Broken jaw

[Reptrillian]

The vet said that if he survives the night he has a good chance. I usually let temps drop overnight, but I've put a ceramic heat emitter over him, some ceramic tile under him, and hoping for the best. The vet would like me to keep a high spot of 110F at all times, which might need some rigging, I can manage that fine in the day with a 100W bulb, but overnight is more tricky. Worst case I have a heat pad for my back that I can put in there with him, though I'd rather not as I'm sure it's a fire hazard to leave it on all night unsupervised. Got him up to about 90F with the heat emitter so far, think the next thing is to raise him up so he's closer to it, maybe. Difficult to do when he's needing to stay fairly immobile but is also keen to move about and self-regulate!

 

[AHBD]

Aw, it's good to hear that he made it through ! I'm sure it will be touch + go now. I;m positive that 80-90 degrees at night, and no higher, will be fine. At 110 he may really overheat and he's going to be too groggy to get out of the hotspot.

 

[Reptrillian]

It's just gone up to 100F, his tank is above a radiator and the heating just came on. He woke up to fidget, so I think you're right. Don't want to adjust him directly too much, I had surgery recently and know how miserable it is!

 

[Reptrillian]

I made a raised basking area for overnight, got it between 90-100f, so he could self adjust. He climbed off the basking spot and has fallen asleep where it's 80F, so I'm hoping he's okay there. I don't want to mess him around too much, he won't be able to climb back to the warmer spot by himself, so hopefully he's warm enough to heal tonight.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Well it sounds like he is at least comfortable & warm then.
I hope his jaw heals up fast for him, poor thing.
It sounds like you have things fixed up nicely for him. Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

 

[Reptrillian]

He not only survived the night, but woke up VERY active this morning! I haven't rearranged his tank in a while, so I think he felt the need to check everything out.

 

[Reptrillian]

Poor thing is really skittish when I put my hands in the tank, he's had several days of all my interactions with him being painful. I'm hoping that now he has the stomach tube he'll be able to relax a bit, and learn that my interactions now come with a nice full stomach feeling.

I'm not taking him out to feed him, it seems too stressful. This morning he was trying to get away, so I put his head in a small hide so he felt hidden but had nowhere to go, then I gave him his antibiotics, Repta Boost, and finally flushed the tube by putting in 0.5cc water.

He's moving around and basking normally, the tube has been stitched to his body, so looks secure. I minimised the things in his tank to reduce the risk of him getting caught on anything.

His mouth is a little open, the vet recommended putting on a little KY Jelly each day to stop it drying out, so I'm going to get some today, and try to be an adult and not die of embarrassment.

When I was desperately Googling I really struggled to find info, so I'm going to put lots of detail in these posts, hopefully to help others. This procedure cost $400, which included the office visit, stomach tube surgery itself, two x-rays, and the resetting of the jaw, plus gluing wire to the outside to support proper alignment. Last week the mouth rot appointment cost $200, which included the office visit, chlorhexidine topical solution, and course of oral antibiotics (Baytril).

He's lucky he's so cute...

 

[CooperDragon]

I'm so glad to hear he's active and alert. That's a really good sign. He looks cute with his "braces". Those costs sound really reasonable to me considering the complex nature of the procedure and the specialized experience needed to get something like that done for a dragon. Hopefully everything will start getting better and better from here out.

 

[Reptrillian]

Thank you! My vet is very good, I feel very lucky to have a reptile vet 5 minutes away. He wasn't optimistic, I think he'd have preferred euthanasia, he said Draco is by far the smallest animal on which he's done this procedure. I'm so glad he tried, if we were going to lose him, I'd rather we lost him while trying to save him. I did a LOT of research (at 3am!) and asked a few online exotic vets too.

 

[AHBD]

Wow, that is amazing that he is so alert + active after this procedure. I'm so glad that he's gotten through that part and hope he will improve and gain strength and possibly recover. Good idea for his mouth to be open a bit. I would suggest alternating raw honey with the KY jelly [ or use exclusively ] on his mouth. The honey has very beneficial enzymes, amino acids + fights infection. It kills just about every infectious bacteria out there ! I wish more vets would realize how good it is. But so far so good...good for you !

 

[Reptrillian]

Wow, that is amazing that he is so alert + active after this procedure. I'm so glad that he's gotten through that part and hope he will improve and gain strength and possibly recover. Good idea for his mouth to be open a bit. I would suggest alternating raw honey with the KY jelly [ or use exclusively ] on his mouth. The honey has very beneficial enzymes, amino acids + fights infection. It kills just about every infectious bacteria out there ! I wish more vets would realize how good it is. But so far so good...good for you !

I have some raw honey I can use, but I was worried about putting something like that around his mouth when he can't swallow easily and needs his jaw to be fairly immobile. He's been gaping a bit today, but it must feel weird with wire glued to his face and a tube in his neck!

Does the honey encourage them to lick and swallow, do you think?

 

[AHBD]

It's possible, so I know the concern is that she might move her mouth too much. Have you tried the KY jelly yet, and does she have any reaction to it ? You might try a bit of each, but if you're nervous about it that's understandable.

 

[Reptrillian]

It's possible, so I know the concern is that she might move her mouth too much. Have you tried the KY jelly yet, and does she have any reaction to it ? You might try a bit of each, but if you're nervous about it that's understandable.

I haven't, I didn't want to bother him too much today, my hands = horrible pain for him at the moment so he freaks out. I also have some Biotene dry mouth spray, which is for humans but is the same formulation as the veterinary version, however I wasn't sure if the mint flavour would be inappropriate for him. I know that mint is a repellent scent for several species. Though they eat mint, don't they??

Bonus Snapchat action...

Ps. Why yes I'm a wife and mother, clearly I'm also super mature...

 

[AHBD]

Aw, tough little dude ! Poor sweetie.....and I'm sure that's exactly what he's thinking . I don't think he'd like anything mint flavored, it's different than actual mint leaf, more of a chemical flavor. But then, who knows ?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Wow, Draco is a trooper! He does look rather alert which is great. I hope that his tube feeding goes easily for him & that you are able to keep his mouth clean also. At least though he is getting food so he wont miss out on nutrition then.
It looks like it doesn't seem to bother him too much either, which is good!
Please keep us posted on him, I really hope he improves. I am happy to hear you have a good & caring vet, too.

Tracie