Mangled Beardie Toe! Please help!

If your parents are so tight and uncaring and determined to do nothing to help your beardie who is terrible pain at the moment , and you can not find the money needed to even have a good herp vet assess his infected leg and foot , the best option for your beardie is to surrender him to the local herp vet or to a local reptile rescuer (they will make sure he get's proper medical care and proper medicines).

I believe he can be saved , even if involves having the infected leg amputated and a lengthly period of INTENSIVE VET and CARER / RESCUER CARE and a long course of broad spectrum antibiotics and pain relief (to make him more comfortable prior to surgery and afterwards).

He is well past cheap home remedies now and has been for some time.

Please don't let this carry on any longer. I'm sure there a people on this board who live close to where you are who will be willing to take him off your hands.

Ellen is right , part of being a good beardie keeper is providing vet care when required.

The longer this situation is allowed to continue to fester, the more costly the treatment is going to be , you might get away with oral and injected broadspectrum antibiotics and maybe a small operation to drain any abscess that might be in the foot/leg and to remove any infected necrotic tissue, but soon this will become a very large procedure involving an GA , a stay in the recovery ward of the vet surgery for intensive care and a length course of antibiotics and the price may well head up towards $1000 rather than maybe $100 now.

I'm so sorry that your beardie has gotten so bad so quickly....it's not your fault, some of them will bite at their own feet and then it becomes almost a habit. His toes went from a more minor problem to a much bigger one. Some dragons wouldn't bite like that, sadly your guy did, and that's where the problem happened. They feel the itch, the pinching + burning and they continue to bite at it. Even dogs + cats do the same with a minor irritation and then won't leave it alone. My friend's cat had a small mole/growth on the back leg that he kept opening up by biting it and they had vet treatment , still the cat had to wear a collar for almost 3 weeks to keep him from opening it up + leaving bloodstains all around the house.

I wish I had recommended bandaging your beardie's foot before it got like this. If it would have been covered with honey + gauze it might have gotten better, or he may have lost a toe or two and that's it. Can you post pics of both feet , one at a time close up ? And yes, ask your parents to please take him to a vet or find a good reptile rescue. They can help your beardie. Maybe you can offer to clean at the vet's office....if they see that you very badly want to help your lizard they might help you out.

Tell mom and dad you'd rather have the beardie's infected leg treated by a herp vet than have a birthday party this year.
It's a small sacrifice to make if your love your little beardie.

You do have grandparents , maybe they'll help out if you ask them.

I hope you do post an update, I'm sorry if I was harsh but I wasn't sure you understood the seriousness of the situation, and that he won't survive at this point without a good Reptile vet and prescription medications and hospital care that you cannot provide at home. If you get him to a vet now he may have a chance, but will most likely need one or both feet/legs amputated. But he can still live a long, happy life that way.

Right now he's suffering greatly, imagine if you had a cut on your foot, then you let it get infected. That hurts badly enough for you to get to the doctor for treatment. But imagine you don't go, and the infection spreads throughout your entire foot until it finally turns black and falls off. Now that sounds ridiculous, right? No one would ever let an infected wound get to that point and not go to the ER, simply because you'd be in so much pain by that point you'd be in shock and not able to function or stay conscious. Well this is what is going on with your beardie right now. I can only think of one other time in an online post I've ever told someone that if they refuse to get their pet to the vet then the humane thing to do would be to either surrender their pet to a rescue immediately so that they can get them help ASAP, or to at least have the heart to spend $100 to have the poor thing euthanized. It takes a lot for me to say that, and it bothered me after I said it. But I just can't imagine how much your little guy has suffered already through all this time, and there is no end in sight for him, no relief is coming because his owners refuse to get him help, and his feet are literally rotting and falling off. I've seldom seen an infection get this far without vet care, so this one is hard to take.

It's not your fault that it happened, nor is it your fault that you cannot get him vet care, it's your parent's fault for allowing their child to keep a living creature as a pet without being prepared to get the pet medical treatment if it needs it. My pets always come before I do, I went through cervical cancer and was off work for a year and a half so money was more than tight, I was completely broke. But I had 2 dogs, 4 parrots, and my Beardie to care for. So when it got to the point that it was either I ate or they did, they are. Then finally I decided to find them all homes, as much as it killed me because I'm single, I have no kids and I live alone, so my pets are my family, they're my life. I cried every day and night, but I kept thinking "What if one of them gets sick? I certainly cannot get them vet care, I can hardly feed them and still pay my mortgage". So the day before my 2 dogs were to leave (and a week before 2 of my birds) my mom and my stepfather stepped up and said that they wanted me to concentrate on getting better and doing my treatments. They knew that rehoming my family would kill me, so they started paying for all of my pet's food, all equipment and supplies they may need (like new UVB tubes and basking bulbs for my beardie), and they promised me that they would take them to the vet if any of them became sick or injured. So I was obviously very fortunate to have parents willing to do that. But the point is that I was prepared to rehome them and was a day away from doing so, because I knew it was the right thing to do for them.

If you let us know where you live we may be able to find a reptile rescue that is close to you that will take your beardie in and get him to a reptile vet immediately so he has a chance to survive, or at least get some pain relief and a peaceful end. I know it will be difficult to surrender him but you have to know it's what is best for him. He's suffering, and he has been suffering for a long time. He needs help that you cannot provide, even though you want to, I know you do, I know you love him. So because you love him please help him find help. We'll do everything we can to assist you in finding a good rescue. There may even be a member of this forum that lives close to you that can help.

