MBD and breathing issues

Alice was diagnosed with MBD several months ago. During that time, she was also severely hydrated and malnourished (she is a rescue who was already very sick, and I thought she was brumating when her body was actually shutting down). Since then, she has been put on Carnivore Care and temporary pain medication. A week or so after the pain meds stopped her health failed again. That was several months ago. Her health has continued to go up and down, and right now it’s down (and when I say up I mean barely). She is very lethargic and refuses to eat. Every once and a while, she’ll eat a couple collards but she’ll pause a few minutes between pieces because she is struggling to breath. I force feed her Carnivore Care (I recently switched to ReptaBoost but I will be switching back to Critical Care with Carnivore Car mixed in a few times per week.) She’ll do the same thing: few licks, breath. Here is the link to a video of her: https://youtu.be/O4V81dAhx_s

A few weeks ago I noticed a bump on her jaw. It’s really hard to take a picture of but I did my best. Tonight was the first time I realized it was a bump rather than her jaw jutting out. She’s had that bump in her elbow a long time. It’s a lot bigger than it looks. That leg was incredibly swollen when I brought her to the vet and found out she had MBD. She had lost the ability to move it and it shook when I picked it up. That’s better though, thankfully.

Clearly, she’s still dehydrated. Should I put her on two baths a day until she’s hydrated, and then drop it to one a day then once every other day? Should I add pedialyte? I’m scheduling her a vet appointment tomorrow morning with a new vet because her old one was horrible. But what do you guys think is up with the breathing? She’s been that way ever since I got her 2 years ago (she was 13 in. and 70 grams, bad UVB, and on sand with a pellet diet). I’m a student so I’m really busy and sometimes I don’t have time to give her a bath and feed her (takes about 40 minutes to an hour). On those days, how much water can I syringe feed her?

The guy that I got her from said he got her when she was a year old, and that guy he got her from had no UVB at all and she was in a tiny viv and only grew to be 5 or so inches. I think the MBD is from those 2 years and then the year I spent feeding her super worms and occasional peppers/carrots which have a high phosphorus count but I didn’t know that then. Otherwise she’s had vitamins and UVB with me.

Also, she’s shed like 5 times this year? She’s 4. Is it from her weight gain?

Her left eye is also swollen and has some discharge. It’s also been that way since I got her, but lately it’s been very swollen. I ordered her an eye wash that I’m going to try out. I’m going to start putting extra calcium in her food.

She has a 50 gallon viv with a t5 UVB inside the tank and well within range to her basking area. Her basking spot is about 100-103 degrees, and the cool side is upper 70s. Her bulb was changed a few months ago.


One last thing, she doesn’t poop very often. I get that’s normal for an adult, but when I am feeding her several ml of food a day, I get worried that she’ll pop. After she’s been fed, her belly feels nice and full, but I’m worried it’ll get too full after a week of feeding but no pooping. Should I worry about that?

Hello,

Sorry that your dragon isn't doing well. Can you post some pictures of your tank too just so
we can see the entire setup. Are you measuring the temperatures with a digital probe or a
temp gun?
How often are you giving calcium for her?
That is odd she shed that many times, I agree. It's a good sign she has gained some weight.
Is there any mucous in her mouth or nose? Is she coughing or wheezing like she would if she
had a respiratory infection, etc?
Has a blood test ever been done on her before? The swelling could also be from possible gout.
The fingers look a bit off to me.
Which T5 tube brand of UVB are you using & how close is it to her?
I wouldn't increase her baths because that may stress her out but she would get more hydration
through oral fluids because most don't drink in their baths. A nice warm bath a few times weekly
might be relaxing for her & if she would swim around it can help her go to the bathroom perhaps.
Adults often go days without going to the bathroom but also if her calcium levels are low that can
affect it also.

Let us know how she is doing.
Tracie

I use a temperature gun. When she was eating, I gave it to her every other day on bugs, but since she doesn’t do bugs anymore, never. The vet who gave me the critical care never mentioned anything about it, so I assumed critical care had enough. It is 1.4-1.8% calcium, and she gets 2tsp a day. However, I’m going to start adding calcium in. Would Rep Cal’s calcium with D3 be okay? She has been receiving that and their multivitamins since I got her.

I can’t remember if she’s had a blood test, but I know she’s had x rays. I got her full records from the vet, but they didn’t send any x rays or anything, so I just emailed them asking them to do that too and any blood tests.

She has 2 fingers that lost her nails before I got her. They stopped growing after that so they’re really small.

She doesn’t seem to mind baths once she’s in them. She’ll usually just relax. How much water should I give her orally?

I just checked my past orders on amazon and it looks like it is the 10.0 24” UVB.

Here are her x rays from her emergency vet visit earlier this year. She has had no bloodwork, but she has an appointment for Wednesday.

Poor girl, she is laboring to breath. I agree to cut out the baths, if anything that can chill her, especially if you take 40 minutes to feed her in there. Keep her in her nice warm tank. Be sure the temp. is around 83 at night to help her immune system. She is a decent size, just keep feeding her the way you are but no baths, the formula has hydration in it. Her not pooing often is to be expected, her volume of food is much less than a normal diet would provide. That's good stuff [ the C.Care ] because it's high calorie + loaded with nutrients. Is she on anything for the R.I. ?

AHBD":2glj9ltn said:

Poor girl, she is laboring to breath. I agree to cut out the baths, if anything that can chill her, especially if you take 40 minutes to feed her in there. Keep her in her nice warm tank. Be sure the temp. is around 83 at night to help her immune system. She is a decent size, just keep feeding her the way you are but no baths, the formula has hydration in it. Her not pooing often is to be expected, her volume of food is much less than a normal diet would provide. That's good stuff [ the C.Care ] because it's high calorie + loaded with nutrients. Is she on anything for the R.I. ?

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Whenever I give her a bath I make sure to keep it nice and warm. But I will cut down the baths. Our house is around 68 degrees at night and my room is cooler because my window leaks a little bit. How do I keep the temps up at night? I have a heat mat that I got for her calci worms (when she was eating) but I don’t think it’s enough to bring it up to 83. Since the volume of food she’s getting is less than a normal diet, is it still nutritious enough? I think it would be because of the cc...

She’s not on anything for the R.I. When she went to the first vet it was because she was unresponsive and the second time because her eye was extremely swollen. I’ve mentioned it to them but her lungs sounded good I guess. Wednesday I’ll make sure to talk to them about it.

By the way, those x rays are from before her bumps developed.

Get a CHE ceramic heat emitter -- you will need a dome and bulbs can be ordered on line from amazon - they come in like 75 watt 100 watt and higher --- they are heat only and do not produce light
Karrie

KarrieRee":3i24xzzj said:

Get a CHE ceramic heat emitter -- you will need a dome and bulbs can be ordered on line from amazon - they come in like 75 watt 100 watt and higher --- they are heat only and do not produce light
Karrie

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Ok I’ll try that.