Too often is the case of obesity in Britain. Not only within the human population but also found frequently within the animal kingdom. As you can see from the photo on the right, Jabba, a Savannah monitor, was obviously overweight, but that wasn't his only problem! The owners of this particular animal were deeply concerned because he wouldn't eat and had not passed any faeces for some time. We advised them to check the temperature range within the vivarium as insufficient temperature can result in an inability to sufficiently break down their food. We also recommended that they also seek medical advice if the situation did not improve. The veterinary practice decided to take an x-ray of Jabba to see if they could determine what was going on. To their surprise, a huge blockage could clearly be seen. (shown on the right) Obviously very uncomfortable for the animal.
Having no insurance to cover any veterinary costs, the owners felt that they could not afford the treatment required to get Jabba back to health and decided to bring him to the centre. Jabba was appropriately placed into quarantine where we started work immediately to relieve him from his problem. He was given warm bathes, with his lower intestines being gently massaged. This often rids the problem on it's own but in Jabba's case a little extra treatment was required. Liquid paraffin was given orally and after a few days, Jabba began to pass out the broken down faeces which had caused him so much discomfort. Now that was over, it was a case of getting him slimmed down by making him swim several laps of a small pool on a daily basis. His diet is also being carefully monitored and an improvement can be seen already.