any suggestions on how best to care for paralyzed rescue?

[derangedplanet]

I posted on cl asking if anyone nearby had a female bearded dragon for sale. I then got a reply from a very distraught person asking for my help on a bearded dragon he is trying to rescue but doesn't feel he is providing good enough care. He asked if I could provide for her. I've done a lot of research on here on how you suggest treating sick beardies so I agreed. I don't have her yet but I know she is in very bad condition. He told me she seems to be paralyzed in the rear legs and that she can still scoot herself. He's uncertain if it will be permanent or not. He doesn't know how long she's been this way. My first thought was impaction but I forgot to ask if it she'd been pooping. He said she'd been eating occasionally but rarely and that he's been feeding her supers. He said hes given her a couple baths but that he doesnt know what else to do. My first thought is she either has mbd or impaction. with that in mind I know I should be treating her with calcium, pedilite, and/or babyfood depending on her health. I have a uvb light ready for her arrival tomorrow. I have a spare compact but I'd rather not use that so my plan is to place her in low sided tub under my other beardies 4 ft light that hangs from the ceiling, I figured ideally the tub would be raised to about 8 inches from the light. I also plan to spend hours a day with her outside. I know she needs frequent bathing and that I'll likely need a handfeed syringe to care for her. I have a heat lamp and will soon have a tank to put her in though I'll likely be keeping her in the tub for a while just so it'll be easier to care for her. Do you have any other suggestions for her? Should I give soil/sand to make her feel more comfortable or should she be on newspaper? how best could I meet her needs? I'll give more info when I get her tomorrow. I am very distraught over this poor girl. I don't really have the money to send her to the vet but I can't bare to leave her suffering or in the care of someone who doesn't know how and paid for her solely because she needed help. I feel terrible for her. He doesn't think she'll pull through either. Any help is really appreciated. Hopefully this poor girl wont bring me to tears on site of her.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....all of your ideas sound good, taking her out in the sun may be the most beneficial along with getting calcium in her. If she is not emaciated then feed her whatever insects she's used to, but not the largest size, that way digestion will be easier. Her condition is probably from MBD, but she may have been also impacted at some point, but it really sounds mostly like a severe calcium deficincy. Post pics of her set up that you have ready for her, and pics of her when you can. Here's how :
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/
Then hit the XIMG button.

And I think several layers of newspaper will work for her. Fold it in sections so if she poos in one spot you can just lift out that section and there will be more sections underneath and you can keep more on hand ready to replace when needed.

 

[derangedplanet]

Sounds good. I'm working on her set up right now, and getting her after he gets of work so around 1 eastern time. So I'll probably do all that at the same time. Should I go heavier or lighter on the heat. I've met some dragons that prefer their basking side at almost 100. And some that really seem to do better at a bare 90. Curious what would be best for her in her condition. If it really is just mbd that gives me hope that she may survive and may even be able to keep her. If it was impaction I was leaning towards finding her a rescue as soon as possible that way she can get actual medical attention. I just wanted to make sure she was getting the best help I could give while I was getting ahold of one and getting transportation for her arranged and all. If it's mbd it's basically impossible she'll ever walk again isn't it? And some details on her setup is low sided tub about 18" by 32". Under a reptisun 10 and a 75 watt heat lamp. It may not be much but it's the best I've got at the moment. Should I lrave a towel for her to sleep on too?

 

[derangedplanet]

Well apparently he's seriously flaking put on me because he said he wouldn't be here till later. Still waiting on that later but this is her setup as it is right now. Her hot spot is at 96 at this moment and I set it all up hours ago so I think that's about what it's gonna stay

 

[AHBD]

That looks reasonable. Hopefully she will not be as bad as described. Did you see any pictures of her ?

 

[derangedplanet]

I have not yet but he's heading over right now. He worked a night to morning shift so I wasn't too pushy

 

[derangedplanet]

Update: I've received her. She seems quite healthy for being paralyzed. She does her snake movement very well as we learned when my other beardie (named gecko) discovered a slight open spot where he could see her. He turned his beard dark (first time he ever has) and started trying to get to her through the glass. She returned such by, what I can only call slithering, back at him. It was an interesting ordeal and a funny one I'd have tried to get a video of if I wasn't so worried about it stressing her. We calmed them both down and covered the line of site. Shes not darkened at all which is impressive for her state. Actually very beautiful. I think I'll call her warrior. Warrior apparently ate a few worms this morning and the guy also brought some powders for her from a breeders. I'll post a pic of all those later but they say things like

"probiotics and bee pollen" and "carnivore recovery powder" and each comes with instructions for how often to use. Right now I'm gonna give her some greens with calcium beforw heading to the store to pick up some other supplies. Is there any way I can make it easier for her yo move around. She gets very little traction on the newspaper. I was thinking of taking the shirt in their with her and laying it out in the basking area, or maybe lining the top of the news paper with paper towels.
Here she is. What would you say is wrong with her?

Also I have plenty of bell peppers and I've never seen anything warning for or against them so I'm curious if they are safe for her.

