Major swelling of eyes!

My four year old beardie has had swollen eyes/area behind the eyes for three days now, and nothing is getting better. I took him to the vet the first day it flared up, and she prescribed a shot of some kind which she gave him, vitamin a, and ofloxacin(sp?) eye/ear drops. I've given him the vitamin a and the ofloxacin but he hasn't gotten any better. I'm taking him to the vet again today, but I'm not sure if I should just get a second opinion or do more for him somehow? The vet said the swelling was fluid buildud and is possible kidney or liver disease?

**Update**
Took him to the vet again, she gave him a naxcel injection, tube feeding, sub q fluids, and metronidazole suspension. She said she wants to see him again on Tuesday (three days).

can you post some pictures?

http://imgur.com/feZf6SQ
http://imgur.com/k2Yaoeu
http://imgur.com/AL9XkGO
http://imgur.com/8u19COO
I hope those worked

Hello,

OH my, those are swollen eyes! Did they swell up just overnight or has this been coming on slowly?
What is his age?
Can you review his tank setup, supplementation, etc?
I would recommend a blood test if possible to test kidney & liver function, to see what the next treatment step should be.
In case it is onset of early renal or even heart problems, you could get some black cherry juice to give to him daily, with some extra fluids to be proactive right now.

Tracie

The swelling occurred literally overnight. Wednesday night he was fine, Thursday morning his eyes were hugely swollen.

He is in a 80 gallon terrarium with newspaper in one side, the other side had sand until his eyes swelled up then we replaced it with carpet. He has a daytime basking bulb and a ceramic heater and a reptisun 10.0 uvb bulb. I cant remember the type of basking or ceramic bulbs at the moment - I will check after I get home from work. His tank is usually kept between 95-100 but it was a little low two days ago for some reason at about 80 so I changed the bulbs.

He's fed crickets and a mix of vegetables and fruits. I switch between kale and collard greens for the greens, and quite a bit of other fruits and veggies. I just gis crickets with calcium Powder about once or twice a week usually.

We are supposed to go back to the vet in Tuesday so I will ask for a blood test then, or possibly go monday if he's sstill not better. I'll go ahead and get the juice as well to start giving him.

The past few days I have been hand feeding him since he cant see to eat on his own. I blended up his veggies and fruits into a smoothie of sorts an gave it to him with a small needless syringe. I have been pulling his mouth open and pushing dead crickets into it so he still gets the protein and nutrients. I'm trying to find a place near me that sells Dubia roaches so I can give him those instead but can't find a place. I forgot to add, he is four years old.

Now it seems like under his beard is super swollen as well. Is there anything at all I can do for him more? I need him to get better, hes my baby. I can't afford a lot but as much as I can, I will. I don't know what else I can do. I got cherry juice as it was all I could find, and cranberry juice in case it might help.

Hello,

Poor guy, he is having some trouble! HIs beard has gotten swollen too?
The Reptisun 10 is a long tube bulb & not the compact/coil light, correct? How close is it to him & how old is it?
If you have any pictures of his tank setup, you can post them, too.
That is very odd it happened pretty much overnight. Can you think of anything toxic he may have come into contact with?
Just a thought, in case it could be something toxic, you can get some parsley & cilantro for help with detoxing the system. Even at 4 years of age, he does need calcium at least 3 times per week.
The black cherry juice is fine, with the addition of cranberry juice also. You can give .5ml of each to equal 1ml of juice daily. He should really like that.
I do think a blood test is needed, so you can try to determine if it's kidney, liver or even heart related. If possible, I would love to see a copy of the blood tests.
I hope he is feeling better. Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

At the moment due to funds, it is a compact bulb. I am wanting to get a tube bulb as soon as possible, but can not afford one for either of my beardies right now. It is about 12 to 18 inches or so away from him at the moment. We removed many of his tall things so that he wouldn't fall and injure himself while he can't see. I can try to take a pic and post it in just a bit.
Just took a pic. The two lights on the end are spares, have nothing in them and I forgot to take them off of the screen top.
Http://imgur.com/m8b7VX9
Hopefully that works! Usually his tank has a bit more in it so he can climb and bask comfortably, but we removed everything he could injure himself on while he can't see.

