My bearded dragon is two years old, and this has been an ongoing issue. I was told 6 months in that she had an “abnormally small throat” so she doesn’t always get her food down. Sometimes she throws up, sometimes she barely eats her greens. When she does eat, she almost always stores her food and often it will be in her neck for a couple of days. All of this has made it nearly impossible for her to maintain a healthy weight. A couple of weeks ago when I woke up she was laying down next to her throw up and not moving. Her beard, shoulders and tail were black (she’s never had a black beard before that) she was open mouth breathing and wheezing. While I waited for my vet to call back I held her with her head facing downward incase she aspirated and shortly after, she was stable.
I didn’t take her to the ER because last time I did, they told me she probably has adenovirus (she doesn’t) and that I should consider end of life options which I found unhelpful and unnecessary. They sent me home with antibiotic injections incase she aspirated but they didn’t think she did. Once she was stable, my regular vet called and advised me to start giving her the injections.
Well, this week she was storing her greens so when she started eating her bugs she couldn’t breathe. It was much worse than the last time, she was thrashing trying to breathe and my boyfriend and I had to hold her and pull out built up food from the day before and saliva. It took a while but we got her stable. Even drinking water she stores and she looks like she’s having trouble breathing properly. She always closes her eyes like she’s experiencing discomfort. She’s not super thin, we got her to put on weight the last few months but with her storing food she’s not at the weight she should be and I’m worried about nutritional deficiencies and dehydration. This is not normal behavior and no one can seem to figure out a solution. I’ve tried critical care, baby food and cutting up her greens really small but nothing helps. She has the t5 10.0 UVB and a 150watt basking bulb. Also, I have a hard time keeping her humidity up. It’s usually at 10% but I mist her tank a lot to get it up to 25-35. My vet told me humidity doesn’t matter and that was alarming to hear.
I didn’t take her to the ER because last time I did, they told me she probably has adenovirus (she doesn’t) and that I should consider end of life options which I found unhelpful and unnecessary. They sent me home with antibiotic injections incase she aspirated but they didn’t think she did. Once she was stable, my regular vet called and advised me to start giving her the injections.
Well, this week she was storing her greens so when she started eating her bugs she couldn’t breathe. It was much worse than the last time, she was thrashing trying to breathe and my boyfriend and I had to hold her and pull out built up food from the day before and saliva. It took a while but we got her stable. Even drinking water she stores and she looks like she’s having trouble breathing properly. She always closes her eyes like she’s experiencing discomfort. She’s not super thin, we got her to put on weight the last few months but with her storing food she’s not at the weight she should be and I’m worried about nutritional deficiencies and dehydration. This is not normal behavior and no one can seem to figure out a solution. I’ve tried critical care, baby food and cutting up her greens really small but nothing helps. She has the t5 10.0 UVB and a 150watt basking bulb. Also, I have a hard time keeping her humidity up. It’s usually at 10% but I mist her tank a lot to get it up to 25-35. My vet told me humidity doesn’t matter and that was alarming to hear.
