Here we go again?

Some of you may remember my posts from last month about Charlie's coccidia and pinworms. About two months ago he had a high count of coccidia, so i treated him with parazap and took in a check up fecal. Coccidia was fine but now he had pinworms. I don't understand how he would have gotten them but whatever. I ordered Panacur from one of the mods here and gave him the full 3 doses, took another check up fecal in. After trying to get a hold of the vet for over a week they FINALLY answered their phones only to tell me that he is infested with coccidia and and pinworms again. It makes no freaking sense. I almost feel like they are pulling my leg here. I sterilized his tank with an ammonia solution twice and every single thing that was inside the tank was either sterilized or thrown out. I washed all his blankets and soft stuff multiple times. He doesn't come in contact with any other animals. I clean his poop up immediately. I am just so frustrated at this point I literally cannot afford any more medication or fecal checks right now. He has had three fecal check just in the past couple of months which are THIRTY dollars a pop! And i've tried every single kind of medication for him. Parazap, Panacur, Albon, some other med I can't remember the name of, I am so exhausted with this and I don't know what to do. I am at my wits end. And if they aren't pulling my leg, is he just permanently infested? Am I doing something wrong here? I want to rip my hair out ((

Hello Alyssa,

How high are the levels of the coccidia, are they higher than the pinworms?
It is usually best to treat the coccidia first & the pinworm levels should naturally decrease once the coccidia levels go down.
Did you ask your vet about Ponazuril as an alternative to Albon? How long was he initially on the Albon?
I am sorry that he still has worms & parasites! I will try to help as much as I can.
I am moving your thread to Infectious Diseases though so it doesn't get lost in General Discussion.

Tracie

Well they don't ever give me counts, they just say "really infested." He should be really infested, I just gave him treatments for both things! It should have at least gone down, right? I did treat his coccidia first, then I took in a check up fecal and he had pinworms treated that and now he has both! They said they don't dose out albon usually because it's too harsh which is true, she said the stuf they use is more of an antibiotic? I don't think she gave me the name of it. I haven't purchased it yet. I'll ask them though! I actually ordered my panacur from you about a month ago and I told the vet that and they said he must still have the worms because you gave me a false med. They said not to buy from third parties because they won't give me the actual meds and just want to make money haha. I was like, it only cost 5 bucks and I know Tracie wouldn't have done that to me :/ but anyways, he hasn't been on albon in well over a year, maybe even two years ago. I only tried albon with him once and he reacted horribly to it so I refuse to try Albon with him again. Thanks for helping me!

Hello,

No, the only way that the med would have been bad is if the tube from the supplier's was bad but I doubt that. Panacur is a very common dewormer.
His pinworm level probably spiked because of the higher coccidia levels, that does happen.
You could ask him about Ponazuril which is an anticoccidial agent & it usually works better than Albon does & is much less harsh. Yes, Albon is a sulfa based drug/antibiotic but will help kick out coccidia. Have you tried parazap to help with the coccidia? It wont kill it but it helps to clean out the GI tract & expedite waste being excreted.
They should be giving you some type of count though on the fecal exams.
How is he doing today?

Tracie

Yes, I actually tried parazap for his coccidia last month. I gave him probiotics the whole round of parazap as well. Was I supposed to be doing something else along with the parazap? And I will call them on Monday to see what med they are prescribing him and if they've heard about Ponazuril. Anytime I bring up this forum or buying meds from you, etc they always dismiss me and make me feel like a horrible beardie momma. And some of the info they give me for beardies I really disagree with. I think it might be time to find a new vet soon, they are also way more expensive than my last vet!!! I've asked them specifically for counts and they are like oh we don't do that and tell me every single time that he is "infested" with whatever he has haha. Charlie is acting normal I guess, for what is his normal nowadays. For the past 3 or so months I think he has been trying to brumate. He jumps off his log and tries to either huide underneath the branch or go on the cool side and curl up to try to sleep. I've changed the uvb, the light bulbs for heat, sqitched his environment around, nothing works. He refuses to stay under his lights because he just wants to sleep. When I let him out in the house to run he perks up a bit and will run around but eventually tried to curl up in a spot and sleep! I've never had a brumating dragon before and i'm scared to let him do it, especially with all these parasite problems. I can take pictures if you need any. He also doesn't really eat his salads. I've had this problem for a while now. He will refuse to eat salads on his own the majority of the time. The only way I can get him to eat them on his own is putting fruit in them and even then he will try to pick out the fruit and ignore the greens. He goes CRAZY for feeders though! I have to hand feed him his salads and almost force feed him most of the time. I don't understand why he does it. So while i'm here, do you have any tips on fixing this? I've even tried putting feeders in it and he just picks them out as well.

