Breathing issues Croaking (All testing done not an Ri) HELP

[Fellowdt23]

Hi just before xmas my dragon got a harmless lump removed from his side my vet is over 100 miles away so i used the opportunity to get a full health check bloods the lot and he got a great report.
He was left in for 3 days to get lump removed and upon collecting him i was given Baytril incase of any infection after OP. On the journey home he coughed which he wasnt doing before and after speaking to the vet he said that he must of self aspirated the critical care he was given with the stress of such a long journey home so i nebulised him and done the baytril course but this croaking seemed to continue which was strange as his apetite stayed good and he showed no stress goes about his daily buisness doesnt act ill.

2nd vet visit booked in again croaking changed to a violent cough stayed in 3 days xrays lung washes and lung cultures all taken from lungs and secondry air sac

XRAYS = CLEAR

CULTURE RESULTS ALL CLEAR

Croaking continues he is on Amikacin injections which the vet gave because of the violent coughs and the fact he could here his lungs were bad so he prescribed that whilst waiting on the results which all came back clear

He is also on a anti inflamatory and asthmatic nebulising agent

If anyone could in lighten me to the possible reason for what could be going on he doesnt act ill and all this happened on that first journey home

Temps Basking 107 (always been to the higher side after an ri years ago and he prefers it

Cool side 80 to 85

Night temps dont drop below 75 but have been bumped up at the moment

Substrate is newspaper since he fell ill it was tiles

Uvb 12 Arcadia t5

Humidity 20 and bedroom humidity is only 35 outside the tank isnt affecting him as i first thought

Thanks any input appreciated

 

[CooperDragon]

This is a tough one. It sounds like your vet has access to some advanced diagnostics too. If the lung wash and culture came back without a problem, perhaps the issue is with another system. Do you see any blockage or signs of issues with his throat, mouth, or nose? Perhaps something up the line a bit is causing some discomfort or irritation that he's trying to address.

 

[Fellowdt23]

No signs of anything unusual with nose or around the mouth area, he also passes feces quite regular so no imapaction lower down feces also came back clear for everything.

I do try and see down the throat area when he opens wide and as far as i can see anyway theres nothing but he does choke on his food regardless of size and its hard to say whether thats because of his difficulty breathing or the fact like you say something maybe lodged.
Xrays also came back clear so im completely miffed, i think the vet is going to advise finishing this current course of meds rather than stop half way through even though its clearly not helping.
He said he may have to go more invasive i just dont understand whats going on

 

[CooperDragon]

Other than thorough visual inspection, I'm not sure what the next course of action would be for something possibly lodged in his throat. My (uneducated) guess is that since nothing appears to be wrong with his nose or mouth, and his lungs are clear, something may be irritating his throat or perhaps something is caught in his beard that he's trying to clear out.

 

[Fellowdt23]

Yeaj its really frustrating as he has never had a loose substrate or anything, my vet being over 100 miles away doesnt make constant trips very easy with work and everything. Got phone appointment tomorrow see how that goes see if he has any ideas

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Wow how utterly frustrating I am sorry to hear of all of the trouble!
I was wondering if he could possibly have some allergies to one of the medications perhaps. It started after he was medicated correct, on the Baytril, initially?
Is his beard black at all?
He is still eating well also?
Your lighting is terrific so that is most definitely not a factor, either.

Tracie

 

[Fellowdt23]

Hello,

Wow how utterly frustrating I am sorry to hear of all of the trouble!
I was wondering if he could possibly have some allergies to one of the medications perhaps. It started after he was medicated correct, on the Baytril, initially?
Is his beard black at all?
He is still eating well also?
Your lighting is terrific so that is most definitely not a factor, either.

Tracie

Hi Tracie it started before the meds unfortuneatly he was in getting a cyst removed and was left in for 3 days then upon collecting on the long journey home he started coughing. The baytril was given incase of any secondry infection to the lump and was only given when we got home.

