Thank you, Tracie! I will let you know! I think it's probably fine, but I'm such a worrier... we've come so far that I don't want one little weird thing to throw off the rest of his recovery! It also doesn't help that I haven't been able to find any images of health scales at an amputation site to compare to...Hello,
Agni looks great! Bless him. I am glad he isn't on the pain medication anymore, they are kind of
hard on them.
It really looks clean, the scales look normal to me & not necrotic. It is possible that it could be some
dried blood perhaps? It is great the wound isn't seeping, so hopefully there isn't anything else going
on with it.
Let us know what the vet says on Monday.
Tracie
Hi there!How is your progress? I'm currently waiting on picking up my beardie on a partial tail amputation surgery aswell. They said it went well, and he is also an older guy, they say over 7 for sure
Hi everyone,
I wanted to give you an update on Agni. It looks like everything is okay for now. I talked to the vet, and she said that it's possible that the scales distal from the sutures (down the tail rather than towards the body) may die and fall off due to lack of blood supply, but that would be okay. I would only need to worry if it looked like tissue was necrosing above the suture, towards the body. I also asked if they wanted me to put any silver sulfadiazine cream on the necrosing scales, like I had done on the dry tail rot at the whole beginning of this experience. She said that was not needed, since he's still on the Enrofloxacin for a few more days.
Needless to say, I will be keeping a close eye on this. And I may call back and ask if I should put the silver sulfadiazine cream on after we stop the oral antibiotic in a few days, just so he has some kind of antibiotic support while that tissue is dying off.... but do you think that the moisture from the cream would make it not dry out and fall off properly?
... ugh. So many questions. I hope the vet is not annoyed with me.
The main thing is that Angi is very active and seems alert and happy, and his appetite is continuing to improve! He ate 2 silk worms in one sitting yesterday (normal for him is to eat 6 silk worms once per day). I did give him some watered down green bean and corn baby food via oral syringe just to make sure he's hydrated, because he still can't take bathes, and he hates being misted (does not lap it off his nose, just shakes his head).
Below is a picture of he amputation site, for those interested. The incision is shaped like an upside down T. The horizontal incision looks really good, no discoloration. It's the vertical incision that has 2 rows of darkened scales below the suture line, which look like they are necrosing and will fall off.
Thanks for your reply and so happy for you with the recoveryHi there!
I'm sorry your lizard is having to go through this too, but I am very glad to hear that the surgery went well!
I think the thing that really helped my boy is that the vet kept him until they were sure he was stabilized, and when he got home we followed post surgical care instructions really religiously. We also made sure that he was hydrated and getting calories every day, on top of the pain meds and oral antibiotics.
We ended up syringe feeding him about .35 ml of watered down dragon safe baby food every day I think worked really well to keep him hydrated and comfortable with those meds, even when he wasn't interested in bugs for like the first week after surgery. We were also on enrofloxacin oral antibiotic for quite a while, and two different types of pain meds. He was not the happiest about getting all that shoved in his mouth every day, but we just tried to be as gentle with him as possible and he got used to it.
We also had to be suuuuper cautious about picking up his poop immediately and making sure he didn't get it on himself. You can't bathe them for a few weeks after surgery, but you also don't want the wound to get infected. But we also knew we couldn't realistically be deep cleaning his tank on a daily basis. So we outfitted his cage with easily disposable cheap bath towels (to give him some padding and comfort) and with paper towels on top of that. It made clean up a lot easier for us, especially when my husband and I were both working. If he did get any poop on him, we had a spray bottle with water that we would use to moisten the dirty area, then scrub gently with a toothbrush with some antibacterial hand soap, then spray again and pat dry with a towel.
It's a lot the first two weeks after surgery, but you can do it! I found making a daily check list helped me wrangle everything and not get anxious about forgetting something.
If you don't mind me asking, what was the reason for your dragon's partial tail amputation? Cancer, too?
Please feel free to share picture of your baby to this thread and to update itI hope they have a good recovery!!!
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that! My condolences. I know it is never easy losing them <3Thanks for your reply and so happy for you with the recovery
He started getting tail rot but I'm not sure how it started but it was spreading fast. We rescued him from a neglected home late last year though.
My guy unfortunately passed. He never ended up waking up after surgery![]()
Thank you! He was an older guy, but not sure how old. But I can just feel the love from him since we got him. As soon as we started helping him he was always excited to see me,. I absolutely adore every moment . They really are special animals . Again I am so happy for you that yours is still with you.Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that! My condolences. I know it is never easy losing them <3