Anorexic approx 2mo with failure to thrive

[diamc]

I'm so excited to try!!! I so hope he likes it and goes for it!!!

ME TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Would be a good idea to heat the squash & chicken mixture up for a few seconds to take the chill off as that makes it more pleasurable for them. Good luck.

 

[woodnt]

Had to go all over town to find everything.

Sadly, he didn't go for the 2/3 chicken 1/3 butternut squash. This is what he did:

Then he did this when we spread it around (no forcing anything at this point):

That's right, he just would go to sleep.

I pulled gently on the side to open up the gums and put some there, and it started him licking, but then he just took off what was on the side. Put more on his snout like the pic, nothing, then back to sleep.

Ultimately, we forced 0.2cc of the combo down and 0.1cc of blueberry Silk brand soy yogurt substitute.

This is his length:

Is that volume enough if done twice or 3 times a day? We did it in 0.1cc increments. We would have to bob him up and down to get him to lick around and swallow it.

Getting a little discouraged.

Nathan

 

[woodnt]

This is Praxis (on bottom) and Strax (on top).

This is Praxis's length to help guestimate her age:

Thanks for all the help.

Nathan

 

[diamc]

You sure gave it a good try, I was so hoping he would willingly start licking it off like I know you and your wife were too. He may surprise you tomorrow though, he may have gotten just enough of the baby food & yogurt to give him a boost to have more energy & hopefully appetite tomorrow.

You might want to try putting just a small drop on his nose to see if he lick it next time you try rather than a large amt. I know it's very hard to do. A good sign that he had his eye open in the picture and that he did at least lick that small amt on his own.

You actually did very well for the 1st time, hopefully it will get easier & he will start taking more. Doing it 2 or 3 times a day is a good start right now.

Please try not to get discouraged, at least you got something into him. I have a feeling he's going to look a little better tomorrow.

 

[diamc]

Praxis is adorable, she has awesome coloring. Is her tail curled or is she missing all of the part of the tail that can't be seen in the picture? How long have you had her? I would say she is probably 4 to 6 mo old.

 

[woodnt]

Diane,

Praxis is very sweet (so is Strax). She is so easy. No worries about eating with her. She does great with "meat" and she seems to love dandelion greens but she liked collared greens, too. We'll try other greens as well. I was guessing 5-6 months, but it was a very uneducated guess. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. She looks so thin in that ruler pic, but when she lays down, she really widens out. I almost didn't recognizer her in that pic she looked so thin.

What you see is all she has of her tail. She was stubborn and wouldn't straighten it out (she hadn't eaten yet and that all she was focused on, HAHA! We have had Praxis about 3 weeks. She was a PetCo rescue. There were way too many beardies in a little 10 or 11 gallon tank (probably close to 2 dozen all her size other than the tail issue) and the water was just full of poop. We saw she was missing a tail. We left, but I couldn't take my mind off of her. I wanted to be the one to take this "special" one home and feared someone might not love her because of her tail. The PetCo guy said that something fell in the viv and cut it off. Not sure if that is true or not. We would have happily paid full price for her, but as he was filling out the paperwork, he said she was half off. He is the one that said she was a girl (I doubt his expertise, as he guess her age at about 2 months, and I thought that was way off).

Her FB page full of more pics and her viv can be found at http://www.facebook.com/praxiswoodlive.

Don't know if you focus on only beardies, but I can give you FB pages of our veiled cham, 3 dogs, our cat, our remaining ferret, and our hedgehog.

Nathan

 

[Gail]

Something to keep in mind, if Strax is ill or stressed, he should be kept away from your other dragon. Being placed with her can increase stress and increase the chance of spreading any illness that might be present.

I didn't read the whole thread, did you have the little one tested for parasites?

 

[woodnt]

Something to keep in mind, if Strax is ill or stressed, he should be kept away from your other dragon. Being placed with her can increase stress and increase the chance of spreading any illness that might be present.

I didn't read the whole thread, did you have the little one tested for parasites?

Gail,

Tis a very good point. No, they haven't seen one another for 3 weeks and that was only for a couple of hours. Strax had pinworms but that is it. They went ahead and treated it though and coccidia. Adenovirus is pending.

