ParaDragon
Member
Hello everyone.
Four months ago, I rescued a bearded dragon, who I named Egon, from a home where he was receiving no UVB, and little to no calcium. I was told he was a picky eater, and that is why he was severely underweight, but after some questioning I found out they were almost entirely feeding him only a kale and a pellet based diet. When I got him, he was living in a 20 gallon long enclosure, and had been his entire life. His only source of heat was from an unregulated UTH. I was genuinely surprised that he was still alive.
Although the first few weeks were difficult, and I essentially woke up every day prepared to find that he had passed in his sleep, he stayed alive, and even slowly got better. Through heavy calcium supplementation, and a protein heavy diet (advised by our vet), he slowly got better. Although he can not walk properly, even with the help of pain killers to ease his pain, he loves his 4x2x2 enclosure. He has a basking spot of 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and I let his cool end cool down to about 80 degrees, all measured by an infrared thermometer. His UVB is a ReptiSun 10.0 18" light. I've tried to give him the best care that I can possibly give him, even if it means hand feeding him every meal to ensure he eats enough.
All of this took a down turn after a recent run of blood work when he started to refuse to eat anything. His blood sugar was off the charts. Our vet explained what this could mean, a potential diagnosis of GNT, and I just broke down.
He's currently sitting in my lap right now, his beard pitch black, and he seems to be trying to throw up but nothing is coming up. I'm so scared, I just don't know what to do. Although the GNT is not confirmed, I can't afford more blood work to find out if he truly does have it. I want to do what is best for him, even if that means euthanasia. It's been three weeks now since the blood work was ran.
Has anyone been in a similar situation? What did you do?
Any advice is appreciated.
Thank you.
Four months ago, I rescued a bearded dragon, who I named Egon, from a home where he was receiving no UVB, and little to no calcium. I was told he was a picky eater, and that is why he was severely underweight, but after some questioning I found out they were almost entirely feeding him only a kale and a pellet based diet. When I got him, he was living in a 20 gallon long enclosure, and had been his entire life. His only source of heat was from an unregulated UTH. I was genuinely surprised that he was still alive.
Although the first few weeks were difficult, and I essentially woke up every day prepared to find that he had passed in his sleep, he stayed alive, and even slowly got better. Through heavy calcium supplementation, and a protein heavy diet (advised by our vet), he slowly got better. Although he can not walk properly, even with the help of pain killers to ease his pain, he loves his 4x2x2 enclosure. He has a basking spot of 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and I let his cool end cool down to about 80 degrees, all measured by an infrared thermometer. His UVB is a ReptiSun 10.0 18" light. I've tried to give him the best care that I can possibly give him, even if it means hand feeding him every meal to ensure he eats enough.
All of this took a down turn after a recent run of blood work when he started to refuse to eat anything. His blood sugar was off the charts. Our vet explained what this could mean, a potential diagnosis of GNT, and I just broke down.
He's currently sitting in my lap right now, his beard pitch black, and he seems to be trying to throw up but nothing is coming up. I'm so scared, I just don't know what to do. Although the GNT is not confirmed, I can't afford more blood work to find out if he truly does have it. I want to do what is best for him, even if that means euthanasia. It's been three weeks now since the blood work was ran.
Has anyone been in a similar situation? What did you do?
Any advice is appreciated.
Thank you.