We have recently got a 1 and a half year old - two year old bearded dragon.
His previous owner seems to have neglected him and his care. He was previously on sand, had no water dish, improper heating (max temp was about 80 F in the basking area)
We have since replaced the UVB light to a 10.0, got him a better heat lamp (basking temps are now from 95-100, and a cool zone for him to get away from the heat if he would like), he is now on repti-carpet in a 50 gallon tank, has a water dish, and we mist him and give him baths.
We had noticed shortly after getting him that he was having problems breathing, gasping, occasionally coughing. We booked him a vet appt (our clinic advised that they had a exotics vet who could see him, though he was seen by the vet who saw our cat... not a problem if she deals with all animals) She seemed unusually rough with him. She had quite a hard time getting his mouth open, at one point she pushed his eyes down (I have never seen a vet try this tactic) and then ended up pinching his chin to pry it open, basically he had enough of this treatment and tried to bite her (after making a heartbreaking painful sound) and she got into his mouth. She advised that he is underweight for his age (though he has gained quite a bit in the short while we've had him... we make sure he has a full selection of greens and vegetables every day, with occasional fruit. He will not even acknowledge his crickets at all, so we have switched him to superworms which he normally loves) and had some bowing in his hind legs due to MBD. He had wheezing in his chest and lungs, and so she put him on Chlor Palm for that (though she also advised that it could be pre-existing damage to his lungs from an untreated respiratory infection, which could be permanent).
Since being on the Chlor Palm it seems as though his symptoms are getting much worse, especially for the hours after he has gotten it. He is mouth breathing, gasping, coughing, he now has thick saliva that bubbles out the side of his mouth (which happens occasionally during the day also now) He has went from eating some salad (he's pretty picky) to pretty much none since the vet visit, and from about 10 superworms a day to 5-8... or today only one.
For the most part he is fairly active, though lately he seems almost listless.
Basically, the vet said our husbandship sounds good... we love the little guy a lot and it's breaking out hearts to see him like this... so I would like to have some other opinions, has anyone else had Chlor Palm prescribed? Should we try and get him into another vet? Is there anything I can try to help him get through this? ( I have tried turning up the temps a bit after reading quite a few posts about this helping with respiratory issues, but if I do he will just stay on the other side of his tank, probably since he had almost no heat for so long... )
Thanks.
His previous owner seems to have neglected him and his care. He was previously on sand, had no water dish, improper heating (max temp was about 80 F in the basking area)
We have since replaced the UVB light to a 10.0, got him a better heat lamp (basking temps are now from 95-100, and a cool zone for him to get away from the heat if he would like), he is now on repti-carpet in a 50 gallon tank, has a water dish, and we mist him and give him baths.
We had noticed shortly after getting him that he was having problems breathing, gasping, occasionally coughing. We booked him a vet appt (our clinic advised that they had a exotics vet who could see him, though he was seen by the vet who saw our cat... not a problem if she deals with all animals) She seemed unusually rough with him. She had quite a hard time getting his mouth open, at one point she pushed his eyes down (I have never seen a vet try this tactic) and then ended up pinching his chin to pry it open, basically he had enough of this treatment and tried to bite her (after making a heartbreaking painful sound) and she got into his mouth. She advised that he is underweight for his age (though he has gained quite a bit in the short while we've had him... we make sure he has a full selection of greens and vegetables every day, with occasional fruit. He will not even acknowledge his crickets at all, so we have switched him to superworms which he normally loves) and had some bowing in his hind legs due to MBD. He had wheezing in his chest and lungs, and so she put him on Chlor Palm for that (though she also advised that it could be pre-existing damage to his lungs from an untreated respiratory infection, which could be permanent).
Since being on the Chlor Palm it seems as though his symptoms are getting much worse, especially for the hours after he has gotten it. He is mouth breathing, gasping, coughing, he now has thick saliva that bubbles out the side of his mouth (which happens occasionally during the day also now) He has went from eating some salad (he's pretty picky) to pretty much none since the vet visit, and from about 10 superworms a day to 5-8... or today only one.
For the most part he is fairly active, though lately he seems almost listless.
Basically, the vet said our husbandship sounds good... we love the little guy a lot and it's breaking out hearts to see him like this... so I would like to have some other opinions, has anyone else had Chlor Palm prescribed? Should we try and get him into another vet? Is there anything I can try to help him get through this? ( I have tried turning up the temps a bit after reading quite a few posts about this helping with respiratory issues, but if I do he will just stay on the other side of his tank, probably since he had almost no heat for so long... )
Thanks.