Hello,

How is your boy doing today?
No, there wasn't anything else you should have been doing along with the parazap, it sounds fine to me.
Let me know what they say about the Ponazuril. They should be able to give you a level when a fecal is done, always.
At least he is eating his feeders though. A lot of times, they stop eating greens & veggies when they brumate. Has he ever eaten greens or veggies before?
It sounds like he is exhibiting the signs of brumation. How old is he again?
Do you have more pictures of him?

Tracie

He's been having trouble with greens this whole year though The eating the salads isn't a recent thing. And I got him from the pet store in september 2009 when he was 12 inches. So I decided to make his bday on april 24 2009 making him about 2 1/2 years old! I'm not certain on his age. I agree about the brumation thing though, he's been trying to go down for the past month now and I haven't let him due to parasites. I will get some pictures when I get home in a few hours

Hello,

That is rough, trying to treat them when they are going or trying to go into brumation!
I hope he starts eating more greens soon, though when they go into brumation they lose all interest in greens & veggies it seems like.
I will look forward to seeing some pictures.

Tracie

I completely forgot to upload some pics! Oops! I did upload one of Charlie in his Hallowe'en costume in photo expressions if you wanna check it out I actually got him to eat some salad yesterday! I hand fed him a few pieces of carrot and apple, then mixed them all up with some collards and he ate about half of it. Granted, it was a small salad but still he ate the majority of it all by his self! I've stopped feeding Charlie the supers I get from the petstore. I actually looked in the bin they keep them in (they kind of hide it so I can't see in there) yesterday and it was AWFUL. I wouldn't be surprised if the superworms are causing some of his parasite problem! I just ordered some dubia so I can start a colony up again. Charlie went nuts for them when I got them before and they are much healthier. I'm also going to call the vet today and see if I can get a name on that medication and hopefully a count on the parasites. Whenever I bring it up they look at me like i'm crazy and don't know what I'm talking about. *sigh*

i know the feeling- Omni has been fighting coccidia since I got her in late August. we're on the 3rd med, after Albon & SMZ, now onto Ponazuril and waiting to see if the 2nd round of 4 doses does the trick, won't know until the 9th/10th.. very frustrating to deal w/ the coccidia, at least she's eating well....

Hey Tracie, just got off the phone with the vet. They are prescribing him another round of Panacur suspension and some med i can't pronounce lol. It's called trimethasomething with sulfa/sulfate? Something like that? I have never heard of it :x

is it SMZ?? for coccidia? if that's what it is, we tried a round of that and had to go w/ the ponazuril afterwards.... parasites are a pain....

Hello,

Yes, it is basically septra & a mixture of sulfa based compounds.
Do you know the concentration of the medication?
Be sure to give probiotics again if he is going to go back on a sulfa based medication.
I am sorry he is still having trouble with coccidia!!


Tracie

Well they want FIFTY DOLLARS for just two little teeny bottles of medicine However, my boyfriend's mom works with an awesome vet (sadly they don't do exotics!) HOWEVER, she is gonna hook me up with a few free fecals since any vet can do a fecal and if he needs meds then they will do their research and give me whatever meds i need! And they will give me actual counts on his fecal unlike others :lol: