Infection?? Please help

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Nigel97

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My boyfriend and I were gone for a few months and we had his brother pet sit for us while we were away. Our beardie is around 8 years old and is a free roamer of the house with his own little corner with a lamp and heat rock that we clean out regularly. Unfortunately when we came home it was obvious that he wasn’t well looked after because his knee is very swollen and discoloured (mostly black but looked like dried up blood). We immediately blocked off his little area so he couldn’t wander and get infected, upped his calcium intake, and have been giving him warm baths and applying Neosporin afterwards. When we bathed him the first time his knee shot out a bunch of blood and puss and he seemed to feel better immediately afterwards. A close friend of ours is an experienced reptile owner and suggested we start using betadine while in the baths. Over the last week some natural colour has been coming back however it looks like it’s getting more swollen and is starting to wrap under his knee almost completely around. He was using that leg to walk around as well up until this morning and he is still eating, shedding, drinking water, and passing regular bowel movements. Money is tight for us but Im thinking a vet is the best option at this point, unfortunately we don’t have any vets nearby that treat reptiles so I’m at a loss. Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated. My heart is aching for our little guy.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Please take pic and post them our vet moderator needs to look
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ click on XIMG at the top of the message box then click on the pic they should post --- Tracie will be able to advise as to what to do -- she is usually on late at nite ---
Karrie
 

Nigel97

Member
Original Poster
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Hopefully this worked, thankyou so much
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Another experience person on the forum--- I am giving you a website to look for a reptile vet in your area --- I would start to look for a vet someone whos experienced w/ reptiles -- I would be making phone calls just to see if they are experienced in the mean time we need Tracie to look to see what she recommends
www.arav.org
Karrie
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Hi there, that's really sad to see. The leg needs to be amputated to save his life, try to find an experienced vet ASAP from the list that Karrie provided. The leg would prob. be taken off where it meets the body. I hope you can get help right away, this would be very painful. Beardies usually do very well with amputations and there are plenty of tripod dragons around.
 

Nigel97

Member
Original Poster
Thankyou for getting back to me so quickly. I’ll definitely be getting in touch with someone as quickly as possible to get that done for him so he’s not in so much pain. :( Can you tell me whats wrong with him or what may have caused this to happen? I know I’ll get more info from the doctor when the time comes but just for in the meantime. Thankyou both so much for your time and input
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Oh no, unfortunately, I have to agree with AHBD, that leg is terribly infected. That is very
irresponsible of your friends to have allowed his leg to get to that point. He will absolutely
need to have it amputated most likely. The vet might try aggressive antibiotic therapy but
it might already have infection spreading, it's hard to tell. I am so sorry that has happened.
You mentioned that you did try to drain it some?
I am so sorry he is going through this.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie
 

Dolly61

New member
Were you able to afford to take him to the vet. If you cant, you had said when you bathed him pus came out? Obviously the vet is best..he prob needs antibiotics and/or Meloxicam. If you are gonna try to do all you can, try warm compresses too.. Anything to get it to pop. Keep it clean and drain daily.
If he is having probs walking..make sure you bring him to his water dish.
Best of luck
 

Nigel97

Member
Original Poster
We never were able to afford to take him to the vet unfortunately. However we kept up with the betadine bathes, polysporin, and calcium intake. We also got him a new bulb to help with his vitamin intake. That infection he had growing had eventually turned solid and he was able to shed it off entirely about 2 months ago. He did lose a bit of blood in the process, however we were able to clot it with corn starch. Since then, he has been on the mend until this weekend when we noticed his enclosure was filled with blood. We were able to clot it again and he has already been eager to eat and drink as well as being very mobile. He was looking black for a few days, understandably, but he has been very vibrant otherwise. We were very confused though because his leg looked to be infection free? His leg was a little indented from where the lost the bulb of infection was, and you could see he was growing new scales in that area but there was no discoloration or any sign of infection. I don’t work so I have been spending me days with him watching him like a hawk. He is never left along for more than 5 minutes or at night. But today I noticed he looked like he went to go lick or bite his leg? I was able to stop him just in time but I’m curious if this is a sign or irritation/infection? I’m also wondering if maybe that’s what had caused the significant bleeding over the weekend out of the blue?
I’ll be sure to upload two pictures, one of when he lost the infection and one of his leg currently. Right now he has corn starch all over the wound so I won’t be able to upload a very good picture but I will upload one anyways. As soon as I noticed the blood over the weekend I didn’t even take the time to see the area, I just saw the amount that had come out of him and knew I needed to stop it ASAP.
We’re trying to save up the money to take him in, even when he looked to be on the mend just to be sure but it’s been very difficult. Life has thrown many set backs our way and we’re at a loss of what to do. Clearly the vet is the best option for our little guy but we can hardly even afford my medication which costs significantly less than a vet trip. I guess I’m just looking for some more input. He’s been doing so well and we all feel so discouraged to see him go backwards like this.
 

Nigel97

Member
Original Poster
108352-7905010977.jpg

This is the infected “bulb” that he shed off

108352-6805831580.jpg

This was his leg immediately after shedding the infection, it does have corn starch on it though. I thought I had more pictures in the weeks following but I can’t seem to find them.

108352-1236436107.jpg

This is his leg today.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Poor boy, it's definitely still infected. I really feel for you but maybe it's best to contact a reputable rescue to see about him. Until then try unpasteurized honey on the wound. But please do look for a rescue, he probably did bite it, they do that for pain or severe irritation.
 
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