Depression and Beardie Care - Advice

[anonanemone]

So last year my bearded dragon was diagnosed with gout. They did the blood work and x-rays and determined it wasn’t in his kidneys and was still early on. But I’ve had him for about 6 years now and it was very saddening news. I did a complete overhaul of his diet as the vet suggested and immediately give him his prescribed medication whenever I see any signs of discomfort. However, in the past week it’s suddenly affecting way more limbs than usual and I can tell it’s very painful for him to try and move. He still has his huge appetite and (before this new pain hit him) would be climbing all on his hammock and around his tank.

I scheduled a new appointment with the vet as I’m worried about how much of a down turn this is. My mental health has also been on a downward spiral from family problems, work problems, applying to graduate school, housing/financial stress, etc. I know that gout is normally caused by bad husbandry. I know for a fact there were many times I’d skip doing his weekly baths. I haven’t taken him out as much because all I do when I finish working is go to sleep. Knowing he is in pain because I was too weak to properly monitor his living conditions makes me feel sick. Is he better off without me? I love him so much. He’s my baby. I start crying whenever I think about surrendering him, but am I unhealthy for him? I’ve been looking up different things to help manage the pain and I have a list of questions for the vet and I plan to ask her about his also. But what do you all think?

I want to stress that I do not want to give him up. I don’t see him as a burden. I just want him to be ok, no matter how much it hurts me.

 

[SkittlesK]

What are you feeding him.?
Do you have pictures?

Try Super worms. They are low in Purines.
Crickets are high in Purines.
I Dunno if anyone else wants to chime in on Purines.
Not too familiar with Gout as I've never dealt with it.

I've dealt with a lot of that stress. Definitely hard on the body and the mind.
We all have dealt with it at some point in our lives.
It's a matter of dealing with that stress.

Try to hang in there & deal with one thing at a time.
Your health is most important then you can deal with family, work & school, & housing.
Ask yourself how you can lighten the load & spend less money & save more.

He's not better off without you; You'd be better with a break instead of handling all that by yourself.
Sounds like a big load.
If anything, you learned a lesson on handling beardies. & that's most important.

I had to surrender my beardie.
Ask the vet questions.
See if his life is worth living.

Rescues are sometimes great with beardies if you have one locally.
Other than that; let's see if anyone else wants to chime in.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Do you have pictures of your dragon you could post, along with your tank setup so we can see
his physical condition?
Has he ever been on gout medication, since he was diagnosed with gout?
If you happen to have a copy of the bloodtest, can you please post them just so I can see the
levels?
For now, try to get some black or tart cherry juice extract to help with his kidneys right now. If
he does have gout, it would greatly help out for him to be on gout meds.
I am sorry you are going through this. I agree though, it sounds like you are doing your best &
he wouldn't do well being rehomed so let's try to get him & you going in a better direction.
We are all here to help out.
I have an online store & have a product called Serrapeptase that helps with pain, swelling &
inflammation. It is silkworm enzyme, in liquid form.
Have you lowered the basking area for him so that he doesn't have to climb so much right now
to get to his heat & UVB?

Tracie

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Health

 

[anonanemone]

What are you feeding him.?
Do you have pictures?

Try Super worms. They are low in Purines.
Crickets are high in Purines.
I Dunno if anyone else wants to chime in on Purines.
Not too familiar with Gout as I've never dealt with it.

I've dealt with a lot of that stress. Definitely hard on the body and the mind.
We all have dealt with it at some point in our lives.
It's a matter of dealing with that stress.

Try to hang in there & deal with one thing at a time.
Your health is most important then you can deal with family, work & school, & housing.
Ask yourself how you can lighten the load & spend less money & save more.

He's not better off without you; You'd be better with a break instead of handling all that by yourself.
Sounds like a big load.
If anything, you learned a lesson on handling beardies. & that's most important.

I had to surrender my beardie.
Ask the vet questions.
See if his life is worth living.

Rescues are sometimes great with beardies if you have one locally.
Other than that; let's see if anyone else wants to chime in.

