Veterinary Clinical Reference
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Evergreen, evidence-based hubs on the drugs, conditions, and species you manage — continuously updated and cited at every claim.
Reptile Cloacal Prolapse: Organ Identification and Treatment
A DVM workflow for reptile prolapse: stabilize and protect exposed tissue, identify the organ, investigate gastrointestinal, urinary and reproductive causes, judge viability, reduce or operate, and prevent recurrence.
Read →Serpentovirus (Nidovirus) Infection in Snakes: PCR Testing, Quarantine, and Clinical Management
Serpentovirus is an important differential for respiratory and oral disease in captive snakes, but PCR positivity does not by itself prove active disease. Review sample selection, serial result interpretation, quarantine, supportive care, and coinfection assessment.
Read →Yellow Fungus Disease (Nannizziopsis guarroi) in Bearded Dragons
Yellow fungus disease in bearded dragons is an invasive, contagious dermatomycosis caused by Nannizziopsis guarroi (formerly CANV). A clinical hub on taxonomy, diagnosis by culture, histopathology and PCR, antifungal dosing (voriconazole, terbinafine), debridement, biosecurity, and prognosis.
Read →Chelonian Aural Abscess: A Clinical Reference for Vets
Aural abscess in turtles is a caseous middle-ear plug that must be surgically removed — antibiotics alone fail. Etiology, the hypovitaminosis-A and organochlorine debate, culture, surgery, and prognosis for the practicing DVM.
Read →Snake Cryptosporidiosis (Cryptosporidium serpentis): Diagnosis, the Pseudoparasitism Trap, and Treatment
A clinical reference on gastric cryptosporidiosis in snakes: why Cryptosporidium serpentis is effectively incurable, how genotyping separates true infection from prey-derived oocyst pass-through, which diagnostic samples actually perform, and what the treatment literature really shows.
Read →Respiratory Infection in Reptiles: A Clinical Reference for Snakes and Lizards
Reptile respiratory infection is a husbandry-driven, predominantly gram-negative bacterial disease. This DVM hub covers etiology, culture-directed antibiotic dosing, nebulization, and the non-negotiable step of correcting temperature, humidity, and hygiene.
Read →Hypovitaminosis A in Reptiles: Squamous Metaplasia, Aural Abscesses, and the Narrow Dosing Margin
Clinical reference on vitamin A deficiency in chelonians and insectivorous lizards — squamous metaplasia as the unifying lesion, the aural-abscess association and the evidence that undercuts it, plasma retinol diagnostics, and parenteral dosing set against the published toxic band of 50,000-100,000 IU/kg.
Read →Reptile Stomatitis (Mouth Rot): A Clinical Reference for Veterinarians
Infectious stomatitis ('mouth rot') in reptiles is a husbandry-driven, opportunistic Gram-negative infection (chiefly Aeromonas and Pseudomonas). This clinical reference covers etiology, staging, deep-tissue culture and sensitivity, imaging for osteomyelitis, and evidence-based, species-specific dosing for antibiotics (ceftazidime, amikacin, enrofloxacin), analgesia (meloxicam, morphine, tramadol), and vitamin A — with husbandry correction as the cornerstone.
Read →Reptile Gout: Articular and Visceral Urate Disease — A Clinical Reference for Veterinarians
Reptile gout is tissue urate deposition from sustained hyperuricemia in uricotelic species — articular (painful, swollen joints) or the more insidious visceral form (kidneys, pericardium, serosa, liver). This clinical reference covers pathophysiology, plasma uric-acid interpretation caveats, definitive tophus cytology, allopurinol and analgesic dosing, prognosis, and prevention.
Read →Reptile Dysecdysis: A Clinical Approach to Abnormal Shedding in Snakes, Lizards, and Chelonians
Dysecdysis (abnormal or incomplete shedding) in reptiles is almost always a sign of a husbandry or systemic-health failure rather than a primary skin disease. This hub reviews the ecdysis cycle, the husbandry and disease causes, diagnosis, and taxon-specific management including retained spectacles in snakes and constricting digit and tail-tip bands in geckos and lizards for the exotic and small-animal clinician.
Read →Reptile Dystocia and Egg Binding: A Clinical Reference for Veterinarians
Reptile dystocia splits into pre-ovulatory follicular stasis (an ovarian problem in which follicles fail to ovulate or resorb) and post-ovulatory egg stasis (shelled eggs formed but not passed), which is further divided into obstructive and non-obstructive disease. This distinction, made on radiographs and ultrasound, dictates management: non-obstructive post-ovulatory cases may respond to husbandry correction, fluids, calcium, and oxytocin, whereas obstruction, pre-ovulatory follicular stasis, and failed medical therapy are surgical. Oxytocin is reasonably effective in chelonians and many lizards but unreliable in snakes, and it is contraindicated when mechanical obstruction is present.
Read →Inclusion Body Disease (IBD) of Boid Snakes: Reptarenavirus Infection
DVM reference on inclusion body disease of boid snakes: reptarenavirus (and hartmanivirus) etiology, boa vs python presentations, blood-smear and RT-PCR diagnosis, differentials, and quarantine, biosecurity, and euthanasia decision-making.
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