner. And normally gets them in night. Do leave your elevator in there?
00:05:34
Speaker
don't leave it in there. I don't. It might be nice when they're in timeout. Yeah, I'll think about it. I i try to be like conscientious of how many tools I'm using.
00:05:46
Speaker
Well, you they just kind of they're all just poking out. You can see all those knobby handles. There's a lot of knobby handles. I usually use like a maximum of four knobby handles per extraction. Yeah, I guess it depends on the book down on on the mouth. Not the knobby handles.
00:06:03
Speaker
They're a good they're a really good feel um They are. i don't know if you imagine like an old timey whittling blade handle or something. Yeah. Ah, yes. My olden days times. Right. When you you what used to frequent at the medieval times or the Renaissance fair. Yeah. They really gave me knives.
00:06:23
Speaker
Your famous whittler. Or they look like like little little Led Zeppelin's. was going say, when you made that little boy and then you wished on a star and he came to life.
00:06:34
Speaker
Not my son. that he got swallowed by a whale. Not my wooden son. Sorry, too much, too much. But it's like that. They feel like that. okay. Now I understand. Now I completely understand. Sure, I thought so.
00:06:51
Speaker
Do we have any more small talk? Because I have stories. not for me. i I gave it all. I left it all on the court right there. I only do big talk. I only talk big games and do big talk. I don't do any. You don't do them i know you do the maxi challenge. Exactly. Thank you very much. Yeah. well i'm I'm honestly ready for some stories. I'm hungry for some stories.
00:07:13
Speaker
Regale us, please. Okay. Well, in honor of Dr. G going back to the surgery room. Our shoes have been bootied.
00:07:24
Speaker
Our gowns have been tied and our bouffants are on fleek. It's time to steal the kibble. yeah um Scrub up, everybody. in there Scrub in.
00:07:36
Speaker
So let's start with the first one. an excellent place to start. so I've asked for us to start with the second one before and it didn't happen. so I know. Let's try and true.
00:07:49
Speaker
A submission came in about a very well-loved aquarium pet that suddenly started looking a little off. The pet in question?
00:08:00
Speaker
What do you guys think it is? An axolotl. Those are little bit of aquariums, right? Yes, they do. I'm going to go turtle. Ready or slider. Ooh.
00:08:13
Speaker
It was a fish. Okay. So close. Classically live in those as well. Do you want to guess what kind of fish? An angelfish. Zebra fish. Goldfish. keep it Keep it classy. A koi.
00:08:27
Speaker
Ding, ding, ding. It was a goldfish. Classic. Koi's going ponds, Dr. M. Goldfish going tanks. I know. I was just looking for something a little edgy. Okay, so micro koi.
00:08:40
Speaker
Yeah, one of them there microcoys. The owner noticed a strange red growth slowly spreading across one of the goldfish's eyes. Hmm.
00:08:50
Speaker
At first it looked small, but over time it grew large enough that it was clearly interfering with the eye itself. Poor baby. Have you guys ever seen a fish? Has seen fish?
00:09:03
Speaker
Ha ha
00:09:06
Speaker
Uh, okay. I'm a postal guy. I've seen, I've seen a fish. Ponder me this idiots. seen a fish in real life
00:09:21
Speaker
dan You ever found Nemo? I bet have you ever had a fish patient? not No. ah Not, no, not as myself a doctor. I just didn't know if you had worked on one or given care to one in school. In in
Goldfish Recovery & Name Guessing
00:09:40
Speaker
rotations and labs in school.
00:09:41
Speaker
In school, yeah, we did. i did the fish anesthesia and blood draw lab, but it was thrilling because that's the closest I ever got. What kind of fish was it? Oh, cold fish, I'm pretty sure.
00:09:52
Speaker
oh Did you do that one? I think so. You like dump them in a bucket that has um anesthesia in it and then yeah they get they stop swimming and then you pull them out, draw blood real quick from their heart and then shove them in a recovery bucket. It's very thrilling.
00:10:08
Speaker
They have some fancy tables that'll circulate the the anesthetized water over them. But yeah, there's a bit of like a dunk. Yeah. like he still don't Let breathe it up.
00:10:19
Speaker
Yeah, in school it was not that, but that makes sense that in like the real world you would have some cool tricks and tips, not just two buckets and a prayer. So red poor fish. I'm worried this is going to be something pathognomonic. This is going to be something that any fish vet is super familiar with.
