X-Rays please help!!

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My beardie Sharp is about 7 years old and is a German Giant. He has not been eating on his own for two months and I have been feeding him critical care for 6 weeks. It was 6 weeks ago that I took him to the vet and the vert just asked if he had diarrhea and at the time it was very watery but not more frequent than usual (once a day or every second day). He has always had a big appetite but now none at all. Vet suspected e-coli from the bok choy I fed him and prescribed anti-biotics. I stopped giving him those after 4 days because I found other reasons that could have made him not feel well and I felt like the vet didn't really do enough to come up with his diagnosis to warrant antibiotics. The other reason I found were a possible old merc vapor bulb that was used by mistake when all my beardies had their bulbs replaced. I replaced with a new bulb right away to fix that. He also had a toe get swollen and maybe was in pain from that? Later on his toe nail actually fell out while I was holding him. He was a rescue from 2017 that my wife and I rehabilitated and this is the first health issue he had since he came under our care.

I returned to the vet 6 weeks after intial visit because he appeared bloated and still wasn't eating on his own. I insisted the vet take x-rays of him to see if something internal was the problem. The vet didn't think it was necessary but still did it and its good that he did because it shows a large grey area in his abdomen that shouldn't be there. The vet didn't know what it was and said he could send it to a specialist. I am posting the x-rays for people on here to see in case there is someone who has experienced this before with their beardie, or can give me accurate information on what this grey area may be.
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chestermymunchkin

Hatchling Member
Beardie name(s)
chester
his bones are nice and bright! but one thing the grey could be is gass which could be caused by parasites and etc I've seen many forums with gas bloated beardes and for them, It went away in a few weeks and my baby was bloated we took him to the vet and it passed with no meds so that hopefully is what it is for you and nothing worse! I also thought that pure german giants were extinct?
 

SharptheGG

Member
Original Poster
The vet said its not gas, and gas would be a dark area. He showed me a small area that gas was present so I know he is able to tell what gas looks like. Its likely a massive tumor from my research and from what another person has found in their research as well. I'm going to try and get pain meds for him and try to make his life comfortable so he can live out his last days at home.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

He is a good sized dragon. Was any blood work done on him?
It is a possibility of the liver being enlarged but not sure. Did the vet mention a tumor or
not? His bones do look pretty good, overall.
Which MVB light did you use previously?
When will the vet have an answer back from the other person who was supposed to be
looking over it?
You can try some CBD oil to help with pain. Maybe it is not cancer, I hope not. Is he able
to support his body weight, climb etc?

Tracie
 

SharptheGG

Member
Original Poster
Hi, sorry for the late response, I didn't receive an email notification that a new message had been sent on my thread. The vet didn't pass it on to a specialist since that could take a couple of weeks for the specialist to look at it and even then may not know what it is and need to do more tests.
Blood work was not done, the vet said it wasn't necessary. He also said the x-ray wasn't necessary but I insisted on that being done. I stopped the vet from doing a needle aspiration on Sharp because it would definitely put him in more pain and not guarantee results. My wife and I have accepted the fact that this is a rapidly growing tumor without any diagnosis. We can't afford to take this through specialists and testing just to get a diagnosis because we can see from the x-ray that he would likely need surgery and he may not survive that either.
We asked for pain meds and the vet gave us Metacam. We mix a drop or two with his critical care every morning and if appears to help him perk up but it has been very sunny lately and he perked up when he was in the sun also, so hard to say how much of that is the result of the meds.
He can climb and he is strong still but he stopped climbing in his house several weeks ago. He used to love climbing.
I have some CBD/THC oil but I don't know if that would make him even sicker. He is still pooping every few days when we give him a bath.
The MVB light we used previously was a 160W Solar glo. Enclosure is a 90 Gal glass tank and I purchased a UV meter to check the irradiation which is within normal values when he is on the ground.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello!

How is your boy doing?
No big deal about the late response, the notifications might be a bit slow.
At this point, it might or might not be cancer, very hard to determine. Is he interested in the
critical care at all? Give supportive care for him, keep him warm at night & let him enjoy the
outdoors as much as possible. I am sure that he loves that.
The SolarGlo is a decent bulb, it should keep him warm. That's great you are using a Solar
meter to check the UVB emissions, they are so helpful. Is he moving around very much &
climbing up to his basking area, or can he not climb very well now?
The CBD oil can be helpful for him. How strong is it? Just to get him started you can give a
few drops daily & that should be fine.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie
 

SharptheGG

Member
Original Poster
Hello, Sharp is declining quickly. He demonstrates that he still has good strength and can climb pillows and try to get away from us when we feed him critical care in the mornings. He doesn't move around much outside of feeding time. Today I noticed that his back was more rounded than normal and his spine is becoming more pronounced. His Tail has shrunk to about half its healthy diameter and his pelvic bone has been visible for some time. He still seems to behave alert when he is under his light basking. He is sleeping right now and watching him breathe its obvious that it is very labored. There is a pattern to his breathing that begins at the lungs, then moves to the abdomen and finally a slight movement in the head as he breathes. I counted his respiration at 4 per minute. My wife and I don't want him to suffer and go through more pain than he has to if this is incurable. The CBD/THC oil that I have is 250mg CBD and 250mg THC. At this point we are going to put him to sleep tomorrow so he won't suffer any longer but before that, I will wake him up and give him one drop of that oil and see if it helps him.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Oh I am sorry to hear Sharp is having a rough time & showing signs of declining. So many
are developing cancer it seems. Our environment is becoming toxic which I feel is a huge
contributing factor, as well as breeding or genetics.
It is never easy having to go through loss, it's something you never really get over. Is his
beard darker than normal or not? I was hoping for a better outcome for him, bless him. If
he has lost circumference in his tail & his hipbones show despite the feedings, something is
definitely going on. My thoughts are with you & with Sharp.
Let us know how things are going.

Tracie
 

SharptheGG

Member
Original Poster
Thank you for your kind words and your concern. Sharp's beard has not been darker than normal but he is very tired this morning. I gave him about 4 drops of CBD/THC last night and for a short time it appeared to help restore breathing patterns that did not include his head moving up a tiny bit but then that head movement returned soon after. I will keep you updated but today is Sharp's last with us we feel. Bless you!
 

SharptheGG

Member
Original Poster
Some positives to mention finally! Sharp showed more energy and alertness today after getting the CBD/THC oil last night. We couldn't put him down because of this new energy. Although we know he is fighting a losing battle, we need to hold on to every positive we can get. We gave him more CBD/THC oil tonight before bed and will monitor him tomorrow. Thank you Tracie for the suggestion to use CBD oil. We believe it is the reason he had a good day!
 

SharptheGG

Member
Original Poster
So yesterday we made the hardest decision of our lives and also the best decision. Sharp was a fighter and showed glimmers of energy and life until the very end as we arrived at the vet. My wife and I rescued him and gave him a wonderful life. Now we are left with the two beardies that we have had from the beginning and thank God that they are both healthy. RIP Sharpie :)
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

I was so hoping that Sharp was going to pull through for you, bless him. I am so sorry you
lost him. :cry: I believe that it is the worst feeling in the world, losing a precious dragon.
He had a great & happy life with you.

My sincere condolences to you.

Tracie
 
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