Juvenile Bearded Dragon with Poor Prognosis given from Vet?

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Drache613

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Hello,

He looks good there! I'm glad to hear he is happy & is able to eat also. I know he is glad to be
able to get his own bugs, too.
Those dishes look fine to me, no problem at all. A lot of dragons do tend to go potty in their
water!
Maybe the water therapy will help some, too. Definitely let us know how he is doing.

Tracie
 

xHagiaSophia

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Cooperdragon has mentioned black solider fly larvae...I am thinking of ordering some for Arbiter. Are these a daily staple like dubias or just a treat? And do you guys think if I put some in his greens he may eat them? I saw some people doing this with mealworms but I want to stay away from those for now since I heard they can cause impacting and deplete calcium. Also Arbiter is doing good this week. I swear the bee pollen has made him be more alert and have more energy..Do not know if that is possible but seems so. We are also swimming him alot and exercising his legs as the vet instructed. Will update again soon. Thank you all so much for helping.
 

CooperDragon

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The BSFL are a healthy worm option. You can keep them on regular rotation but I hesitate to offer a single feeder. It's best to try and offer a variety when you can. Sometimes adding worms to the salads helps but other times they are sneaky enough to just pick them out with their tongue. Certainly worth trying.
 

xHagiaSophia

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Updating you guys again...We did get Arbiter BSFL and he loves them. He is still eating dubias as well. Will NOT eat crickets now...I guess he is spoiled by the dubias and will hardly eat veggies or greens...So that is our struggle now...On his bone disease, he rarely has leg spasms anymore, he does not walk perfect still but walks much better. He pushes up now to chase bugs rather than dragging around on his stomach as well. However, he does seem to flip or almost flip more when he tries to move quickly, but so far he gets himself righted before I can even get the tank lid off to help him out. I guess some of that is from what the vet said is cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy.

A lady has started a FB group for dragons with this and uploaded some research studies on it as well if anyone is interested.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1877923915847578/

I am hesitate about fb groups because there is so much bad info but this one is good I think and even so I always direct those I speak with about my dragon back to this forum myself as well because I know you guys know your stuff. But if this is becoming more common and my vet thinks it is something we all need to be on the look out for as others may/will come up with dragons with the same thing. Anyway, I will try to get a video of Arbiter this evening chasing his bugs. It is a huge difference from before on the others I posted here. And just wanted to update you guys and thank you all for helping me with this guy. Being a new dragon owner you all really have helped to keep me calm and direct me in the right areas for him.
 

xHagiaSophia

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I am back with more questions for you guys. Thought I was post on this thread rather than starting a new on. Arbiter has been doing good for a while. However, last night we noticed that he was breathing strange so we took him to the emergency vet at the local vet school last night. They kept him over night and called us this AM. Come to find out Arbiter is a girl, which none of the previous vets told us. but the bigger issue is she has pneumonia. They said they did not see or hear fluid in her lungs but did a CT scan and saw it. So they ran some saline through her lungs. They also said that she has a high white cell count as well as a dark liver on the CT. She also has some white fatty something, I think they said around her liver....All other blood work was fine, including her calcium levels. They kept her again tonight and said they will do an endoscopy tomorrow to see what the problem is with the liver. They are talking about her being there over the weekend as well and that a feeding tube may be needed or may not...she may live, she may not..and so on. My question is, if it can be answered here, has anyone heard of these problems and know what could cause them? or if it is normal to take this long to get test done and know what is wrong? They are also talking ADV again like the first vet I posted about did and otherwise I hate to say it but seriously they seem more concerned with what our credit limit is to pay for this rather than letting us know anything, they just say they do not know...
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
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Hello,

So sorry to hear of Arbiter's health issues. Poor girl!
They have not done an Adeno test on her yet? If not & if you would like
to test, let me know. I support a lab in Dallas who does an excellent job
performing the PCR test for only $20 per sample. You can sign up on my
adeno website at:

www.thepats.info

Since the liver seems to be having some trouble, I would recommend you
trying some milk thistle to help strengthen & heal up the liver. Did they
suggest trying nebulization for treatment of pneumonia?
Be sure to keep her warm overnight, around 80, to help boost her immune
system.


Let us know how she is doing.
Tracie
 

xHagiaSophia

Member
Original Poster
They sent her home over the weekend with some milk thistle and a water only diet til Monday when she will go back for an endoscopy. They are not saying a thing about a ADV test so yes we can do that on our own and thank you for the link. The vet is saying she is a little over weight, but stable and did NOT have pnemonia as they thought. The breathing strange may have been from pain or something they say. The liver is the concern now and the endoscopy will let them know if it is fatty liver disease or less likely they say something worse. So no feeding her til they know and then adjust her diet. All she will eat is roaches...She is not having any veggies or greens BUT they are saying slurries will be given and no protein or little for a while.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

I am glad to hear that she did not have pneumonia then. That's great news!
How is she doing today, have you been able to get the milk thistle & other foods into her
right now? I hope she is doing better & that her breathing has improved, too.
Let us know what the endoscopy results determine also.
Please keep us posted on her!

Tracie
 

xHagiaSophia

Member
Original Poster
She went back this AM for the endoscopy. They called a little while ago and said she is doing well after waking up from it. She will stay over night to be watched just in case though. She has fatty liver disease. And they said when we come in tomorrow they will go over a diet plan, supplements - like the milk thistle - and so on to continue to try to reverse it. I know that slurries will be part of her diet they said for now since she will not eat veggies and greens at all on her own. And she did well over the weekend with the water therapy and they said they may continue that for a few days when she comes back home before she begins eating it. It is a 5ml syringe we have to use with a tube on it that goes to her stomach through her mouth. It was not too hard to get used to doing that at least. So now I need to learn about fatty liver disease.


ADD ON HERE: She came home yesterday. They sent her home with OXBow Critical care. Her diagnosis is fatty liver disease. She can not have bugs or anything but this critical care for 4 weeks with Vitamin b and milk thistle. She looks better. Her color is brighter BUT she is having a hard time being tube fed. I added some pictures of her now so you all can see how much she has grown over the last few months

View media item 64708
View media item 64694
 
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