I have no idea what to do...he is still eating and pooping as of now, but I also notice he doesn't look alert and that he's more inactive now. He's also lost a ton of weight even though he is eating normally. All he is is skin and bones now practically. My parents are "thinking" about it but I'll doubt that'll lead anywhere. My neighbor did offer to help me pay for the euthanization but his dad won't let him help with anything else. I'll try to keep you all updated but I fear for the worst.

I'm so sorry....I know this is so hard for you. I hope something works out.

Hello,

I do have to say that if your parents have to think about it, then they are very selfish & uncaring.
At the very least, see if a vet or rescue will take him, as suggested so he can get the care he needs. It doesn't seem fair that he is the one to suffer & possibly be put down because your parents wont give him the basic essential care.
I am sorry you are going through this. Please let us know what happens.

Tracie

I'm in Australia so I can't do anything to help (wish I could).

All you have to do is ask and I'm sure one of the American members of this board will help you find a rescuer who will care for your beardie
(BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO SURRENDER HIM TO THEM).
This is MUCH better than putting him down when THIS IS UNNECESSARY, if he was my beardie I'd do what ever I could to save him (irrespective of the cost - and I am not a rich man (I'm retired and on a very limited pension).

The longer you delay , the worse the outcome will be for your beardie, if he's becoming lethargic , he's already in dire need of urgent vet treatment and antibiotics as I fear he has developed a systemic infection - and I know what that is like from personal experience.

Let me explain to you how he will be feeling now if he has indeed developed a systemic infection - this from my OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. A few years ago I had turned my ankle doing down my front steps and fell flat on my face and my left shin hit the steps very hard, I wound up with very bad bruising of the front of my shin, the GP told me I had a very large bruise there.

3 weeks later I was so sick AND WEAK and feverish I couldn't easily even get out of bed to visit the toilet and when I did my lower left leg was agony (fealt like redhot pokers in it and like it was going to explode !!!) and I felt like I was going spew constantly for 2 days , my lower left leg and foot swelled up (could not get my joggers on now) and took on an angry red colour.
GP prescribed oral antibiotics at this stage - these had no effect and then when I woke the next day to go to the toilet (I noticed smelly green/brown puss running down my leg from a spot just under my left knee, called the doctor and he called the ambulance and I was immediately taken to the emergency room where the surgeon did ultrasounds on my left leg and took a swab , and told me if he was going to save my leg AND MY LIFE he had to operate IMMEDIATELY and do it under a local !!! as I had a large abscess in my leg just below my knee and it had ruptured and I had a systemic infection (blood poisoning as well as cellulitis of the lower left leg).
I wound up with a hole cut into my upper left shin below my knee about 5 inches deep x 3 inches long and 2 inches wide (AND I FELT EVERY CUT !!!) as the surgeon had to remove all the infected tissue.
3 weeks in the high dependency surgical ward on 4 hourly intravenious broad spectrum antibiotics and ordered to have total bed rest, no improvement (wound up transferred to a larger hospital for a NMR scan of my leg - risking loosing it still) and then next day back for a large leg operation under a general to remove a second much deeper abscess (about 1/2 way up my left shin - from the same accident) and 2 more weeks in the high dependency surgical ward on intravenous antibiotic drips followed by a week in hospital on oral broadspectrum antibiotics, then sent home with orders to keep my leg up , and I was getting a nurse visiting every day for 6 months to repack the big holes in my lower left leg and rebandage it and monthly visits to the hospital to have my wounds examined by the surgical registrar as an outpatient.
9 months for the surgical wounds to close up completely - needless to say my left shin is not pretty.

So believe me when I tell you that your beardie is in agony and now feeling very sick , all for lack of proper vet treatment.


PLEASE - NO MORE HESITATION

Surrender him to a reptile rescuer / rehabilitator who WILL PROVIDE NECESSARY VET TREATMENT AND WILL REHABILITATE HIM AND WILL EVENTUALLY REHOME HIM WITH A CARING / LOVING KEEPER when he's ready.

He deserves the chance of having a life, he is a sentinent intelligent and sensitive being who deserves better than simply being put down because it's more convenient and cheap to do so.....


All you need to do is say what town you live in and if you can't find a REPTILE RESCUER GRP others here can (heck even I can do that using Google despite living on the other side of the planet !!!).

This took me under 10 seconds to find :
http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/reptile-rescues.php ,
or
http://www.anapsid.org/societies/#us
just scroll down to the rescuer who is nearest to you and contact them (URGENTLY !!!).

Here is some more
http://www.reptilerescue.com/contact.html
http://villachardonnay.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&layout=item&id=313&Itemid=313&gclid=CPmcq4iWl9QCFZkHKgod9GoP0g

I know it has been awhile since I've posted but I've been so busy trying to save my lizard. I made enough money babysitting and such to take him to the vet. It took a lot of hours and dedication seeing that school was still going on then. His back feet were amputated and he on was antibiotics. He was doing fine. About a week ago we went on vacation and I boarded him at reptile store/boarding place that had good credentials. While I was on vacation I was notified that my lizard had died due to "unexpected" and "unknown" causes. I was sad the entire vacation. When I got back I picked his stuff and my other dragons stuff up as well as his body. I found that his meds had not been used at all. I'm not exactly sure what they were but the vet gave them to me to help put him back on track. I am sad to say that despite my effort and money I put in to try to save him he passed anyways. Thank you all for your help and dedication to this topic. I really appreciated it. Ridge is now buried under a tree at a pretty location on a green belt behind our neighborhood.

I'm so sorry to hear that, it must be a very sad time for you. At least you really tried in the end to do something about it, too bad it coincided with him having to be boarded. All my sympathy goes out to you.