gecko illness - following up

Question
Donna, hello,
Following your advice, I eventually found another vet. His conclusion is totally different: he ran an x-ray, and said that it's an internal blockage, that he can see it on x-ray. (Also he is seeing something "big looking like a sweeling or tumor but he could not say what that is)
I feel like a total fool about not doing it before. Of course,I haven't seen the x-ray myself, and to be honest I do not know what to believe now, and also do not know whether it is a "better" diagnosis (in terms of the animal chances for survival).
In any case he prescribed vaseline oil (inside) and another medicine which helps against meteorism. What do you think about it?
I gave her those, this oil was everywhere including her face, nose, even ears - literally everywhere. She didn't enjoy it much, but nothing terrible happened either.
Is there any chance of this helping?
Thank you again for your advice.
And shall I give her some baby-food in addition to get her at least some nutrition?

Answer
If she has some sort of tumor or growth blocking her intestinal tract, then there may be no hope.  (Even with surgery, prognosis would be poor for such a small animal, and cancer treatment would probably be out of the question).

If it's something she swallowed...prognosis isn't very good, because it's been a long time now. When the intestinal tract is blocked, the blood vessels are compressed, and necrosis soon follows. Without surgery, I wouldn't rate the chance very high, either.  If it's only a partial blockage, and food can still pass through her system, then the oil may help, though surgery would certainly still be recommended, as it just isn't very likely to pass if it hasn't already.

To be perfectly honest, this sounds like another vet who isn't sure what he's looking at, much less what to do about it.  If this is an actual intestinal blockage...trying the oil is not going to hurt.  There's a remote chance it just might work.  If it doesn't, then you probably could not have saved her anyhow.  If the blockage is severe, then after all this time, it may be too late for a surgical solution.

I would still ask this new vet about possible follicular stasis, and ask if he saw any sign of follicle development.  If he doesn't know what you're talking about, well...that's an answer, too, as to how trustworthy his diagnosis is.  If he does know what you're talking about, and says that there was no sign of that on the x-ray, then I would go with this vet's diagnosis as being most likely.  (I would have thought so in the first place, anyhow).

If you do manage to find a knowledgeable vet through all of this, hang onto him for dear life.  It may be slightly better in the US now, but not by much.  There is no reptilian medicine specialty here, and some vets will try to treat reptiles on the assumption that they can't be too different from birds or hamsters.  Of course, they're wrong.  A few good vets really study reptile medicine intensively on their own, and keep updated on modern advances.  The vet that really loves reptiles, and subscribes to herp medicine journals, is the one you want to find.  I've encountered vets who knew less about reptile medicine than I do, and that's very scary, because I'm definitely not a vet, I'm just a breeder.

I wouldn't worry about nutrition at this stage.  Her tail isn't skinny yet, and she is perfectly capable of living off of fat stores, at least until they begin to run out.  Forcing food on her would merely be stressful.  If she has an intestinal blockage, she would be unable to digest it, and would be forced to regurgitate, which would cause more problems.