Help! Bearded dragon having seizures

Hi all,

It’s New Year’s Day and we are desperate for some advice as no vets are open!

Our baby seems to be having seizures this morning. He’s rolling around flicking his tail with his mouth open. He’s even vomited a little.

He’s had a rough few months. He was diagnosed with adenovirus a couple of months ago after he went through a stage of not eating. He also had coccidia. All the coccidia has now gone with the help of medication but it seems he is still not better. The vet had mentioned that his scans have come back showing his liver as patchy so we was on medication for that also.

At one point he had a very bad reaction to a medication called Baycox to treat his coccidia. The first prescription we had was antibiotics but the vet thought she would clear the final lot with Baycox but this seemed to send him into more of a decline and he was vomiting and acting more weird than normal. He has also been pooping an awful lot more.

We took him off the Baycox a while ago now as he had that bad reaction but also his stools come back clear from resting. But it turns out he also has this liver issue plus high uric acid levels so he was given two more different medications. In the end we felt that all this medication can’t be good for the poor little guy so thought we would try some natural methods of helping him.

He has been on a liquid concoction of basil, mint, oregano, coriander (which was recommended by Tracie) because he hasn’t eaten by himself for at least 4 months now. He has regular baths to help him keep hydrated as we was also told he was very dehydrated.

We have done everything we can to make sure his enclosure is perfect. The ambient temperature of his basking spot 30 and 33 degrees. His basking area surface is around 40 degrees. His cooler side is about 28 to 30 degrees. His UV is only a few weeks old too.

I think I have covered everything but we are at a complete stand still with what to do next. We haven’t started him on his natural meds yet as we need to try work out the dosage. We planned to give him natural milk thistle and some CBD to help with any pain.

Is there anything we can do for him to help him be more comfortable? As it’s New Year’s Day no vets are open and we are so worried he might be suffering. He’s now laying in the enclosure completely still with his eyes open. His breathing seems irregular also.

Thanks in advance for the help!

So sorry to hear this ! How old is he and what's his name ? When did he start his first coccidia treatment and was he acting sick + losing weight before all the meds ? Good that Tracie is helping you, I agree that being on a lot of medication may have done some harm but he still may bounce back [ hopefully ] Just leave him be today and don't feed him anything. Does hhe take the concoctions readily ? Can you post pics of his + tank ? Here's how :

https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload them

AHBD":4yxeijim said:

So sorry to hear this ! How old is he and what's his name ? When did he start his first coccidia treatment and was he acting sick + losing weight before all the meds ? Good that Tracie is helping you, I agree that being on a lot of medication may have done some harm but he still may bounce back [ hopefully ] Just leave him be today and don't feed him anything. Does hhe take the concoctions readily ? Can you post pics of his + tank ? Here's how :

https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload them

Click to expand...

Mushu is 8 months and half now and for the past 3 months he has been suffering of all sorts.

He first started the coccidia treatment back in October but that didn’t resolve and so the vet gave him Baycox which caused dehydration and yes he lost some weight but then he gained it back. I will show you his weight chart below so that you can have a better idea.

17/06/20 27g
28/06/20 35g +8
07/07/20 45g +10
13/07/20 53g +8
21/07/20 61g +8
28/07/20 73g +12
04/08/20 88g +15
11/08/20 107g +19
18/08/20 137g +30
25/08/20 172g +35
01/09/20 177g +5
08/09/20 206g +29
16/09/20 239g +33
23/09/20 267g +28
30/09/20 279g +12
06/10/20 275g -4
13/10/20 290g +15
20/10/20 307g +17
27/10/20 324g +17
03/11/20 336g +12
10/11/20 336g
17/11/20 342g +6
24/11/20 325g -17
01/12/20 369 +44
08/12/20 368 -1
15/11/20 371 +3
22/12/20 389 +18
29/12/20 401 +12

I always had to syringe feed him since October as he never wanted to eat by himself/eat live food.

Today we tried to give him CBD after the seizures to see if that would help and since he seems calmed down.
We emptied his enclosure to avoid him to hurt himself.

All the emergency vets contacted, offered only to put him to sleep and even if I know we should consider it if he is suffering (which is the last thing I want) I would like to give him the best chances to bounce back before “giving up”.

Both myself and my partner love Mushu like he was our child, our baby and we are destroyed today. Very good way of starting a new year.

Please find below recent pictures of him, the natural remedies we are trying and his tank.

