Help! I think my beardie is dying!

I've been reading here off and on for years now. Just became a member because I can find any answers I might be looking for. My beardie is almost 12 now. I really think she might be dying. She went from super active to extremely leathgic. Almost over night. She will no longer use her back legs. She appears to be losing her sight, almost like see is blind and no longer tracking me or anything with her eyes. When and if they are open now. Spikella cant even get off her log without help now and I am having to hand feed her to get her to eat. She is/was in great shape for her age. Never been sick. Nothing has changed in her food, eviroment, lighting, nothing... Only she has. It's been a few weeks now and she is only getting worse by the day. Her color is fading. Her breathing has become more labored. She potties and can't move out of it. It's like she can't do it any more. I've had her since she was a tiny hatchling. I know her personality. She is like a lap dog. She loves watching us and she won't even barely move her head now. Do you think it's going to be soon? I can't bare to watch her suffer and it's killing me to feel so helpless. All I know to do at this point is love her until she is gone. It's breaking my heart. ??‍

I've been reading here off and on for years now. Just became a member because I can find any answers I might be looking for. My beardie is almost 12 now. I really think she might be dying. She went from super active to extremely leathgic. Almost over night. She will no longer use her back legs. She appears to be losing her sight, almost like she is blind and no longer tracking me or anything with her eyes. Her eyes are not cloudy. When and if they are open now. Spikella cant even get off her log without help now and I am having to hand feed her to get her to eat. She is/was in great shape for her age. Never been sick. Nothing has changed in her food, environment, lighting, nothing... Only she has. She last laid eggs in May. She laid about 30 over a few days. She's getting to the age that it surprised us that she laid some. She's never had a friend and didn't even lay any eggs until around the 7. It's been a few weeks now and she is only getting worse by the day. Her color is fading. Her breathing has become more labored. She potties and can't move out/off of it. It's like she can't do her "normal" any more. I've had her since she was a tiny hatchling. I know her personality. She is like a lap dog. She loves watching us and she won't even barely move her head now. Do you think it's going to be soon? I can't bare to watch her suffer and it's killing me to feel so helpless. My husband keeps trying to reassure me that maybe is is just trying to bromate. If she is, it's the first time in all her years she has ever acted this way. I really believe that the end is near. I know really all I can do at this point is love her until she is gone. It's breaking my heart. They are no vets within a 100 miles that can treat her. My family vet and friend said they could put her to sleep but I'm not ready for that but I hate to watch her suffer in such a fast decline. Ugh!!! I am so depressed.
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I'm so sorry....is there anything at all that has changed in her set up or diet or anything you can think of ? Yes, 12 years is pretty old for a beardie, you've taken great care of her. Sometimes they can have a stroke or aneurysm or other life altering incidents that affect the health severely but no way to know without lots of testing , and with reptiles the cause may not be found even WITH testing.

You're doing the best you can to keep her comfortable. If she seems in pain [ black beard, gaping ] then it would be best to put her down. But if she's NOT in severe pain but just needs more assistance then you can think about what to do for her like syringe feeding, etc. I really feel for you, I'm sorry you're going through this. So sad for you.

Hi there, I replied to this in the health forum.

Hello,

Oh my, I am so sorry your poor girl is going through this. I know, that is horrible to see them
go through something like this. She may have had a stroke possibly, but not sure.
Just try to keep her comfortable, if she isn't eating or moving much.
You can hold her more to make her more comforted, that usually helpful for them.
If her breathing has changed that definitely isn't good. I am sorry, let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

Thank you all for the replies. Her beard isn't black like when she is stressed. She's still hanging in there. I've been checking on her ever so often. She loves to be stroked and pet. What breaks my heart right now is when I pick her up, she doesn't even move her back legs. That just hang there. Her gums are still pink, but her breathing has changed. She'll take normal breaths and then inhale deeply. Almost as if she is struggling to get enough air. It appears to almost be similar to a stoke. If I slowly turn her to the side, she just doesn't have the strength it seems to move her body much below her arms. Even in the last few days, her upper body isn't as mobile. When I opened her inclosure earlier, she did crack her eyes at me and I just let her. She is starting to lose control of her bowels and seems uncomfortable if I move her around too much. She must have tried to move around some during the night because she had the imprint around her similar to when a small child lays down in the snow to make snow angels. She just doesn't go anywhere.