00:10:36
Speaker
And we are going to be we are there showing our hands. There are fish vets. Wow. I'm learning a lot right now. There's feed doctor for humans, so there's going to be fish vets.
00:10:48
Speaker
bringing it back to feet again i'm not wearing socks okay all right sure buddy oh oh did you get your buff uh yeah i usually do nice okay to continue eventually the fish was taken into the clinic where the team realized the mass had become big enough that it was actually pulling on the optic nerve oh no oh left alone it likely would have caused blindness or possibly a lot of discomfort.
00:11:19
Speaker
Yeah. yeah i got a tatee They got to get rid of that. So the vets decided to attempt something pretty unusual. Eye surgery on a goldfish. That's awesome. yeah That is very, very cool. I feel like it's also like there's like this crazy like yeah ER music like as they like rush the fish to the surgery.
00:11:39
Speaker
He's on the world's tiniest little like OR table. but A little Goonie. Yeah. Yeah. ah Yeah, that's pretty awesome. I'm a big fan of a nucleation. i think it's kind of a fun surgery. So I'm intrigued to hear how this goes. But I can't imagine doing it all like mini. You know those little like DIY minis that come in little balls and it's like, oh, it's a little ball of cornflakes. I feel like it's that, but that man.
00:12:07
Speaker
Without the resin. Are we sure they're going to be taking the eye out? We don't know that. I hope they keep it. You think? Do you think they're like cats and if you ah you yank too hard on one eyeball it blinds the other one?
00:12:20
Speaker
wo i don't know. I guess we'll have to read. Fishbats weigh in Yeah. Sorry. Go on. Go on. Their nervous system is different. i'm gonna I just want to say you two are so excited about this story more than anything because I think it's new and exciting. It's novel. i It is novel. I don't know where this ends.
00:12:38
Speaker
This is the unknown. Okay, they added anesthetic powder to the fish's tank water to gently put her to sleep. then carefully moved her onto a surgical table.
00:12:50
Speaker
During the procedure, they had to keep her gills constantly wet, periodically squirting water over them with a syringe so she could keep breathing. That'll do. yep Yep. Clutch.
00:13:02
Speaker
Whose job do you think that is? do you think it's a tech? Just like putting water on those gills? Depends how many people are there. Classic water boy. Like an Adam Sandler boy situation. Yeah.
00:13:14
Speaker
It literally is. I'm too so much of a stressed out person to be able to do this. I'd be so worried I didn't like put enough water. well you do great. yeah that's We'll tell you. You'd hit you'd you'd rise to the occasion. So you're going to squirt up that much over every X seconds. Yeah, we'll be like, water. yeah ah Bobby Boucher. Bobby Buffon.
00:13:35
Speaker
That's who does it. Bobby Buffon. Absolutely. Okay. Oh, you're going to make it? Oh, yeah, no, I was cringing from the first, but then the the fireball adds on.
00:13:47
Speaker
The anis and a powder in his... Yeah, had a couple nips. I didn't have time to make a martini and...
Goldfish Longevity & Surgery Success
00:13:55
Speaker
Hey, good for you. Jaffiel. Drink them if you got them.
00:13:59
Speaker
Glug, glug. Glurt, glurt. Glurt, glurt, glurt, glurt. Okay. So continuing on, using the tiniest surgical instruments they had, the team carefully cut around the eye and tied off the small blood vessels before removing the tumor.
00:14:17
Speaker
Tumor an eye or just eye? Or just, wait. Wait. Wait, so yeah leave the tumor these instruments are so tiny that they're using normal-sized instruments to manipulate the little guys. What? Hear me out.
00:14:30
Speaker
They've got forceps holding a tinier scalpel. Oh, maybe. Forceps holding a tiny hemostat. Surgery-ception? Is that real? No, I don't think so. Surgery-ception.
00:14:48
Speaker
deception How long do you guys think it took them do the surgery? To remove the fish's eye? How long do you think the was? I don't think they're taking the eye out, dude.
00:15:01
Speaker
All right. I think it took them 15 minutes less. You've got to move fast with the fish because you've got to get them in that recovery bucket. And if they're just tying it off and then cutting it with a scalpel, I feel like fast. yeah Yeah. Yeah. 15 minutes and two seconds.