Initially the baytril seemed to help the cough (in my view) but after the baytril stopped it all returned since then i have had ever test and swab you can imagine and it all came back clear

He still eats and never hides basks everday with his ritual and as we all know an unwell dragon doesnt do much of this

I spoke to vet today going to finish current antibiotc Amikacin and if that doesnt seem to help he would like one last shot at baytril as it seemed to help before he goes under the knife as he has admitted that doing so may not give any answers. Hes not keen to keep throwing antibiotics at him but also says we are running out of options so its worth a shot

I will say though which i found very strange normally when beardies are on baytril they look terrible but when mine was on it he looked great the whole time never stopped eating colour was always good

 

[Fellowdt23]

I have a fair bit of experience with RI's over the years well when i first got him and put a damp tile in his tank which ended up a pretty resistant infection

This isnt like that though and he goes about his daily buisness quite happily does anyone know if choking on food is actually a symptom of a respiratory infection?
Like i say his breathing isnt right but he also chokes on his food no matter the size and just wondered if choking can be symptom of RI or infact there is something more sinister going on that may be causing both the chocking and breathing problems

BELOW IS A PICTURE OF HIM JUST NOW HE DOESNT LOOK ILL DOES HE? THIS IS HIM WHILST ON ANTIBIOTICS TOO AND HE STILL LOOKS GOOD VERY FRUSTRATING

 

[Fellowdt23]

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

He does look very good in the picture.
You are right, normally being on Baytril really affects them, but I have heard from a few people that it didn't seem to bother their dragon at all. They are all different & tend to respond in a variety of ways.
Odd breathing can sometimes be a symptom of an enlarged liver, or a tumor that is pushing on their lungs causing breathing trouble. I am not saying that is what is causing it, just a thought. I hope that is not the case here though.
He is male, correct, for sure & not a female with eggs? Just making sure.
I am glad to hear he is basking & acting normal otherwise & not losing any weight.

Let us know how he is doing. When does he get his last Baytril shot?

Tracie

 

[Fellowdt23]

Hello,

He does look very good in the picture.
You are right, normally being on Baytril really affects them, but I have heard from a few people that it didn't seem to bother their dragon at all. They are all different & tend to respond in a variety of ways.
Odd breathing can sometimes be a symptom of an enlarged liver, or a tumor that is pushing on their lungs causing breathing trouble. I am not saying that is what is causing it, just a thought. I hope that is not the case here though.
He is male, correct, for sure & not a female with eggs? Just making sure.
I am glad to hear he is basking & acting normal otherwise & not losing any weight.

Let us know how he is doing. When does he get his last Baytril shot?

Tracie

Hi hes actually now on amikacin injections. He did suffer from fatty liver disease years ago but just before xmas the vet gave him a full medical and his liver has made a full turnaround and xrays showed no swelling to the liver so i assume that he couldnt see anything else abnormal in the xrays.

All the bloods came back great comapared to 4years ago vet said hes a healthy big boy

He just acts completely normal his breathing is a little better last 2 days i think or so i keep telling myself fingers crossed the injections are doing something all be it slowly

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Excellent, I do remember his case with fatty liver. I am so happy to hear he has come back from that, how wonderful!
Maybe the amikacin will hit it differently & help out where the baytril didn't. How many injections will he be receiving?
I hope he gets better this time. He is a nice looking handsome dragon!

Tracie

 

[Fellowdt23]

Hello,

Excellent, I do remember his case with fatty liver. I am so happy to hear he has come back from that, how wonderful!
Maybe the amikacin will hit it differently & help out where the baytril didn't. How many injections will he be receiving?
I hope he gets better this time. He is a nice looking handsome dragon!

Tracie

Thanks Tracie he has 3 injections left which end next friday, but id imagine if he is slowly improving that might turn out to be a few more. I do believe he is improving but sometimes i question it because i see him all the time im.never 100% sure

I will update as things progress thanks Tracie

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

You are welcome!
I hope that the injections take care of it this time, for good. I know it's frustrating when nothing else seems to help. I am so glad that the fatty liver is gone, that has to be a huge burden lifted for both of you.

Tracie

 

[Fellowdt23]

A quick update there has been no change in my dragon still croaks nebulising helps antibiotics do nothing. If you read back at my post you will see he has had all cultures and everything done and it all came back clear.

I have my worries that my dragon has caught Paramyxovirus from a infected snake at the vets when he went into get a cyst removed to my knowledge this is incurable, I'm still giving supportive treatment like nebulising. He goes about his daily business fine but croaks and struggles breathing.

My reason for thinking this i thought back to the exact things that happened on day of collection and someone was collecting a snake at the same time as mine with breathing issues. The fact that no infection has been detected makes me suspect this