Beardie with bad athritis

[Westernbeardie]

Hi everyone,
I'm having such a hard time trying to figure out what to do with my little man puff! He is a western bearded dragon, 9years of age. One morning I noticed his legs weren't working, and he just wasn't himself and looked very unwell. So we suspected we was impacted, gave him nice warm baths, massage's ect. I took him to the vet that afternoon as he had pooed and was still not 100%. Anyway I found out he had a fractured vetebrae between his hips, causing some nerve damage preventing his back legs from working and ontop of that, he has bad athritis from his shoulders down to the end of his tail. So he is on some meds to see if there is any improvement... but He constantly gets stuck on his back or on his side, he gets stuck in corners as he can't turn himself around anymore. Has trouble grabbing food, and looks like his sore/stiff. He can't really climb things anymore, and will fall off things. At times he looks happy basking, but at other times I'm sure he looks sad and miserable. So what do I do?? He can't enjoy life like he used to, let alone move around. So my thoughts are maybe I should put him to rest? But the times where he looks peaceful basking in his light, I think maybe it's not so bad? I'm so lost as to what to do, I love him and don't want him to suffer, but I feel so heartbroken at the thought of letting him go. So any advice or relatable experience's would be so helpful.

 

[Jesphet]

My friend who has a resue beardie usually has to give her's daily baths to help his joints relax. But even that doesn't sound like it would be enough to help your beardie. In all honesty, if he can not enjoy his life to the fullest like he use to and is suffering more, then it might be time to put him down.. As sad as it is, it doesn't sound like he goes through the day, not in any pain.

 

[CooperDragon]

Poor guy. Did the vet offer any treatment options for repairing the damaged vertebrae? I would set his enclosure up so everything is flat and easily accessible. I would also make the surface soft and easy to walk on, using some fleece as a substrate. Make it as easy as possible for him to move from basking to cool areas to self regulate. I'd see how that goes for a bit and see how he responds. It may also be helpful to try offering some anti inflammatory agents like silkworms (or serrapeptase liquid) to see if that eases the pressure on his nerves a bit.

 

[Westernbeardie]

Thank you for your replies.

I'm going to give him another week and then try to make a decision. Since writing my post, he is still getting stuck on his back and I have had to rescue him from his water dish upside down! Luckily I was keeping an eye on him at the time otherwise I may have not been there to save him. Unfortunately I am leaning towards putting him to rest as it is affecting his safety now, and I couldn't bare the thought of him drowning. He's still having antiinflammatory's twice a day and a medication to help with his calcium intake, to hopefully make his bone density improve. But I'm forcing him to take them as he refuses to open his mouth now.