Hi all,
I posted on here a short while back, but there have been developments. I'm sorry if this gets a bit long but would appreciate any thoughts / advice.
Ollie, my beardie, stopped eating maybe 6 or 7 weeks. We stressed for a while until Ollie appeared to go into brumation. However, he was losing a little more weight that he should have been, so my vet advised to wake him for a few days, feed some Critical Care and get a poo sample to test just in case something was wrong. We did this and they found worm eggs and blood (but no parasites).
He was prescribed Panacur and Baycox (just in case) and the vet said we should bring him right out of brumation, up his temps and get his metabolism going. Critical Care to be fed if not eating.
A further faecal a week or so later revealed no worm eggs or coccidia but still blood. Ollie was still not eating and we were struggling to get enough Critical Care into him to maintain his weight. In fact, now he was awake, and still not eating, he was dropping much more weight than while he was brumating. Although Ollie was out of brumation, he was inactive and lethargic. He generally looked very down and unhappy but didn't try to brumate again.
The vet was concerned at the further weight loss and asked to see him again. He believes the problem lies with an inflamed / distended gut but we haven't got to the bottom of why. We were advised to try to get 10ml of Critical Care into him daily and were prescribed a gut protector, anti inflammatory and antibiotics. We've finished his Baycox but he is still undergoing his Panacur treatment. Ollie is now on more medicine than my nan! Ollie was otherwise deemed physically healthy by the vet.
This last week has been quite difficult. Poor Ollie spends so much time being pumped full of everything and he almost seems a shell of his former self. He can't seem to cope with a certain mixture of medi's etc on the same day and has been violently sick 3 times. He's gets up everyday and there's little indication that he wants to brumate again. He just lies under his basking light, doesn't eat or move around much and, well, just looks awfully sorry for himself.
My vet has an excellent reputation with reptiles and I do not question his advice, but seeing Ollie like this is breaking my heart. I often wonder whether it would've been better to let him sleep but, of course, that would also have been a risk. I've got to carry on pumping him with medi's for another week until I see the vet again, at which time they'll do bloods and proper lab growth tests on his poo if there's no improvement.
Anyway, sorry folks, I guess I just needed to vent a bit and don't really know what I can expect anyone to say. Maybe just some reassurance that he should be ok or advice on anything else I could / should be doing.
I posted on here a short while back, but there have been developments. I'm sorry if this gets a bit long but would appreciate any thoughts / advice.
Ollie, my beardie, stopped eating maybe 6 or 7 weeks. We stressed for a while until Ollie appeared to go into brumation. However, he was losing a little more weight that he should have been, so my vet advised to wake him for a few days, feed some Critical Care and get a poo sample to test just in case something was wrong. We did this and they found worm eggs and blood (but no parasites).
He was prescribed Panacur and Baycox (just in case) and the vet said we should bring him right out of brumation, up his temps and get his metabolism going. Critical Care to be fed if not eating.
A further faecal a week or so later revealed no worm eggs or coccidia but still blood. Ollie was still not eating and we were struggling to get enough Critical Care into him to maintain his weight. In fact, now he was awake, and still not eating, he was dropping much more weight than while he was brumating. Although Ollie was out of brumation, he was inactive and lethargic. He generally looked very down and unhappy but didn't try to brumate again.
The vet was concerned at the further weight loss and asked to see him again. He believes the problem lies with an inflamed / distended gut but we haven't got to the bottom of why. We were advised to try to get 10ml of Critical Care into him daily and were prescribed a gut protector, anti inflammatory and antibiotics. We've finished his Baycox but he is still undergoing his Panacur treatment. Ollie is now on more medicine than my nan! Ollie was otherwise deemed physically healthy by the vet.
This last week has been quite difficult. Poor Ollie spends so much time being pumped full of everything and he almost seems a shell of his former self. He can't seem to cope with a certain mixture of medi's etc on the same day and has been violently sick 3 times. He's gets up everyday and there's little indication that he wants to brumate again. He just lies under his basking light, doesn't eat or move around much and, well, just looks awfully sorry for himself.
My vet has an excellent reputation with reptiles and I do not question his advice, but seeing Ollie like this is breaking my heart. I often wonder whether it would've been better to let him sleep but, of course, that would also have been a risk. I've got to carry on pumping him with medi's for another week until I see the vet again, at which time they'll do bloods and proper lab growth tests on his poo if there's no improvement.
Anyway, sorry folks, I guess I just needed to vent a bit and don't really know what I can expect anyone to say. Maybe just some reassurance that he should be ok or advice on anything else I could / should be doing.
