Dewey's Thread: Updated: 9/6/12 He's Very Sick

I received Dewey on 1/13/10. After having him for a couple of days I officially decided to name him Dewey. Since he now has a name I thought I should make a thread dedicated to him so I can share our journey and his growth with all of you.

Being my first beardie, Dewey will always have a very special place in my heart. He's been a pure joy to have so far. Especially now that he's starting to come out of his shell little by little every day. I'm truly excited to see how he will develop in the months to come.

So, enough babble... here are the first set of pictures which I took tonight.

Hanging out on his vine. I wasn't expecting Dewey to be as small as he is. Yesterday was the first time he was seen up on his vine and he was up there again today. He seems to be a pro with navigating it!

Here's Dewey all wrapped up just before bed time.

 

[DeweysMom]

Thanks Morgan and Christine! Dewey seems to be getting better. He hasn't really been wheezing, but you can still hear something's not right sometimes. He is making his rounds in his viv too. Everyday so far he's gotten up on his own to go bask in the morning. Saturday morning he ate half of a raspberry, yesterday and today he had some salad and a single dubia roach. He'll be getting some hornworms this week as soon as they arrive. Those are his favorite so I know if he doesn't eat those something's really wrong!

Here are some updated pics of him.

Here are some more shots of Logan take today as well.

 

[athenacp]

I just love Dewey's eyes :love10: And Logan is so precious!

 

[BeardyDragon]

I agree, Dewey has the coolest eyes... and the coolest owner! And that second pic of Logan is just cute beyond words! :love5:

(Don't get me wrong, all of them are amazing, but that's gotta be my favorite)

 

[beardie osk]

Great pics of your babies..........I'm hoping Dewey will continue to get rid of that rattle and be himself, I'm sure he will with your loving care!

 

[TheAnthropologist]

oh my goodness. Logan is adorable! The puppy phase is such a fun time isin't it? I have a 5 month old springer named Lily and I am just lovin it! Logan looks like he is one happy puppy!

 

[DeweysMom]

Boy oh boy has it been a while since I've posted anything. Dewey has been doing great. He was treated for wheezing earlier this year, but since he had his meds he's been doing great. He's been pretty light on what he eats, but he hasn't lost any weight so I'm not to worried about it right now. I think he's holding out for worms, his favorite, which is why he's not really touching the dubia roaches.

Anyway, today was an absolutely gorgeous day outside so I took him out for about an hour and half for some real sun. He LOVED it. He likes being held while he's outside, but I did put him down to get some pics. I even did something I thought I'd never do. I put him down without a harness on. With Dewey, when I put him down he just lays there. He will not move so I felt he'd be ok long enough to get some pics. I was right there and I also had my mother right there to watch while I snapped some pics. He was only down for a couple of minutes at the most until we went to sit in our lounge chair together.

Here are some pics from today. I really like how these came out and I hope you will too.

 

[athenacp]

:love5: :love10: I just love his eyes! Gorgeous pics!

 

[beardie osk]

Nice to see the handsome boy!! Don't feel bad about posting, I'm in the same boat..........alot of egg laying going on here,.............glad to read that Dewey is out of repiratory trouble........hooray for meds..........

 

[DeweysMom]

I wish I was updating Dewey's thread under better circumstances, but unfortunately he's very sick. The vet said his prognosis is poor to fair at this time. He's currently taking a diuretic to try to clear up his lungs which are holding a lot of fluids. So I don't have to type it all over again, here's a link to my thread in the ER forum: viewtopic.php?p=1424029

And here's the message copied and pasted:

Dewey has had to go to the vets several times for wheezing. With meds it's always cleared up, but would return months later. This year he went in Jan/Feb and was put on Ciprofloxacin (sp?) and it cleared up until last month when it started again. I brought him back and he was put on it again. It helped, but he's still wheezing and sounding congested. I brought him to the best tonight and the news was not good.

The vet did an X-Ray and said that he has a lot of fluid in his lungs and not a lot of lung function. He said there could be many causes... bacteria (though he doubts is since he just came off the Ciprofloxacin), a virus (he also doubts that since nothing's changed here recently and since it's a recurring thing), then he said it could be heart disease or even cancer. He said cancer's usually seen in older beardies (Dewey's only 3) so he's not sure it would be that and he also said if it was there's really nothing that we could do. He couldn't tell what his heart looks like because there's so much fluid in his lungs. He suggested to start that we try him on a diuretic for 7 days to see if there's any change. So I have to give him .05ml furosemide twice daily as well as keeping him hydrated. He apologized at the end of the appointment and told me that unfortunately the prognosis for Dewey is poor to fair at best. I've been crying ever since.

I don't even know where to go from here. He sounds horrible. He fights like heck to take his meds, but I am getting it in him. I just wish I could fix him.

I do have a question though. He won't drink out of a bowl. I either have to force it down or see if he'll drink from his bath water. If I have to force it, how much water should I give him?

I'll keep you posted on his progress.

EDIT: Something just occured to me. A few weeks ago after I bathed Dewey I fed him. I usually don't feed him after a bath because it's normally so late, but I had just gotten his favorite worms so I wanted to treat him. When he went to grab one a pool full of water fell out of his mouth. He did "drink" while he was in the water, but apparently he did not swallow. Is it possible that he's done that before and that causes this? Meaning, since I don't really feed him after a bath he'd basically fall asleep without swallowing the water. Could it trickle down and into his lungs? If this is the case would the diuretic clear his lungs out? I hope this is what's happening and this diuretic will fix it. At least I would now know how to prevent it from happening again. Should I call the vet and explain this to him? This episode happened after he was already started on his meds last month.

 

[DeweysMom]

Alright, so Dewey seems to be getting better. Here's what I've been doing for him so far.

- Giving him .05ml Furosemide twice daily (since Thursday night so he just go this 4th dose).
- Giving him 2ml of water through a syringe every 4 hours.
- Running a dehumidifier right next to his viv 24/7 (humidity has been sitting steady at 30% since yesterday).
- Thursday night I positioned him on an incline so his head was facing down, but last night he refused to stay like that so I let him be as he wanted to be.
- Using a black light bulb at night (they were out of CHE's so I grabbed the light bulb). I point Dewey facing the opposite direction and put him under an overhang so the light isn't hitting his eyes. His viv was at 85 all night last night.

Today I called a local reptile shop since my vet was closed to get their opinion on if I should bring Dewey outside today. It's definitely warm enough, but the humidity is on the high side (I think it was around 52%). After explaining his situation they said that the benefit of the real sun would most outweigh the humidity. They suggested that I bring him outside for an hour unless it made him worst. Well, I gave him an hour and 15 minutes and he really seemed to enjoy it. He gaped a lot, but didn't wheeze once and he even wanted to walk around (harnessed of course). So we walked the yard at his pace. At one point he actually jumped up onto a wooden ledge and went to the bathroom. I have never seen him really pee before, but he definitely peed today! It must be the diuretic kicking in. He let go of a lot of liquid.

His breathing is getting better. I didn't notice any real rattling or wheezing while he was outside. However, when I put him back in his viv he did wheeze a few times. He still has his appetite for worms. I'm trying not to over do it, but don't want to starve him either so I gave him a couple.

I'm feeling more optomistic at this point. I think he's still got a ways to go, but he does seem to be improving.