Thankfully he's a good size so you've done well keeping his weight on. I don't know if this is related at all or contributing to any problems but it looks like the uvb is pretty far up. Of course if he was basking up higher that would have given good coverage then and made up for it. But no, I wouldn't think of putting him to sleep, you are tackling things pretty well and although the seizures would be scary they aren't constant, shouldn't be painful and he does not know that he is sick. Maybe the CBD will help just as I've read it helped some humans with seizures. It's certainly welll worth trying to help your good boy !

AHBD":1invpk8y said:

Thankfully he's a good size so you've done well keeping his weight on. I don't know if this is related at all or contributing to any problems but it looks like the uvb is pretty far up. Of course if he was basking up higher that would have given good coverage then and made up for it. But no, I wouldn't think of putting him to sleep, you are tackling things pretty well and although the seizures would be scary they aren't constant, shouldn't be painful and he does not know that he is sick. Maybe the CBD will help just as I've read it helped some humans with seizures. It's certainly welll worth trying to help your good boy !

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Tracie was also concerned about the UVB and advised to buy a reflector to direct the light down to him and so we bought it and installed it yesterday first thing.
ll?

This morning just before he started to have seizures, I gave him a bath and feed 5ml of the concoction (basil, parsley, cilantro, oregano and mint) with calcium powder, multivitamin and reptoboost but was 08:30 and he didn’t have anything since.

Should I offer him some water now? Maybe with some black cherry and reptoboost? Or nothing at all?

Thank you!!!!

Maybe just a little water for today, make sure he doesn't get sick. Sorry if I missed it but is Mushu's bulb a t5 or t8 ? Not that I think that's the problem but tweaking anything that might help even a little is always good. The reflector should help.

AHBD":33ui1hoo said:

Maybe just a little water for today, make sure he doesn't get sick. Sorry if I missed it but is Mushu's bulb a t5 or t8 ? Not that I think that's the problem but tweaking anything that might help even a little is always good. The reflector should help.

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The bulb is a T8 exoterra for desert reptiles. I will show you a picture of the box.

If there is no reflector on the UVB fixture I recommend you get one --- the distance for a T 8 should be 6-8 inches directly above the basking decor -- the reflector will direct the UVB rays downward towards him --
Karrie

Hmmm, well the t8 is a weaker bulb, can you lower it down in to the tank somehow ? Karrie they already got the reflector. It doesn''t need to be 6- 8 inches away, 10" is fine [ or 25 cm ] . Or can you get a Reptisun 10.0 t5 or Arccadia 12-14 % t5 ? Those would require a new fixture that fits a t5.

AHBD":2up7bsir said:

Hmmm, well the t8 is a weaker bulb, can you lower it down in to the tank somehow ? Karrie they already got the reflector. It doesn''t need to be 6- 8 inches away, 10" is fine [ or 25 cm ] . Or can you get a Reptisun 10.0 t5 or Arccadia 12-14 % t5 ? Those would require a new fixture that fits a t5.

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The bulb is positioned at the top of the enclosure and between that and the floor there is 50cm which is basically double of what you advised.

It’s a shame that we have always been advised to go for the T8 bulbs as considered “bigger” and so more powerful and to stick it at the top of the enclosure.

I will now look into the T5 bulb/fixture and also a new/different reflector I guess?

Any advise on how to lower the UVB bulb please?

Thank you again all.

Can you detach it from the top and hang it with wires like for hanging pictures or even fishing line ? Some type of wire from a hardware store if you have a look.

AHBD":384p1f75 said:

Can you detach it from the top and hang it with wires like for hanging pictures or even fishing line ? Some type of wire from a hardware store if you have a look.

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Ok, I will do my best. Thanks for the precious advise.

This is Mushu now... not looking happy at all ?

You're welcome ! And yes, poor Mushu is distressed, hopefully will feel better soon ! At some areas of his enclosure can you put down a wadded newspaper ? It will be more cushy for him if he prefers a softer surface. One more thing, skip the baths unless he's dirty or just give him one a week if he's drinking.

AHBD":3eze1qfw said:

You're welcome ! And yes, poor Mushu is distressed, hopefully will feel better soon ! At some areas of his enclosure can you put down a wadded newspaper ? It will be more cushy for him if he prefers a softer surface. One more thing, skip the baths unless he's dirty or just give him one a week if he's drinking.

Click to expand...

Tried to offer water by dropping it on his nose with the he syringe but he wasn’t interested.

I don’t have newspapers, kitchen towels instead?

Does he drink when you soak him ? If so that's fine or you can add a wee bit of unpasteurized honey or the cherry extract to flavor some water to get him to drink it from syringe. And kitchen roll is good for an area of flooring or use a folded over thick wash cloth or towel that will be Mushu's.