00:15:18
Speaker
okay you're both really wrong the whole operation took about an hour what that's with recovery i jail ah you're going you're going straight to jail and by price is right rules i win so i'm good you're going to fish jail i don't feel like that should have taken that long yeah you're going to fish jail and i won I'm probably ignorant though. There's probably something like very important that they're doing that I just don't know about. Well, I would think they're just so carefully cutting around the eye. And if you tug on it too hard, the other one go blind.
00:15:58
Speaker
i You know, like a cat. I think you're right. I think it's probably like from from anesthesia to full recovery hour. There's no way the surgery time i can do a neuter in 15 minutes. There's no way they couldn't do a mass removal on. Maybe we need these doctors coming. I was a guest. They might. it This is your story. Please tell us what happened. Who's this goldfish, by the way?
00:16:21
Speaker
Oh, do you want to know the goldfish name? Oh, my gosh. Is it in there? Yeah. I was going to ask you guys at the end what you thought the goldfish's name was. Oh, save it then. Well, you save that. I guess I'm more curious who this fish's parents are.
00:16:35
Speaker
Oh. It's a nepo fish. Yeah. It's a nepo fishy and a nepo guppy. Nepo guppy. Nepo guppy. And an hour of anesthesia for a goldfish, all creatures great and small guys, I break for everything but mosquitoes and ants.
00:16:55
Speaker
yeah um That's a lot of resources. In the very beginning, it said it was a very well-loved aquarium pet. True.
00:17:06
Speaker
V-I-A-P, okay.
00:17:11
Speaker
Where'd the eye come from? ah query ah but eyes The eye is covered with a mass right now. All right, let's finish up.
00:17:23
Speaker
So the whole operation took an hour. The wild part, the fish woke up within minutes after being placed back in her tank water. And just three days later, she was reportedly back to eating normally and stirring up trouble around the aquarium again.
00:17:38
Speaker
stirring up trouble around the aquarium is a very good sentence. yeah but We never found out if they took the whole eye or if they just took the growth. Yeah, it doesn't say. Is there picture? It doesn't like fine doesn't say getting into trouble bumping into the walls of the tank, so i right I think they got it. Maybe that's why it took an hour, is because they wanted to preserve the eye. That's what I said. I know, but, you know, in my mind, i put i listen, I'd do in five minutes, but it's losing the eye.
00:18:11
Speaker
ah dude Listen, I'll do it in five minutes, but... ah hundred bucks under the table i'll get that mask off it'll be back bouncing around when i that's all i'm saying she just needs a bucket and a dream she's got this okay well i first i will send you the article you can see the pictures okay thank yeah god but first i won't but i before we i give it to you i need you to guess what her name is it's a girl fish uh her name princess diana
00:18:43
Speaker
princess diana but
00:18:48
Speaker
the people's princess in parentheses after goldie hawn oh that's a good one i had a goldfish name whoopie goldfish it's true as a kid uh no her name is dotty the goldfish Great name.
00:19:08
Speaker
I know, not super exciting, but there's there's the link if you want to look at the picture and you can tell me what you think. The very end has the postpartum.
00:19:22
Speaker
Notice how they don't show the eye. go all the way down to the bottom. wfta I can't tell if the eye's still there or not. Can you tell I feel like it's gone. It's got the shape of eye.
00:19:40
Speaker
Yeah, but it doesn't have the eyeball part of the eye. It looks great, though. Honestly, you'd barely know she had a giant tumor coming out of her eyeball.
00:19:50
Speaker
There's a few more. I think that the whole idea was that they didn't want her to go blind to the other eye. So she has one good eye, at least. She's fine, you know?
00:20:02
Speaker
Now she's Dottie the pirate fish. Glasgow vet team. Oh. Yeah. Has saved the sight of a goldfish. Yeah, because they said they had to be careful not to pull on it anymore as it could have caused her to go blind in the other eye.
00:20:17
Speaker
Twelve years old. So they do be like cats. You can't be yanking on them too much. Incredible. Did I forget to add the age? I think so.
