4 times to the Vet in a Week.

[MelissaWI]

It all started Monday, My dragon was breathing funny and looked like it was trying to cough or puke. I didn't know what it was, I took her in for an appointment on Tuesday where they did xrays, blood work and a fecal. Only thing found was high gram rods, which is a bacteria in the fecal and was given metronidazole, and bene bac plus and some fluids. She was dehydrated. When I took her there she was acting pretty normal, just a little bit of labored breathing. Got home she started it again, but then it subsided for a few days and started again. Saturday I went back into the ER hospital.Again by the time I got there she was acting pretty normal just heavy breathing, They said possible R.I. Gave her baytril and metcam or something for inflammation and critical care food. Went home she was horrible I thought she was going to die for sure. Got an appointment for this morning... Yesterday she pooped, but then later threw up wax worms I gave her 3 days prior? Why would they not come out with the poop and instead be thrown up? It was 2 1/2 wax worms and a bunch of liquid mucus. Later that night she went back to normal and is normal again still. Just under the weather looking... I have no idea what else to do. I have spend 800 and today will be at least another 200 so that is 1,000 in the last week. I am out of money and this is all I can afford now. It has depleted me, I have had to sell things to get her to the vet etc. Here are her lab blood work results I was able to get a copy of. This is not the fecal. But she did have pinworms and was treated with panacur for quite some time but they are gone now. I don't know how to get the images. but here are 3 from her visit. http://s167.photobucket.com/user/tinkerbellphat/library/tinkerbellphat008?sort=3&page=1

 

[MelissaWI]

I want to tell you about her housing, I had to give her meds, but have a few min now. She is in a 40 gallon breeder opens from the front, has vents on both sides and a screen top. She had a reptisun 10.0 with a sun glo basking bulb which I switched to a MVB yesterday. She lives on tile, no substrate. Her warm side is between 95-102 that she can bask in, cool side 82 to 84 I use a temp gun and also just the cheap stick on things for reference, but use the temp gun several times throughout the day because when weather changes, so does the temp of the room. She is 7 years old. Her food sources are usually when not sick and not wanting food is greens collards, mustard, turnips, butternut and spaghetti squash, sometimes sugar snap peas, she don't like much but will eat some banana on occasion. Her bug diet is everything I raise myself. Silkworms, Roaches, Supers and occasional treats wax worms and hornworms. She gets calcium, and multivitamins and occasionally I do give her some D calcium.

 

[JenFid]

Sorry to hear about your girl, I know from personal experience how fast those vet bills can wrack up. I have no idea what could be wrong, especially given that her set up and diet sound pretty good. Hopefully Tracie will see this and be able to give you some ideas when she looks at the blood work.

 

[AHBD]

Hi Melissa....I'm sorry to hear all this. I can't read the bloodwork, but as Jen mentioned one of the mods. named Tracie [ Drache613] can, so shoot her a p.m. So can you post a picture of her, and if possible a video of her labored breathing ? It's possible that she has a slight R.I ....sometimes those resolve themselves on their own by just keeping humidity down and keeping the night temps. around 80.

You noted that she was very ill after the vet visit....IMO several meds. given at the same time , along with the stress of going to the strange place will have a detrimental effect on a reptile, and I think that has possibly made her worse as well as caused the vomiting. I personally would wait to see how she does without more vet intervention and would not take her back in.Hopefully she'll pull through and her health will stabilize. I feel for you and am wishing you the best outcome !

 

[MelissaWI]

I need to take her in because she is still dehydrated again.. She has been biting the tips of the syringes off she hates it so bad. She won't lick it up off her nose. She is very stubborn. I was going to check to see if it is anything fungal just in case these meds are pointless, and also see if I can give her fluids any other way at home beside a bath and trying to get her to drink off the syringe?

 

[AHBD]

Poor girl, the meds. will cause extra dehydration so it's a difficult situation. She may now hate the syringe especially if that's how the meds. are being given. Do you visibly see anything fungal ? If so you can do a skin culture....or do you mean in her throat or lungs ?

To hydrate her, you can gently spray/dribble water on her snout using a small spray bottle or eyedropper. Some dragons take a few seconds before they start drinking, so give a few drip/sprays, then wait, the repeat. Just mop up any extra water that drips on the floor of the tank. Or you can put her in a shallow warm bath + dribble water over her snout. Then pat her dry + put her back in the tank. But the spray method is the way all my dragons have drank for 20 years, so give it a try.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I am sorry you have had to take your dragon into the vet so much this week!
I did look over the blood test results. Did the vet say anything about the elevated uric acid levels? I noticed that he did note that she was dehydrated upon seeing him. Did he give her fluids there?

Since he is exhibiting signs/symptoms of a possible respiratory infection, I think until she is more hydrated, I would hold off on the Baytril as that can cause more severe dehydration in an already dehydrated dragon. That is what is most likely causing the blackened beard, her dehydrated state.
I concur regarding just trying to keep her a bit warmer overnight with a lower humidity to see if that helps out any for her. Keep her around 80 overnight to help boost her immune system. Do you have a ceramic heat emitter you can use or a heating pad?

It doesn't appear she has an infection just based on the white blood cell count. The calcium to phosphorus levels look pretty normal as well. The calcium may be just a bit on the higher end though. Has she ever laid infertile eggs?

How is she doing today?

