Spikey diagnosed with Gout

Drache613":n7cl8x97 said:

Hello,

How is Spikey doing today?
I am surprised the vet said that they do the same thing, essentially because that isn't correct.
The colchicine is often used in combination with it short term to help alleviate pain associated
with the swelling. It doesn't help break down the uric acid though, like the allopurinol does.
That is frustrating having to deal with that! You can order the meds online without a prescription
yes. It takes a bit to get them in the mail but not bad. I also have an online reptile supply store
too & designed a gout kit which includes some as well, along with a kidney support powder. I can
give you a link for both, to help if you would like.
It would be stressful to take her to another vet & might be hard to find another vet who is willing
to prescribe it.
That's great you got a new T5 reptisun tube. Did you get it mounted inside the tank now?
I can't remember if Kroger has the black cherry or not. I think they had R Knudson's brand of the
juice. How is her appetite?
I'll merge your threads for you. Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

Click to expand...

Tracie, I would appreciate links to both. My son told me she was dragging herself on her belly this morning ?. I just want her to get better and I’m worried.

She ate three superworms yesterday but still isn’t touching her greens.

I am checking Walmart for the black cherry juice and a mounting system for the UVB today, Our heat went out yesterday so I was dealing with that instead of out getting the stuff I needed for Spikey. ?

Thank you, Kelly

Hello,

Oh no, poor thing, dragging her belly around. I guess her joints are hurting her some!
Did you get the heat back on for her I hope?
Sure, here is my link:

http://www.bug-de-lite.com/ccp8/Item/Gout-Ease

Here is a link to an online pharmacy where you can purchase the tablets, to crush & then
compound them. The time frame is usually a few weeks to receive them.

http://www.drugsboat.com/allopurinol.html

Let us know how she is doing!

Tracie

Drache613":2slv25h4 said:

Hello,

Oh no, poor thing, dragging her belly around. I guess her joints are hurting her some!
Did you get the heat back on for her I hope?
Sure, here is my link:

http://www.bug-de-lite.com/ccp8/Item/Gout-Ease

Here is a link to an online pharmacy where you can purchase the tablets, to crush & then
compound them. The time frame is usually a few weeks to receive them.

http://www.drugsboat.com/allopurinol.html

Let us know how she is doing!

Tracie

Click to expand...

Thank you! My husband thinks we should see what the vet says on the 27th and if he’ll prescribe Allopurinol then. If not, we’ll be getting the gout kit.

ReptiSun is sitting on top of her terrarium right now. I have been hoping to find a cheaper way to install it (I.e. something else to hold the same bulb other than the $70 hood I bought) but struck out at Walmart and Home Depot. I have been moving it around depending on her location in the terrarium. I am going to check Lowe’s in the morning and if they don’t have something, I am going to attach it with Velcro inside the terrarium.

I got the black cherry juice and diluted with water to give her. I gave her a bath to see if she would open her mouth to easily give her drops but she is a stubborn little thing. I did have to pry her mouth open and gave her 2ml of the juice/water mixture. We went to dinner after that and came home to diarrhea with undigested worms in it (the worms she ate yesterday). That is worrisome but she did eat them pretty fast yesterday morning and hasn’t eaten anything since.

Did I do the right thing with diluting the juice? And how often is it ok to give her? She not quite 7oz so I did a pretty small amount just in case.

She has been sleeping most of the day. I wish I could wave a wand and make her feel better!!

Kelly

Hello,

How is Spikey doing today?
Maybe the vet will prescribe allopurinol for her, that would help out.
Definitely try to get that Reptisun 10 tube mounted underneath of the screen to help increase
the UVB exposure. That would probably really help her out quite a bit.
Did she chew up the worms at all? Sometimes that will happen if they don't chew up their
food very well. Getting their mouth open is not always the easiest thing to do! Did she like
the water & cherry juice mixture I hope? Diluting the juice is perfectly fine. The 2mls is not
too much at all so I don't think that should be a problem. You can give the water & cherry mix
daily, for now.
I hope she is starting to feel better, poor girl.
Keep us posted on her progress.

Tracie

Hi Tracie.

The hubs and I are brainstorming mounting ideas to put the ReptiSun inside. I think I have something figured out.

She slept most of today. I think the Colchine is making her sleepy because she’s typically pretty awake most days. I got her some baby food this morning to see if I could get her to eat that. I mixed apple baby food with powdered calcium and the cherry juice and tried all day to get her to take it, but she wouldn’t open her mouth. I’ve discovered in this process how stubborn and smart she is! Anyway, I gave her 2ml again of the water and cherry juice and then decided to try the apple baby food in the syringe too and she did eat some.

My husband thinks she looks less swollen, I thought she looked more swollen.

Her beard is really black I noticed tonight. I am hoping that is normal. It’s not typically so dark.

Regarding the worms, they were sorda chewed up and in pieces in her diarrhea. When she normally eats them, they don’t come out with the pieces intact in her bowel movements.

I am feeling a little bit more positive tonight because she took her meds a lot easier this last time. I am hoping that if I keep giving her the good stuff - like the cherry juice and baby food - in the syringes that she will figure it it’s all good stuff.

Thank you so much for your help with all this. It’s so nice to be able to ask questions and get help.

Kelly

We think Spikey has taken a turn for the worse. She is still not eating anything and is sleeping all day. Yesterday she had two bowel movements and the first was completely black. I was away with my daughter last night and my husband said she passed a lot of blood with basically no stool. She wasn’t awake enough for me to give her the cherry juice yesterday although I keep hoping he was wrong in saying it was blood.

I am not sure what else we can do. She is really my som’s Beardie but we all love her so much. ?

Hello,

I just read your update now. They are sure it was just blood? Is her beard still black?
So I guess she is sleeping all day today?
That is good news you were able to get some apple baby food into her with the meds, also.
They are very stubborn sometimes when trying to get food, fluids or meds into them! They
will clamp their mouths shut making it virtually impossible to get it into them.
I hope you two are able to get the Reptisun 10 mounted inside of the tank. She would be
able to have so much better UVB exposure. Poor girl, I'm sorry she isn't doing any better.
Her kidneys or liver may not be doing well.
I hope the swelling starts to go down, soon. Keep us posted on her.

Tracie

We had to put Spikey down yesterday. I know she’s in a better place but it still hurts. I really had thought I could make her better.

I am pretty certain she had kidney failure. From what I researched, she had all the signs of Acute kidney failure. It happened so fast.

Yesterday morning I gave her a bath and I had to hold her head out of the water, she didn’t even have the energy to do that.

And I noticed her vent was black. She had had a prolapse on a Saturday but it went back in fairly quickly. this looked bad.

She had also lost a bunch of weight from not eating.

The vet took one look at her and suggested putting her down. It was heartbreaking. She was so loved.

Thank you all for helping me through this.

My heart aches for you I am so sorry. I too lost a dragon to kidney disease. You did all you could.

Hello,

I am so sorry that you lost little Spikey, it is horrible to lose one. She was definitely a
well loved girl. We are all here if you need us.

Tracie