 

[woodnt]

I forgot to mention. The manager at PetSmart (where we bought Strax; Praxis was from PetCo, I errantly said Praxis was from PetSmart in an earlier post which I edited correct) who recognizes us now with the sick beardie recommended Zilla Jump Start caloric supplement and appetite stimulant as well. We got some, but haven't opened it yet. I wanted to ask here on the forum, first. Didn't know if it would be good to add or not. What are anyone's thoughts?

Thanks,
Nathan

 

[diamc]

I'm glad you rescued Praxis. It's possible that she had something dropped on her tail but more likely that the other beardies were chomping on her. I wish I could rescue all beardies from pet stores. Four of our beardies came from the same pet store, one of them being only 3 1/2" and about to be eaten by a cage mate right in front of us. He was so frail & tiny that we didn't think he would make the night. But, he grew to be 19 1/2 inches and was 8 years old, still miss Gizmo.

Yes, they can look very thin in some pictures rather than in others. She would probably be over a ft long if she had all of her tail. Glad to hear she is eating well. I just viewed her FB pics, she is so cute.

Jump Start is good, it has a molasses type flavor. It is quite thick and I used it a few times but I had an older beardie that had trouble swallowing it, it would almost get stuck in his throat so I switched to Benebac gel which they all liked better. I also had a had time even mixing the Jump Start with baby food, it just didn't want to mix it. It wouldn't hurt to give it a try if you preferred.

If you want to post the link of your other animals, I would love to see them.

 

[woodnt]

Got Strax out about an hour and a half ago for some interaction for about 20 min. He seemed very lethargic. Did crawl up a small fan (fan wasn't on, don't worry), but then to sleep. Tried to stimulate him in my hands. He just wanted to sleep. It would be nice if it were just because it was rather late in the day, but I fear that is not it. He definitely wasn't as interactive as yesterday afternoon.

 

[woodnt]

About Praxis's tail, that is what I first asked the PetCo store guy if it was nipped off (bad shed was another thought). That's when he told me the story of the accident. I didn't know whether to believe him or not and that he just said that to make us "feel better."

 

[woodnt]

If you want to post the link of your other animals, I would love to see them.

Maisy, a pug 9 years old. Our first animal. Rescued out of a bad situation. http://www.facebook.com/maisywoodlive

Ernie, half dachshund half I-don't-know guestimating 9 years old. Showed up in our garage. Obviously very mistreated. Rehabbed and happy now http://www.facebook.com/erniewoodlive

Sony, 1/2 Westie 1/2 long haird dachshund at 5 years old. So very sweet and I'm her person http://www.facebook.com/sonywoodlive

Seeme, our last remaining ferret at 6 years old. She's the one with the pacemaker. http://www.facebook.com/seemewoodlive

Shadow, our hedgehog, at 5 years old. http://www.facebook.com/shadowwoodlive

Trenzalor, our veiled chameleon, about 7 months old is our guestamate. http://www.facebook.com/trenzalorwoodlive

Tony, our butterfly tabby, at about 7 years old. Another rescue http://www.facebook.com/tonywoodlive

We love each and every one dearly (even Mr occasionally bad attitude, Trenzalor).

Would love to hear about yours, too.

Regards,
Nathan

 

[diamc]

He may have been expecting the force feeding again and like you said, it was late in the day when you took him out, I'm trying to be optimistic. And, hoping tomorrow will be better. Any idea how long the Adeno results will take?

Hard to say about the PetCo guy, could have happened either way, regardless, had to have been very traumatic and painful for her.

 

[woodnt]

He may have been expecting the force feeding again and like you said, it was late in the day when you took him out, I'm trying to be optimistic. And, hoping tomorrow will be better. Any idea how long the Adeno results will take?

Hard to say about the PetCo guy, could have happened either way, regardless, had to have been very traumatic and painful for her.

She said they would send it off on Thurs and would likely take 5 days. The tech said the vet would call me then.

It took much longer to find everything today, so he only got one feeding today.

I'll be in Dallas working tomorrow 2 hours away for the day, so I'll ask my wife to get him out in the early afternoon for interaction time. We'll feed before I go and when I return, D.v.