00:20:28
Speaker
That's okay. I didn't know they could live that long. I was going to ask you guys and I forgot. I mean, if they're well loved and taken care of, lot of things could live longer than we perceive to be the average. Okay, don't keep looking on that website because there's other stories on there. He's looking up how long the fish lives. What? What? Hey, average, average life's for the fishers. You think I don't know off the dome that goldfish typically live for 10 to 15 years? I did not think he knew about the dome. Sometimes 20 30?
00:20:59
Speaker
I'm a great huge Ewan McGregor fan. Obviously, I know this. Of course. Okay. Big fish. I said he's my celebrity crush. I'll i'll watch anything hit with him in it. Really? Always has been. Long time. weird. When I locked on, I did the hello there.
00:21:15
Speaker
But we couldn't hear you. Yeah. Oh, neither one of you could hear me? Eh, she couldn't hear I just didn't clock it. Wait, but you were here. You were the first. You were here by yourself.
00:21:26
Speaker
Yeah, he's not my crush. But I came in. oh you just didn't realize that I was... I don't know his stuff....that I was giffing you in realness. I did not. I didn't clock it. were you doing... you were doing Star Wars. there. Hello there.
00:21:42
Speaker
yeah it ah hello there yeah and okay i i was doing I like him more in Trade Spotting and Velvet Goldmine. Yeah, get educated. Got any drugs?
00:21:55
Speaker
Is that him? Got any drugs? Got any drugs? Their accent's really thick in that movie. Keep practicing. I won't go further. Sam and I just booked tickets to a trip in London in October.
00:22:12
Speaker
Congratulations. That'll be so pretty and nice. Is that a good time for it? Yeah, sure. Cool. Is it like over here? and might be a little rain here, but that's fine.
00:22:24
Speaker
Have we ever been? like Never been. You're going to have a blast. Go to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Okay. It's on the list. We got a shared map. You're probably not going to be able to see it all, but it's really cool. And they have all these costumes from movies and stage and all this theater stuff. It's really cool. Excellent.
00:22:46
Speaker
excellent Let's collaborate. I would love some more suggestions. I got some recs for you. And things you don't need to do. Eat mushy peas. Just kidding. That's kind of part of it.
00:22:57
Speaker
were her I'll get down on a mushy pea. Right? Why not? So before we go into looking up London stuff, should I read the next story? Yes, please. Yes.
Boa Constrictor Case
00:23:09
Speaker
Okay, have a second story from the Bark Web. nice ah It begins. A vet clinic suddenly had a couple show up carrying a big wheeled suitcase.
00:23:23
Speaker
Not travel luggage, though. Inside was their pet boa constrictor. Of course. Yes.
00:23:33
Speaker
the only way to travel with your boa constrictor, one would argue. Okay, um my question is, what's the craziest thing you've seen somebody stick their animal in to bring to the vet?
00:23:48
Speaker
I thought you were gonna be like, what's the craziest thing you've found in a suitcase?
00:23:54
Speaker
There've been some fun like chicken wire and wooden contraptions um something almost like a picnic basket. One time i had to bring, i was living at a house and the Bengal cat got sick and we had to get to the vet that I was working at late night.
00:24:14
Speaker
Couldn't find a carrier, nowhere to be found. So went and got a soft laptop bag. Oh. oh And just sli slid him down in there.
00:24:28
Speaker
ah Vertical. They say they like it. They say they like pillowcases that they enjoy about. Work was a 16 to 19 minute drive and we got there. Yeah. He didn't sound like he loved it, but he was, he was ill enough where that wasn't his biggest issue. He, he did. Okay.
00:24:48
Speaker
ah My biggest ones was like a really big cardboard box, like probably three and a half feet tall, which I think I've mentioned before and like cat all the way down at the bottom. And then also like a wheelie laundry basket that just had like so something shoved on top.
00:25:03
Speaker
Wheelie laundry basket. Yeah. So like one of those like like upright wheelie laundry baskets and they just like shoved it in there and then like put something over the top so it couldn't escape. Definitely hampers.
00:25:15
Speaker
Ampers. That's interesting for a snake, though. Must have been a pretty pretty big beefer. Usually snakes are going to come pillowcases. Yeah, how long do you think it is? Do I have any more details up until that point? do we have a name? Boa Constructor. Yeah, okay. um Well, it's worthy of a story. I'm going five and a half feet.