At the vet’s suggestion I cut out insect protein from his diet. At first he was mainly eating high water content fruits like watermelon along with some greens (vet request) and later on I switched him to a Zilla veggie and fruit blend that I would top with fresh fruit or flower toppers to give him some variety.

Thank you for your support. It really means a lot to hear that I’m not a bad person for wanting him to stay with me. I will look into the super worms as something to add to his diet. He’s always loved live food so I’m sure he’d like it

 

[anonanemone]

Do you have pictures of your dragon you could post, along with your tank setup so we can see
his physical condition?
Has he ever been on gout medication, since he was diagnosed with gout?
If you happen to have a copy of the bloodtest, can you please post them just so I can see the
levels?
For now, try to get some black or tart cherry juice extract to help with his kidneys right now. If
he does have gout, it would greatly help out for him to be on gout meds.
I am sorry you are going through this. I agree though, it sounds like you are doing your best &
he wouldn't do well being rehomed so let's try to get him & you going in a better direction.
We are all here to help out.
I have an online store & have a product called Serrapeptase that helps with pain, swelling &
inflammation. It is silkworm enzyme, in liquid form.
Have you lowered the basking area for him so that he doesn't have to climb so much right now
to get to his heat & UVB?

Tracie

I will get more recent photos for you ASAP. I haven’t been able to tell since cutting out insect protein if he’s gotten thinner, but I feel like he must be? I’ll try to get a picture so the swelling in his back foot is visible (what prompted me calling the vet).

I was given Tramadol and Metacam to treat the symptoms but I’m not sure if that’s specifically for gout. I don’t have the blood test levels, I just know at the time they weren’t indicating that his kidneys were affected. I’ve heard about the black cherry extract, is there a specific brand you would recommend? And thank you I’ll look into the silkworm enzyme as well.

Yes, I lowered his hammock and removed his big tree branch he normally has so he wouldn’t have as many things to navigate around to get to his food/water.

Thank you so much for your advice and support on this, I hope my best is good enough.

 

[KarrieRee]

He should be on Allopurinol -- that is a gout medication and will take down the uric acid levels there for eliminating the pain -- please get the test results posted so Tracie can look at them -- the tart cherry juice any brand will do -- that will flush the kidneys --- feed silk worms for a staple or BSFL -- any insect w/ high protein is not good at this time --

 

[anonanemone]

I’ve attached photos of the tank (like I mentioned before his branch that is normally in his basking area was taken out). The first two photos of Zuko are from today and I attached the last one because it’s one of my favorites of him wearing a halloween costume a couple years ago.

Thank you for letting me know about the Allopurinol, I’ll request that the vet prescribe it for him.

 

[KarrieRee]

I’ve attached photos of the tank (like I mentioned before his branch that is normally in his basking area was taken out). The first two photos of Zuko are from today and I attached the last one because it’s one of my favorites of him wearing a halloween costume a couple years ago.

Thank you for letting me know about the Allopurinol, I’ll request that the vet prescribe it for him.

How are you getting surface basking temps? For a hammock especially it needs to be a digital probe thermometer- 95-100--- next what are you using for a uvb? Is it in the dome? If so you need a long tube fixture immediately - this is causing a lot of health issues if your using a coil- I will post links to 3 good uvb's- all long tube uvb's are not equal and we recommend 3 on this board-

 

[anonanemone]

How are you getting surface basking temps? For a hammock especially it needs to be a digital probe thermometer- 95-100--- next what are you using for a uvb? Is it in the dome? If so you need a long tube fixture immediately - this is causing a lot of health issues if your using a coil- I will post links to 3 good uvb's- all long tube uvb's are not equal and we recommend 3 on this board-

It doesn’t show up very well in the photo but I have a thermometer/humidity gauge attach to the back wall of the tank on the basking side. It’s not a digital probe though, so I’ll find a different one. And yes the UVB is in the dome, I wasn’t aware the coil bulbs were bad, I’m really sorry. Is ZooMed not a good company to buy from? I assumed all of their products were tested for best health practices. I would appreciate those links whenever you get a chance to send them, thank you

 

[KarrieRee]