 

[AHBD]

That is really very odd. The body structure looks like a perfectly healthy dragon....no lumps,deformities or twisted body parts that would even hint at a possibility of MBD. Even e serious impaction usually causes some sort of spine deformity if it's severe enough to cause paralysis. Did the guy tell you anything about what happened or how long she's been that way ? It's possible that she had a stroke of some sort....it's not common but there have been a few on here in the past. I thought maybe even a fall from a long way up, but you'd think she would look like she was in terrible pain. I'm leaning toward stroke....but if she begins moving soon, maybe it is a very severe calcium deficiency accompanied by possible impaction that came on after she was adult size and past the growing stage. Who knows if there were cruel children in the home that did something to her....you never know these days. There are a lot of deranged people and we see animal cruelty + mutilation often enough even on our local news. Anyway, can you get a video of her moving ? Oh, and please don't let her see the other dragon, it may be terrifying for her.

 

[derangedplanet]

Yeah newspaper has been securely placed and taped between them now. When I get back home I will try. He's only had her a few days. But shes not eating really and her ribs are showing a bit which is probably why. She moves by wiggling like a sand surfing snake. She has some use of her front legs and occasionally reaches forward and pulls herself but she seems to avoid use of them if possible. Though she didn't seem scared. In fact she seemed like she was ready to fight. But never the less they have been securely separated.

 

[AHBD]

Who knows, maybe getting some calcium + hydration in her and getting her out in the sun might help her.

 

[Esther19]

Oh my gosh. She looks just like my Cissy, who was paralyzed, too. We spent a long time trying to figure out what was wrong. Finally, it was determined that she had a pinched nerve in her neck. Her paralysis got progressively worse as she grew, I am assuming from her spine putting greater pressure on that nerve as she got bigger. The calcium and sunshine might help, depending on what is going on. I would hold Cis in her bath water and encourage her to swim, kind of moving her around in the water to encourage movement. You might try that, too. Thank you for taking her in.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Oh bless Warrior, poor thing!
There have been a few cases on here that looked similiar. It could have been a stoke, which will affect their motor skills in that manner or to an extent of that severity. It could also be metabolic bone disease, too which is very common.
Which UVB are you currently using for her?
The newspaper is great, it will be very easy to keep & clean out, too.
She is very beautiful & has great colors. How are her spirits, does she seem happy or is it too early to tell?
I hope you can get some food into her also. At least her body condition isn't too bad, she doesn't appear terribly thin or anything.
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

 

[derangedplanet]

Still hasn't eaten but I'm gonna find ways to get creative. The bulb is a reptisun 10.0. Its 10 inchesfrom the bottom of her tub. She seems very sassy though she does appear to be in pain sometimes. Usually though she just seems tired and alert. Decently happy so far though. I plan to keep working with her getting her sunlight and trying to get her to eat but she seems okay healthy. Her skin isnt in great condition. A little too dehydrated with some spots that look like they've had troublesome sheds. My husband has asked, and I've agreed, that we'll work with her till shes healthy as we can't get her and then we will find her a new home in a rescue or with one of the "elder reptile keepers" (as I like to call them) around here. He likes her. And he finds her wittyness pleasant enough but after telling him she was likely permanently disabled he seemed to think she'd be happier with one of the extreme reptile enthusiasts around here. He talked of how the moves(he's navy) would be really stressful on her and it'd be better if she just had a place to be settled and someone yo give her all the attention she needs. And I have to agree that sounds ideal for her. So we'll be keeping her until she either is getting better, or starts declining till she reaches the point she may need medical help. In the very least I figure we can be a halfway house that is full of love and hope for her. Shes quite full of life really. And I am very hopeful that she will either become a pro at moving around without her legs and make her disablement work for her, or actually get slightly better. She doesn't seem the type to give up easily. She spent most her night with us so far moving in and out of underneath the heat and napping under the uvb.

 

[derangedplanet]

Update she pooped and there was red (presuming blood?) And then white tissue like stuff that was pink in some spots. It was sorta like chicken fat tissue and she had trouble getting it out (like more so than would come with the struggle of just being paralyzed. It was also more poop than I expected too.

I gave her a bath earlier and she drank lots of water. Then she just sorta tried to lay her head down in it, so that was the end of that and I had to tilt her to get the water out of her airways. After that I spent more time trying to get her to eat(tried 4 times prior) and she still wasn't having it. So I put some pedialite on her nose and let her lick it off. She did that some but then quit. So I ended up trying to force feed her a little bit. And little bit is all I was gifted with getting her to eat. She ate some sweet potato baby food mixed with a little calcium powder and vitamin powder and Pedia. And when I say a little I really do mean a little. We're talking less than a 1/3 of a table spoon (I used a feeding syringe but that's about as much as she let go into her mouth) and now she's resting and doing her usual wiggle to get back and forth in her cage. I have yet to be able to get a video of such as she has proved very elusive in her wiggle crawl and only does it a second or 3. She's mad at me today. But my husband spent some time calming her down after the feeding and shes still plenty happy with him. I flipped her over a few times today and she appears to be quite underweight. So we'll continue working on it.

 

[AHBD]

I guess you didn't take a pic of the poo ? It's really important to take pics of everything related to her health. It could have been from internal bleeding [although that may come out darker rather than bright red ] I hope she wasn't injured + now bleeding internally.