Tracie

 

[MelissaWI]

She is doing better withthe treatment, she has had 3 shots under her skin for dehydration and is doing better. They did run more tests at the 4th vet and she does have a respiratory infection. She is on the right meds, and now is breathing normal except when they did the scope it irritated her a bit and the mucus came pouring out and the heavy breathing started again.But went back to normal. She goes back for more blood work in a week. Vet assured she was on the right meds. 3rd vet I seen for this 4th visit at the vets. She is doing good and feeling a lot better since her breathing has not been bad for the last few days now. Keeping my fingers crossed for no more relapses. She is getting 5.5 cc by mouth daily fluid plus baby squash and the critical care food and soaks. She urated on me tonight.. usually I wouldn't be so happy, but was happy to see it. lol hoping that everything is uphill from now. she is being kept warm at night with a CHE in the low 80's. as well.

 

[MelissaWI]

Hello,

I am sorry you have had to take your dragon into the vet so much this week!
I did look over the blood test results. Did the vet say anything about the elevated uric acid levels? I noticed that he did note that she was dehydrated upon seeing him. Did he give her fluids there?

Since he is exhibiting signs/symptoms of a possible respiratory infection, I think until she is more hydrated, I would hold off on the Baytril as that can cause more severe dehydration in an already dehydrated dragon. That is what is most likely causing the blackened beard, her dehydrated state.
I concur regarding just trying to keep her a bit warmer overnight with a lower humidity to see if that helps out any for her. Keep her around 80 overnight to help boost her immune system. Do you have a ceramic heat emitter you can use or a heating pad?

It doesn't appear she has an infection just based on the white blood cell count. The calcium to phosphorus levels look pretty normal as well. The calcium may be just a bit on the higher end though. Has she ever laid infertile eggs?

How is she doing today?

Tracie

Nothing about the acid. Should I be worried about this?

 

[MelissaWI]

Hello,

I am sorry you have had to take your dragon into the vet so much this week!
I did look over the blood test results. Did the vet say anything about the elevated uric acid levels? I noticed that he did note that she was dehydrated upon seeing him. Did he give her fluids there?

Since he is exhibiting signs/symptoms of a possible respiratory infection, I think until she is more hydrated, I would hold off on the Baytril as that can cause more severe dehydration in an already dehydrated dragon. That is what is most likely causing the blackened beard, her dehydrated state.
I concur regarding just trying to keep her a bit warmer overnight with a lower humidity to see if that helps out any for her. Keep her around 80 overnight to help boost her immune system. Do you have a ceramic heat emitter you can use or a heating pad?

It doesn't appear she has an infection just based on the white blood cell count. The calcium to phosphorus levels look pretty normal as well. The calcium may be just a bit on the higher end though. Has she ever laid infertile eggs?

How is she doing today?

Tracie

Nothing about the acid. Should I be worried about this?

And no she has never laid eggs, and had an xray too. so she is good on that.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Ok, great so no eggs that is good right now then!
Yes, the uric acid is pushing 10mg/dl which can start causing crystallization at that point & some swelling at times. I would definitely try to get that down. Oral fluids or subcutaneous fluids per the vet will help a lot. The Baytril will definitely help the respiratory infection but will dehydrate her also. It sounds like she has gotten a good amount of fluids so hopefully that will help bring down the uric acid levels to take stress off of the kidneys.
Are you also using a probiotic too while she is on meds? I am glad she is eating also, she must be feeling better.
I am happy to hear she is breathing better now, poor thing. Is her beard back to normal color now?
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

 

[MelissaWI]

Hello,

Ok, great so no eggs that is good right now then!
Yes, the uric acid is pushing 10mg/dl which can start causing crystallization at that point & some swelling at times. I would definitely try to get that down. Oral fluids or subcutaneous fluids per the vet will help a lot. The Baytril will definitely help the respiratory infection but will dehydrate her also. It sounds like she has gotten a good amount of fluids so hopefully that will help bring down the uric acid levels to take stress off of the kidneys.
Are you also using a probiotic too while she is on meds? I am glad she is eating also, she must be feeling better.
I am happy to hear she is breathing better now, poor thing. Is her beard back to normal color now?
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

Okay so how do you get the acid down? No one mentioned it to me. And if it causes swelling that causes me a concern. Bene Bac Plus is what she is on for the good bacteria replacement. Here is a pic from last night. She looks a lot better. http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u131/tinkerbellphat/tinkerbellphat008/unnamed.jpggghjjkk.jpg

 

[AHBD]

That's good to hear there's some improvement ! It sounds like she's turning the corner hopefully will continue to improve. Sometimes trips to the vet end up in death or just in worse condition and then you have a huge bill on top of it if the vets aren't sure what they're doing. So I'm so glad to see the change, good for you !

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

The uric acid should come down on its own if it was caused from dehydration. If there is a secondary reason such as gout, then if they don't come down on their own you can consider allopurinol, if necessary. Hopefully it will just come down naturally as she gets better & holds her hydration status.
You could give some Black cherry juice to help out with uric acid levels, too.
She looks great in her picture, too.

Keep us posted on her.

Tracie

 

[MelissaWI]

Hello,

The uric acid should come down on its own if it was caused from dehydration. If there is a secondary reason such as gout, then if they don't come down on their own you can consider allopurinol, if necessary. Hopefully it will just come down naturally as she gets better & holds her hydration status.
You could give some Black cherry juice to help out with uric acid levels, too.
She looks great in her picture, too.

Keep us posted on her.

Tracie

I will thanks, she goes back in next week for more blood work to see how things are coming along.