It doesn’t show up very well in the photo but I have a thermometer/humidity gauge attach to the back wall of the tank on the basking side. It’s not a digital probe though, so I’ll find a different one. And yes the UVB is in the dome, I wasn’t aware the coil bulbs were bad, I’m really sorry. Is ZooMed not a good company to buy from? I assumed all of their products were tested for best health practices. I would appreciate those links whenever you get a chance to send them, thank you

Coils are terrible - I am going to post some links for 3 good ones here in a bit- zoo med makes good basking bulbs exo Terra intense - you can find zoo med probe thermometers at Petco or PetSmart

 

[KarrieRee]

Coils are terrible - I am going to post some links for 3 good ones here in a bit- zoo med makes good basking bulbs exo Terra intense - you can find zoo med probe thermometers at Petco or PetSmart

Here are 3 UVB's
24" for a 40 + gallon tank
this one comes w/ a 5.0 bulb you will need a Reptisun 10.0 T 5

Zoo Med ReptiSun T5 HO High Output Terrarium Hood

Zoo Med ReptiSun HO T5 Terrarium Hoods are designed to provide your pet reptiles with the UVB and UVA they need in an efficient, long-lasting lamp. High Output (HO) T5 fluorescent lamps provide UVB penetration at greater distances, making these hoods an ideal choice for taller terrarium tanks...

www.petmountain.com

22" Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 UVB T5 HO High Output Fluorescent Bulb
this one you can find at Pet Smart you want a 24 watt 12% bulb
Arcadia Reptile ProT5 UV-B Kit | reptile Light Fixtures | PetSmart
or this one 24" or 2 ft you will need to get the Reptisun bulb posted above for this fixture

SunBlaster NanoTech T5 HO - Fluorescent Fixture with 6400K Lamp

Buy the SunBlaster NanoTech T5 HO - Fluorescent Fixture with 6400K Lamp at Hydrobuilder.com. Shop the entire line of SunBlaster products along with thousands of hydroponics supplies on sale now.

hydrobuilder.com

please let me know when you get this I will help you place it for your tank - the screen will determine where it goes and distanced

 

[SkittlesK]

So last year my bearded dragon was diagnosed with gout. They did the blood work and x-rays and determined it wasn’t in his kidneys and was still early on. But I’ve had him for about 6 years now and it was very saddening news. I did a complete overhaul of his diet as the vet suggested and immediately give him his prescribed medication whenever I see any signs of discomfort. However, in the past week it’s suddenly affecting way more limbs than usual and I can tell it’s very painful for him to try and move. He still has his huge appetite and (before this new pain hit him) would be climbing all on his hammock and around his tank.

I scheduled a new appointment with the vet as I’m worried about how much of a down turn this is. My mental health has also been on a downward spiral from family problems, work problems, applying to graduate school, housing/financial stress, etc. I know that gout is normally caused by bad husbandry. I know for a fact there were many times I’d skip doing his weekly baths. I haven’t taken him out as much because all I do when I finish working is go to sleep. Knowing he is in pain because I was too weak to properly monitor his living conditions makes me feel sick. Is he better off without me? I love him so much. He’s my baby. I start crying whenever I think about surrendering him, but am I unhealthy for him? I’ve been looking up different things to help manage the pain and I have a list of questions for the vet and I plan to ask her about his also. But what do you all think?

I want to stress that I do not want to give him up. I don’t see him as a burden. I just want him to be ok, no matter how much it hurts me.

It's never too late to schedule a counseling appointment or medication appointment.
I just had an issue where I lost my phone; I have severe OCD.
Ripped off all the bedsheets looking for a small device I have my whole life invested in.

Because I know how you feel.

@Drache613

silkworm enzyme, in liquid form

I agree. It helps.
Also look into Cherry Tart Extract.

 

[anonanemone]

Update: I got Zuko in to the vet two days ago and they did fecal, blood tests and an x-ray. All the tests came back normal, but he still isn't using his back legs. He pooped a lot while at the vet so maybe he was impacted? I'm going to keep observing him over the next day or so to see if there is any improvement, otherwise the doctor said that the next step would be checking that it isn't a spinal issue. But I honestly don't know if I could afford that...