00:25:37
Speaker
I'm going picture that I'm Britney Spears wearing banana and try to get a vibe for that. That's a python. You know what? I don't know that much about snakes and I think we all know about it. Just take a guess. You know a lot about Britney Spears. you said I do. You said five and a half feet.
00:25:54
Speaker
Yeah. Five and three quarters. You guys are not on your game. Apparently the snake was about 15 feet long. That's bananas.
00:26:07
Speaker
So the suitcase was the only practical way to transport him. And they would say they were carrying a big wheeled suitcase. So I'm not thinking it's a little carry-on.
00:26:20
Speaker
My Anaconda don't want none. That's a big snake. I think I'd have to say no thank you. Yeah, I'm calling. It could be. It could be. 3 to 13 feet is typical, but maximum 14 to 15, so this could just be a maxi boy.
00:26:38
Speaker
So we got a huge snake here. Now anacondas are 17 to 20, so are we sure? Yellow or green? I don't know. green Greens are way bigger.
00:26:49
Speaker
What color the snake be? Dr. M, what's the longest snake you've ever had to work with? I have not had the pleasure nor delight of working with a snake. I have seen one.
00:27:03
Speaker
are you have it Are you okay with them? I do like them very much. I just don't know that much about them. So I try not to um see creatures that I don't feel super comfortable diagnosing and treating. I know a lot of it's husbandry anyway, but I just feel like if there's somebody who could do a better job than me, I should let that person do it.
00:27:19
Speaker
Have you ever had a snake? I've never owned a snake. I think our mother would drop dead. Huh? I don't think she'd be cool with it. I do like them very much.
00:27:30
Speaker
Not a snake house growing up. No, it's a 15 foot long boa constrictor. Cool. The facts are as follows. Biggie's on parade. Yeah.
00:27:41
Speaker
And he is 11 years old. Well, I won because I was closer. What?
00:27:50
Speaker
Okay, so we've agreed it's a 15-foot boa constrictor. It's 15-foot boa constrictor. And a big rolling Very impressive. Very imposing. What do you think his name is? it's ah His name is Boris.
00:28:09
Speaker
Ekans.
00:28:13
Speaker
His name is Hiss. Fantastic. But it reminds, it makes me think of Sir Hiss from Robin Hood. Wasn't he a boat constrictor? He was a snake for sure. i think he was maybe boat constrictor. Guys, we can't Google everything. I think I'm going that. Some things have be left up to wonder. I'm going to say that was a jungle carpet python.
00:28:37
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Snake expert over here. dabbled. Why would that snake be in England though? Uh, imperialism?
00:28:48
Speaker
Fair.
00:28:51
Speaker
Okay, to continue, the owners were worried because over the previous two months, he had completely stopped eating. Normally, he'd take a meal every couple of weeks, but this time he'd gone quiet, became lethargic, and started losing weight.
00:29:04
Speaker
Poor baby. Poor baby. The vet team admitted most of them had never handled a snake before, let alone one that size. But they got him stabilized with fluids, antibiotics, and a stomach tube so they could feed him directly. Nice.
00:29:21
Speaker
They also ran x-rays to check for blockage since reptiles sometimes swallow their bedding. But everything looked clear. What do you think is wrong with this snake?
00:29:32
Speaker
It's gravid. It's a girl. was say, yeah. i I almost thought like, I don't know, something something about being a girl for sure. Seasonal affective disorder.
00:29:43
Speaker
It's hard to sex snakes. That I know. i don't know much else. It is 11 years old. Well. Do you think they would have figured it out by now? Not necessarily. oh You'd be surprised how many owners don't be looking at their bits.
00:29:57
Speaker
If it's not a problem, they're not looking. ah Yeah, they don't they don't really advertise.
00:30:07
Speaker
Okay, so he other it's not pregnant. ah Because Kel's already read the story. It has no obstruction. It's 11. It's enormous. Does it have an eating disorder?
00:30:18
Speaker
Way to call it out. No. no The other snake's called a fat. No, it has a complex. um and no i I truly don't even know like what snakes can have, so it's really hard for me.
00:30:33
Speaker
i don't know. Oral tumor? Oh, well, then there's one. Cancer's always on the list for sure. some sort of infection. Yeah. i ah yeah Okay.
00:30:45
Speaker
After some detective work with the owners, the real issue turned out to be his enclosure. it been, Jerry? We should guessed. The temperature and the humidity had been a little too low for a while.
