Hi there, sorry your beardie's got pneumonia!
Dino doesn't seem to have any breathing issues right now. She's got other issues with a fungus of her skin but the pneumonia seems to be gone! Fingers crossed the pneumonia does not return!
The last meds that we used for Dino was a combination of intraconazole which is an antifungal medication and amikacin by nebulizer which is an antibiotic. After 5 days of this combination Dino was near death. I brought her to the vet in an emergency visit. She was completely unresponsive to anything. She barely responded when I flipped her over onto her back. She hardly even struggled to right herself. I was given Carnivore Care and Critical Care to give her via syringe. At that point, I stopped giving her all meds even though I was told to continue nebulizing her with the amakacin. After being off the meds and given that nutrient combination via syringe she came back around in 24 to 48 hours. A nebulizer is a machine that turns liquid medication into a mist that can be taken directly into the lungs by breathing it in. The machine is commonly used in asthma treatments.
I refused the tracheal wash due to the expense and I felt it was rather invasive to such a small beardie. Her weight at the time was about 180 grams and she is only 14 inches long (she will be 2 yeears old around the end of August). I was also told that the trach wash may or MAY NOT give a definitive answer as to how to treat the pneumonia. The trach is to take samples of fluid in the lungs, send it out for testing to determine if it is bacterial or fungul in nature. If all the meds you've been given so far are antibiotics and your beardie is not responding, chances are it may be a fungul pneumonia. Intraconazole is an antiful medication. Dino's pneumonia was finally knocked out after the 5 days of that combo of meds but I don't know which actually helped to get rid of it. My guess is the intraconazole, the antifungal.
Dino's first med was by injection: Ceftazadime. We tried that at different doses 3 times. After each completion, she seemed to be better, then after about a week and a 1/2 the symptoms always returned. Her second med was Baytril, orally. Again, seemed to help but after a week and a half off it, symtoms returned. Then we did the med/neb treatment.
Please feel free to ask any other questions that I might be able to answer for you. I know how frustrating this is for you as I've been there too!
That is excellent news! Thanks for letting us know.
