Not perking back up after antibiotics

Tanks specs:
- 10.0 Reptisun UVB (5 months old)
- Cool side: 75 degrees, basking: 98-100 degrees
- 1 tsp Critical Care (herbivore) every other day + vitamins, 1-2 tsp Carnivore Care + 0.5 tsp Critical Care + 1 spritz of calcium every other day

Alice is a 4 year old rescue. I’ve had her since she was 2, and admittedly have not taken the best care of her as I didn’t get her the help she needed when I should have. Her past owners had a terrible uvb, low temps, no fresh food, and loose substrate, so she was very malnourished and dehydrated when I got her. Since then, she’s improved but a lot of that has been in the last year. I didn’t realize until the beginning of 2019 that she had MBD because her body looked completely normal, she was just so tired and all of sudden her left arm was shaking one day and not working at all the next.

She went back for a checkup a few weeks ago to see how her bones were doing and because she was still lethargic and not eating on her own. Her bones are healing, however, she has a broken jaw (healing!!) and a permanently dislocated elbow on her left side. She was put on antibiotics for her injuries just to make sure there was no infection and to keep it away, eye ointment because her eye is messed up from the old UVB, and pain medication. I didn’t realize for the first week of antibiotics that she needed probiotics (she was refusing to open her mouth at all costs, even if I tried to get the syringe in), so I’ve started given her 1ml of strawberry soy yogurt everyday. She finished her antibiotics on Sunday and her probiotics will be done on 1/26.

However, she hasn’t perked back up. She is much more attentive, but still not what she should be. She’ll move around her tank a bit, but she won’t do anything when she’s out. She also refuses to eat on her own. She’s even a bit fussy still with licking it off her nose.

What can I do to help her? I bathe her everyday (vet said to), I water down her food, and give her water via syringe to keep her hydrated (if I don’t do extra water, she gets dehydrated). She poops everyday. I don’t understand why she isn’t improving. Does she just need more time? Also, her eye is still struggling after the ointment.

Hi there, this time of year beardies a lot of beardies aren't eating much so that along with the antibiotics and pain meds. wiped out her appetite. As long as she's eating some of the C.C supplement she should be fine. Avoid anymore meds., it's never ever a good thing to give powerful drugs on a " just in case " basis. Can you post pics of Alice ? Here's how :

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

AHBD":2zzhcsg0 said:

Hi there, this time of year beardies a lot of beardies aren't eating much so that along with the antibiotics and pain meds. wiped out her appetite. As long as she's eating some of the C.C supplement she should be fine. Avoid anymore meds., it's never ever a good thing to give powerful drugs on a " just in case " basis. Can you post pics of Alice ? Here's how :

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

Click to expand...

I know. I was hesitant about the antibiotics, but I did them any way which probably isn’t super good. Her appetite has always been touch and go which is why it took over a year to get her up to a healthy weight because I didn’t know about syringe feeding. She did eat a whole bunch of hornworms a few weeks ago, like 6 one after another. That’s the first time she’s ever done that. She doesn’t take the cc voluntarily either. In order for her to start licking it off her nose, I need to put some in her mouth first. Lately I’ve just had to put it directly in her mouth all the time.

Her beard has been kind of black lately, so I gave her some of her pain medication because I only use it when she seems uncomfortable. Her beard in the picture is what it looks like now which is a lot better than earlier.

Should I avoid her pain medication too? When she was on it at the beginning of 2019, it seemed to help her a lot. I think it was the antibiotics and her lack of probiotics that made her not feel good.

Excuse her deflated-esque look. I woke her up, and she wasn’t a fan of that.

You did a good job getting weight on her, she is a hefty girl so her lack of eating won't hurt her very much and the little bit of C.C will sustain her. I wouldn't bother with the pain meds, they aren't meant to be taken on a long term basis, they can have their own bad side effects and there's no way to know what her black beard is even . Just be patient + keep her comfortable. Six hornworms at once is a bit TOO much of a good thing [ unless they were small-medium ] but maybe in the near future try some of those again, just a couple at a time.