Morri
Member
- Beardie name(s)
- Zoom
Hello,
This is my first post here after lurking ever since I got my beardie.
Let me preface with apologies for not completing the husbandry part of the profile, I will definitely do this later, I am just super anxious right now and want to get the post out of the way before everything I want to ask evaporates from my head. The vet has gone over the setup and advised it is spot on.
Zoom, my almost 3 yo. beardie had surgery to remove an insane amount of follicles and spay her. This was 10 days ago. They were discovered after trying to determine the cause of a prolapse a couple of days earlier and an immediate visit to emergency vets to fix it (luckily, I was with her when it happened and it wasn't massive, so she got into vets quickly and had it fixed straight away).
The surgery went well, but the vet mentioned she did take quite a while to come round from the anaesthetics. He assured me it is nothing to worry about as some dragons just take longer than others.
She was extremely sleepy for the first couple of days, then started gradually getting more alert. She was also given tramadol (0.16 ml in the morning) and critical care omnivore mix (10 ml over the course of day, I split it roughly to 3 feedings of 3.3 ml as instructions said to divide into 2 or 3 portions). And this is currently my biggest issue. She absolutely hates it. She will get visibly agitated, keep her mouth shut, fight me with of her might. I tried just putting the food on her lips for her to lick off, but she won't have any of it. She is also not interested in her normal food, she just closes her eyes when presented with bugs or salad, backs out if I try to gently rub her favourite blueberries on her lips.
On Wednesday she had her 1 week post-op check-up and they were happy with her condition. Said she is healing well and that no appetite is a normal thing and it can take a while for it to come back. She is well sustained on the critical care mix and poops every couple of days, so there's nothing to worry about. They also suggested upping the tramadol because she might start eating quicker if she is less sore. The post-op doc said the 0.16 prescribed by the surgeon was really quite low for a girl her size. Also mentioned that she was getting a bit dehydrated. I was trying to get her to drink by putting the water on her snout, but she wasn't having any of it. She was also basking much more than usual, so I suspect that didn't help. Clearly the water in wet food is not enough for her at the moment, so I started giving her a bit of reptoboost in a syringe. She will not lick it off her snout, so again, I need to carefully put small amounts in her mouth via syringe.
We are now on day 10 post-op and she still won't eat or drink on her own. Moreover, the feeding situation is getting more and more stressful. She fights, she bites the syringe she gets EXTREMELY stressed. I am being as gentle and careful as I can, but it changes nothing. This morning she scraped her gums on the syringe tip so hard she bled a bit, which I am assuming is the main factor why the next feeds were even harder. She went from being a cuddle bug to getting scared when I approach. It breaks my heart.
Now there are some things I noticed:
-She is much more alert and moves more in the evening and the last feed seems a bit less dramatic.
-She seemed a bit more active prior to increasing the tramadol dose as advised by vet on Wednesday (obviously not for the first couple of days post-op, but she was getting a bit brighter everyday)
-She also looks a bit more alert in the morning before her meds
This leads me to believe that it might be the tramadol making her groggy, nauseous and affecting her appetite? Is this something that could happen? It goes against what the vet said about her possibly needing a higher dose, but her behaviour seems to point to it. They mentioned her needing it for the first two weeks and we have the two week check-up on Wednesday, so I am hoping they will take her off it. Not going to lie, her not eating on her own makes me extremely anxious. I am also worried that the added stress of syringe feeds is not helping her get better and hungrier either.
Could it also be that she is not interested because she is getting all she needs from Emeraid?
If there's anyone here who has previous experience with beardies that have been through a quite extensive and invasive procedure, could you please tell me how long can it take for them to start eating again?
I'm sorry this ended up being an essay, I just wanted to provide as much detail as possible.
This is my first post here after lurking ever since I got my beardie.
Let me preface with apologies for not completing the husbandry part of the profile, I will definitely do this later, I am just super anxious right now and want to get the post out of the way before everything I want to ask evaporates from my head. The vet has gone over the setup and advised it is spot on.
Zoom, my almost 3 yo. beardie had surgery to remove an insane amount of follicles and spay her. This was 10 days ago. They were discovered after trying to determine the cause of a prolapse a couple of days earlier and an immediate visit to emergency vets to fix it (luckily, I was with her when it happened and it wasn't massive, so she got into vets quickly and had it fixed straight away).
The surgery went well, but the vet mentioned she did take quite a while to come round from the anaesthetics. He assured me it is nothing to worry about as some dragons just take longer than others.
She was extremely sleepy for the first couple of days, then started gradually getting more alert. She was also given tramadol (0.16 ml in the morning) and critical care omnivore mix (10 ml over the course of day, I split it roughly to 3 feedings of 3.3 ml as instructions said to divide into 2 or 3 portions). And this is currently my biggest issue. She absolutely hates it. She will get visibly agitated, keep her mouth shut, fight me with of her might. I tried just putting the food on her lips for her to lick off, but she won't have any of it. She is also not interested in her normal food, she just closes her eyes when presented with bugs or salad, backs out if I try to gently rub her favourite blueberries on her lips.
On Wednesday she had her 1 week post-op check-up and they were happy with her condition. Said she is healing well and that no appetite is a normal thing and it can take a while for it to come back. She is well sustained on the critical care mix and poops every couple of days, so there's nothing to worry about. They also suggested upping the tramadol because she might start eating quicker if she is less sore. The post-op doc said the 0.16 prescribed by the surgeon was really quite low for a girl her size. Also mentioned that she was getting a bit dehydrated. I was trying to get her to drink by putting the water on her snout, but she wasn't having any of it. She was also basking much more than usual, so I suspect that didn't help. Clearly the water in wet food is not enough for her at the moment, so I started giving her a bit of reptoboost in a syringe. She will not lick it off her snout, so again, I need to carefully put small amounts in her mouth via syringe.
We are now on day 10 post-op and she still won't eat or drink on her own. Moreover, the feeding situation is getting more and more stressful. She fights, she bites the syringe she gets EXTREMELY stressed. I am being as gentle and careful as I can, but it changes nothing. This morning she scraped her gums on the syringe tip so hard she bled a bit, which I am assuming is the main factor why the next feeds were even harder. She went from being a cuddle bug to getting scared when I approach. It breaks my heart.
Now there are some things I noticed:
-She is much more alert and moves more in the evening and the last feed seems a bit less dramatic.
-She seemed a bit more active prior to increasing the tramadol dose as advised by vet on Wednesday (obviously not for the first couple of days post-op, but she was getting a bit brighter everyday)
-She also looks a bit more alert in the morning before her meds
This leads me to believe that it might be the tramadol making her groggy, nauseous and affecting her appetite? Is this something that could happen? It goes against what the vet said about her possibly needing a higher dose, but her behaviour seems to point to it. They mentioned her needing it for the first two weeks and we have the two week check-up on Wednesday, so I am hoping they will take her off it. Not going to lie, her not eating on her own makes me extremely anxious. I am also worried that the added stress of syringe feeds is not helping her get better and hungrier either.
Could it also be that she is not interested because she is getting all she needs from Emeraid?
If there's anyone here who has previous experience with beardies that have been through a quite extensive and invasive procedure, could you please tell me how long can it take for them to start eating again?
I'm sorry this ended up being an essay, I just wanted to provide as much detail as possible.