00:30:59
Speaker
Quite a while. Which slowly shut down his appetite and left him dehydrated. So recovery took about a month with regular treatments, but eventually he started eating on his own again, which everybody took as a big win.
00:31:14
Speaker
He went home to a newly upgraded enclosure with better heating and humidity control, and he's back to acting like a normal giant snake. Yeah. That's fantastic. Am i understanding it correctly that they kept that snake there for a month? Yes.
00:31:29
Speaker
That's bananas. Also, um I didn't add it, but this was in Dublin. Oh, that's fun. Which might also be the reason why they hadn't worked with too many reptiles. I don't know how.
00:31:43
Speaker
I mean, it's a big city. don't know if the exodus game is there. That's true. I don't know how regulated it is in Dublin. Any Irish listeners, please weigh in We would love to hear more about your reptile industry.
00:31:57
Speaker
I'd like to hear anything. Your accents are very cool. So send a voice memo tootsweet, please. This is I almost also wonder, like, do you think because he was abnormally large for bow constrictor, they didn't really ah take that into account for so long?
00:32:14
Speaker
And maybe he needed like a bigger, better cage, like tank and system and stuff. Yeah, it could be. There's 11 now. Do they grow forever? like hair and noses?
00:32:27
Speaker
It must be nice. Well, information is power, but it's also can be could be a terrible burden. It must be nice living in the age of internet with reptiles now. I remember when I was working at a pet store very young, it was like a short stack of books that you could look at.
00:32:45
Speaker
And there was some internet, but not nothing like today. That's true. We are very spoiled today with how much we can learn and quickly. Just want to say, like, just ask the ask the high schooler working at this pet shop everything you need to know about having in a reptile. And that was good enough for almost everybody, which is insane.
00:33:05
Speaker
And now do it in Ireland, maybe. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So those were the stories. Those are good stories. Very exotic. but everyone got better.
00:33:18
Speaker
Everyone did get better. They were happy endings around. When I'm looking for the stories, I'm trying to find ones that don't make you too depressed. That's so kind of you.
00:33:29
Speaker
You were so upset about the spy cat being killed by a car. ah oh Don't remind us. i would But I wanted to reiterate, it was in the 60s.
00:33:43
Speaker
Whether he died by a car or natural causes, he would have been dead anyway by this point in time. This is true. You never would have met that cat. Yeah, but it died a bad way.
00:33:55
Speaker
Maybe a quick word. He stopped them from hurting other cats and making them into spies.
Podcast Conclusion & Listener Engagement
00:34:01
Speaker
The first and only guinea pig, yeah. He bit down on that arsenic pill and behind his yeah is last molar glass.
00:34:13
Speaker
Well, any last thoughts about any of the stories? ah No, but and I honestly, exotics is such like a an unknown territory for me. It's very thrilling. I feel like I can kind of guess. I'm almost kind of like, I feel maybe you feel this too, Dr. G. I'm almost kind of annoying in how much I want to guess the like the stuff that we see all the time. sometimes this is a nice relief because I'm like, what's my differential? yeah I got to figure this out.
00:34:38
Speaker
This is right humbling. and I'm all for it. yeah uh no those were lovely stories thank you so much for finding them for us of course like also if our listeners would like to submit a story please do to spill at spill the kibble.com that's s p i l l at spill the kibble.com we just spilled the kibble Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling.
00:35:10
Speaker
From clan to clan, or something, or doo-doo. That'd be the snake remix. I'm really bad at hiss, hiss, hiss. Oh, hissy boy.
00:35:23
Speaker
hiss, the hiss. I feel like that's like a really somber song, and the snake survived. But I was thinking about Spy Cat.
00:35:34
Speaker
You put it back in the mind and then the headspace of Spy Cat. Well, sorry. That's okay. Okay, bye! Bye! Thank you so much for listening.
00:35:47
Speaker
Please note that this podcast is for entertainment purposes only. Any medical advice heard on this show should be discussed with your animals care team. And a special thank you to our story submitters.
00:35:59
Speaker
Do you have a story you want to share? Email us at spill at spillthekibble.com and maybe we'll read your story. Also, please rate, review, and subscribe so that others can find us more easily. We look forward to next time.