It does seem like under his beard is a little swollen at the moment, but it looked much worse initially! Maybe it was a temporary thing. He is not really moving at all when he is in his tank. I've been giving him warm baths daily, and gently wiping his eyes with warm water because his eyes get crusted completely closed very easily if I don't. Afterwards I give him his oflaxacin in his eyes and ears as my vet directed. I gave him a little of the juice, maybe a bit more than .5mL on accident I will give him .5mL tomorrow definitely.

Poor baby. My heart goes out to your baby.

Hopefully the vet can figure it out

Hello,

How long have you been using a compact/coil light for him?
The UVB emissions are very poor quality from those bulbs. I hope you are able to get him a tube bulb soon.
There is a possibility it is a supplemental issue, an imbalance of calcium to phosphorus perhaps going on also. Though most of the time swelling of the eyes is usually a kidney or liver issue or sometimes a heart problem.
It is definitely nice & bright in there. How much wattage are you using for the basking?
When are you able to get him into the vets, tomorrow?
What do you use to measure the temperatures with?

Let us know how he is doing & how the vet visit goes.

Tracie

I don't have anything helpful to add but I hope he feels much better soon! For protein, you can get a slurry like Repashy Grub Pie, Repashy Veggie Burger, Repashy Bluey Buffet, Fluker's ReptAid, Pangea, or Carnivore Care. All easy to feed in a syringe and would probably be less stressful than having crickets shoved in his mouth while he can't see. The Fluker's is probably easiest to find as they sell it at Petco. Petco also sells a Repashy Crested Gecko Diet, you can use that as well.

Hello,

I hope everything went well at the vets today! Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

Thank you everyone, again! I haven't had time until now to reply, but he is doing a bit better! I took him to a different vet, and he gave me some repashy mixed with another supplement that I can't quite recall, but it was a vet prescribed supplement. He also prescribed him with Enrofloxacin, 0.2 mL once daily. I've been giving him 0.5 mL of the cranberry/cherry juice mix as well. He's been opening his eyes and looking around every now and then. Tomorrow, I am going to try and take him to the vet for a blood test to see if anything is wrong with his organs.

As for lighting, he's only b en on coil sadly. I was told wrong by multiple pet stores and didn't think to research until recently. Come November, he will be on a tube uvb from now on. I believe his basking bulb is about 100 watts, and he has a ceramic heater that is 100 watts as well. I currently use a stick on thermometer, but I am going to buy a digital ones soon as I can. I didn't realize I'd been told such wrong information until the past month and am trying my hardest to get everything for my baby beardies that is actually the proper stuff for them. I feel bad that I never looked into proper stuff until recently, I just blindly trusted.

Glad he seems to be doing a bit better!

As for pet stores, someone once said that going to a pet store and asking for pet advice is like going to grocery store and asking for diet advice. As much as it should be that pet store employees are knowledgeable and educated, know that neither Petco or PetSmart train or educate employees on the animals in their care. They learn how to open the enclosures and give them food, but they are not taught about UVB, heat, space requirements, etc. I've worked at both stores and was dismayed by the lack of education. I have coworkers that still sell goldfish for 3 gallon tanks . Anyway, this place is a lovely and trustworthy coomunity in terms of bearded dragon care, and we will all always be as helpful and supportive as possible in your quest to help your babies!

When you do get a new UVB, make sure it is either ReptiSun or Arcadia. I personally prefer Arcadia, but they are much more expensive and harder to obtain in the US. If going with ReptiSun, get the T5 HO 10.0 bulbs. These are typically cheapest on Amazon and sometimes when you buy the HO hoods by ReptiSun, they come with a bulb. Mine did, but it was a 5.0 so I also purchased a 10.0 and save the 5.0 as a back-up. Also, even digital thermometers are incorrect if they are a stick-on one. They only measure air temperature. So if your stick on thermometer reads 100+, then your tank is way too hot. The bask spot itself, meaning the surface temperature, should be 100-110 depending on the age of the dragon, and the air temperature is typically only high 80's to lower 90's. The only accurate temperature gauges are a thermometer with a probe (so you can put the probe on the bask spot, like the top of his cave, or branch, etc.) or an Infrared Temperature Gun, which gives an instant read out.

Actually the Arcadia fluorescent tubes aren't really anymore expensive than the Repti-Sun 10.0 and they are readily available in the U.S. You can purchase them through http://www.lightyourreptiles.com Todd is awesome to deal with, have been buying from him for years.

Have you thought about turning the coil bulb off for at least a few days to see if it helps your beardies eyes improve? The coil may be adding to his eye problems.

Hope your guy feels better very soon.