Head tremor

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Hi, I am hoping for anyone who may have had the same symptoms as my beardie. He is 6 or 7 year old and was always in very good health. Around 5 weeks ago he started to go off his food, and developed a really bad head tremor. I took him to a vet who carried out a number of tests, checking first if he had a calcium deficiency. His calcium levels came back healthy but white blood cells were very low and he had a bacterial infection. He was treated with various different antibiotics over the last 5 weeks and has shown small signs of improvement (starting eating again for a few days) before getting worse again. A second lot of tests were done which showed his infection had cleared up but the white blood cells were still very very low, and the head tremor still bad. He has had a few scans which have not shown up anything abnormal and we have run out of tests to do that are not invasive and I wouldn’t put the wee boy through that. I have completely changed out all his bulbs etc but his viv conditions are perfect (I’m a bit OCD with my pets!).

The vet has been excellent and is an exotic pet specialist, but he, like I, is at a loss over what this could be. He is now on Gavapenton for neurological problems, antibiotics and an antiinfamitary. I am feeding him critical care daily through a syringe. I am at my wits end as I hate having to force him the food and medicines each day and I’m worrying he is suffering and I should maybe think about making that awful decision, but because we dont know what is wrong I don’t want to give up hope we may be able to get him better! If anyone has had anything similar I would be really grateful to hear. Thanks in advance :(
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Tracie Drache613 needs to respond to this -- shes usually on at nite
Karrie
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

I am so sorry your dragon is having so much trouble!
Do you have any pictures of him along with your tank setup we could see?
Do you by chance, have or can get a copy of the blood test results also, so I can take a look
over them?
Did you change any of the foods that he eats, could he have ingested anything toxic?
We need to review your tank setup so we can be sure it is all correct for him & up to date.

For now, since he isn't feeling well & is on medications, please keep him warmer at night.
Try to keep his tank temperatures around 80 overnight, or at least 75-80 so it will help to
boost his immune system.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Show us , someone here may have seen something similar and might be able pipe up and suggest a treatment plan that was successful.

Can't help without seeing the dragon and the bloodtest and culture results.
 

Ecossebear

Member
Original Poster
Drache613":f274vw50 said:
Hello,

I am so sorry your dragon is having so much trouble!
Do you have any pictures of him along with your tank setup we could see?
Do you by chance, have or can get a copy of the blood test results also, so I can take a look
over them?
Did you change any of the foods that he eats, could he have ingested anything toxic?
We need to review your tank setup so we can be sure it is all correct for him & up to date.

For now, since he isn't feeling well & is on medications, please keep him warmer at night.
Try to keep his tank temperatures around 80 overnight, or at least 75-80 so it will help to
boost his immune system.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

Thanks so much for your response. I will request the blood results but from memory the white cell blood count was the most worrying (0.4). He is still not himself and is not eating at all and I hate the force feeding him. His name is Keither. The vet, who really seems to know his stuff, is thinking it could be a meningitis type viral infection.

I have attached a photo of his setup. The temperature has been kept around 80 since the cold weather came in and the lamps were changed 5 months ago. His food has stayed the same as before. Up until he went off his food he was eating 5th size hoppers two or three times a week, and a beardie salad (variety of kale or spinach with pears or green beans or apple) every day.

106604-8761101518.jpg
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Aw, poor Keither. I'm sorry that your boy is not well. I know you're in the U.K. because I've seen that exact type of cage + the large driftwood/root basking log with other posters from the U.K. :) His WBC count is really low, hopefully the vets can figure it out. So does he have a basking spot of about 97-100 ? You mention 80 F , that would be the proper " cool " temp. on one end and the night temp.

I know it's sad to have to force feed/medicate. Be sure to offer his faves, even make a slurry + add a bit of raw honey or blueberries which many beardie love. You can use kale + rocket but spinach is not good as a staple so you might want to make that adjustment. BTW, can you get a video of his head shaking ? And did the vet test for ADV [ adenovirus ] ?
 

Ecossebear

Member
Original Poster
I should have said the temperatures are his night temperatures. Yes the vet was very surprised by quite how low his wbc was.

I mix in the spinnach with other veg. He loves it but I know it’s not too nutritious so I put it in to make him eat the kale! He’s incredibly fussy haha.

I hadn’t thought of mashing up his favourite foods into the syringe - I had just been using the critical care mix that the vet gave me. I’ll try and get a video tonight and post it up.

Thanks again for the reply’s.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
O.K that's good and a small bit of spinach is fine mixed with the other stuff. And remember to have your vet test for ADV if they haven't already.
 

Ecossebear

Member
Original Poster
ADV is the only test result still to come back and the one I’m still most worried about. we didn’t test for it at the start because he’s an older beardie and it’s a lot less common.
 

Ecossebear

Member
Original Poster
Some further comments on the temperatures. The cold side sits around 25 degrees (80 far) while the hot side at the top of the branch is circa 40 (105). On the shelf at the hot side the temperature is 33degrees (91) which is where he is sitting all the time at the moment because he doesn’t have the strength to climb the branch.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
es, that's fine. Just wait for the ADV results, if he does have it Tracie [ Drache613 [ can give you the best advice for the best chance at extending his life while living with the disease.
 

Ecossebear

Member
Original Poster
Thanks everyone. I just hate the not knowing what’s wrong with him, and whether he is suffering or not. It’s heart breaking to watch.
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
I totally get it.

It's frustrating and disheartening not knowing what is going on. But these guys are tough creatures, they have a way of surprising us sometimes. Keep your head up! :)

-Brandon
 

Ecossebear

Member
Original Poster
Hi, I was wondering if anyone can advise how often I should be force feeding the wee one? I’m using critical care powder mixed with water and try and give him 10ml a day. Is this too much or too little? And still no test results back :-(
 
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