First of all I'm so very sorry that she's going through this, and that you have to go through it with her and watch her. My first beardie, Iggy, was a male I got as a month-old hatchling and he lived to be 12 years old, he died 3 months before his 13th birthday. He actually acquired a very bad respiratory infection and it hit him so hard and so suddenly that he was just too weak to fight it off, and he died within a day of seeing his certified reptile vet. It's so difficult to not be able to do anything for them or be able to make them better. So I feel your pain and frustration.

Obviously if she has a black beard at any point throughout this then you most likely will have to make a very difficult decision, because you certainly don't want her to suffer.

My guess is that she did suffer something like a stroke, heart attack, aneurysm, etc. because it came on so suddenly and she was perfectly fine prior to that. The chances of her recovering from a major neurologic or cardiac event like this at her age is slim to none, and putting her through any of the available treatments or medications for those things, even just the tests to diagnose what exactly happened, that would be too much for her to take in her state. I was right there with everyone else in saying to just keep her as comfortable as possible and spend as much time with her as you can, until I just read your last post, when you said that she's lost control of her bowel movements and doesn't even move out of them after doing it...And that she's not moving at all, apparently she's suffering from paralysis of the lower half of her body, which is why she can't move her back legs, walk, move, and now control her bowels. She's not likely going to regain control of that and not going to be able to move her back legs again. It very much sounds like an aneurysm and/or a major stroke. I hate to be pessimistic, anyone on this forum will tell you that I'm the first person to get aggressive in a post with someone refusing to take their sick or injured beardie to a vet, but I also hate to see pets suffer and have no quality of life at all, and I think that's where she's at from the sound of it. I think you need to make a very tough decision very soon, as I know you love her and don't want her to suffer. I'll be sending you positive energy and thinking of her, I hope that she can peacefully be rid of her pain soon...

Thank you. I know you're not being anything but honest about Spikella. I keep going back and forth. I spent over an hour with her just loving on her. Like I said, she has an awesome personality and I hate to see her suffer. Her color was a little brighter when I was talking to her. She always turns her head like she is really listening to what I have to say. She is still doing that today. She is still eating her crickets if I hand feed them to her. Its like she can't see them very well or track them so she misses them with her tongue. She used to be deadly when she pounced! I did get her to eat some of her veggies but I also had to hand feed her them as well. She can't move her back legs so I perched her on her bowl and gently rubbed them on her mouth and showed them to her. I've been moving her from place to place so that she doesn't get sores and has enough heat and not stuck in one place to long. I'm so torn. It reminds my of when my grandpa had his stoke and could no longer move or talk. But his eyes said a lot. So do hers... I'm really trying not to be selfish and keep her going just for me. BUT, I also don't want to give up on her just yet because she still acts like she wants to fight up until the end. I'm just so torn! ?? Thank you all for understanding. Everyone that isn't in our household think she is just a lizard. She is so much more than that!

UPDATE ON SPIKELLA:
I ended up having to make an extremely hard decision. Monday, I called my vet. He and I had a long talk. He explained to me that she would never recover the use of her back legs and it was time. That even though I was handfeeding her and she was still eating and trying to fight, she was suffering. He reassured me that I was making the right decision. That at 12 years old, she had lived a very long lizard life. That she was extremely loved and well taken care of over all these years. That we got to love her and make wonderful memories with her. We decided to gently put her to sleep. I know that was the right call. It's just hard to not have her anymore. I am grieving and truly love and miss her. I just held on to the hope that she would somehow come though this and we might get to keep her a little while longer. On Monday, when she pooped, she was trying to prolapse afterwards. She was using the bathroom almost daily and sometimes would go just by my picking her up. I just couldn't have her suffering any longer. Her beard never turned black and she was trying to move from place to place on her own during the night by dragging her back legs. I know deep down in side, we made the right choice for her sake. We brought her back home and buried her in the backyard along side our Lab and cat. It still just breaks my heart that she is really gone! ?

I'm so sorry to hear that you lost your girl. It's always such a difficult time when we lose a beloved pet and my heart truly goes out to you.

Rest in peace lovely old girl....

Hello,

I am so sorry that you lost Spikella, I know it is awfully devastating. It is never easy to lose one no matter how young or old they are.
I am sorry for your loss.


Tracie