Female acting different NEW UPDATE 10-6-08

[Drache613]

Hello,

Sorry that she has had some trouble with her incision. No baths until her incision is all healed up. If they did not give you any antibiotic cream, you can use neosporin or polysporin on it to help at the incision site to keep it soft so it will heal up better.
Fatty liver, are they positive, at 1 year? Good grief! How long have you had her for now? That just seems really odd.
Don't worry though, that can be treated at her age. Ask the vet to look into getting some lactulose for you. This is very effective for helping her liver breakdown & metabolize fat. You know actually, the carnitine is helpful in breaking fat down as well. So, if you begin using that, then that will be sufficient. Just use a small pinch, & add it to her greens & veggies, or the slurry if you are using one for her daily.
The hormonal changes as well as after effects from anesthesia are all causes of dehydration after surgery. That is very normal for her to be thirsty. Also, the eggs have probably caused some loss of fluid absorption & possibly nutrition deficiencies just because she was having some trouble. Of course, the meds totally dry her out as well. Use a plastic dropper to get more oral fluids into her since she can't have any baths.
That is great it has stopped oozing fluids now. How is it looking today?
So how much metcam is she getting daily .2ml, & how much baytril? How long is she on them for? I am just wondering. They are both good meds, but strong. As Diane suggested, a probiotic is a good idea right now, just to help her out. Which one do you have right now?

Tracie

 

[Camel413]

Again thanks for all the help.

She had 5 doses of metacam which she finished her last dose on sunday.

The Baytril i am giving .2ml per day and as of today i wanted to see how much was left in the bottle so i filled the little syringe all the way up (past the 1ml mark) and there was still a little medicine left in the bottle. It looks like about 6 or 7 days left.

For a probiotic i am using something called "probios"...I think.

Is the carnitine or lactulose something that i could use on my male because i think he may have fatty liver too. Is that safe to use without being 100% sure if they have fatty liver or is it best to just leave him alone?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Ok, so she is done with the metcam but still has Baytril to go.
The probiotic should be perfectly fine, just give her some daily. Has it been helping that you can tell yet?
The carnitine would be safe for use with your male, but the lactulose is a bit stronger so you might want to start with the carnitine first if he does not have "fatty liver" yet. If you find out that he does, then you could switch to the lactulose.

Tracie

 

[Camel413]

OK, big news as of right now (sunday 9-28-08 4:25 central time) she started to lay eggs. What in the world is going on. She has laid 8 so far. I am completly at a loss as to what is going on. She has been digging for the last few days but again i figured it was hormones.

If she had her ovaries and uterus removed how did she go ahead and lay eggs??? The vet told us prior to surgery that her uterus was full of developing eggs, none had shells or could pass out of the uterus.

I am calling the vet first thing tomorrow morning but was wanting to feed back on here.

Also my wife and I was discussing the whole reptile reproductive system and have a question, is the shelling gland in the bottom of the uterus or do the eggs pass out of the uterus into the shelling gland that is separate from the uterus?

 

[diamc]

Oh my goodness, I don't understand how that could be happening if she had a complete hysterectomy. :shock: :? You must have been SO shocked. I don't know all about the reptile reproductive system so I unfortunately can't help with this. I hope the vet didn't just remove the eggs and not remove everything else. Perhaps Tracie can give some insight. I would definitely call the vet tomorrow and ask him some questions.

 

[Drache613]

Hello!

Wow that is bazaar!
Well, he obviously missed some eggs. The eggs develop as immature follicles on the ovary & then pass from the shelling gland through the uterus. It actually is not all that uncommon for them to retain a few inside that are missed. Sometimes, they are held up in the colon ocassionally. She most definitely is not developing anymore eggs, if her reproductive organs have all been removed, poor thing.
How is she doing this evening?
Does she appear to be in any pain or has she had any blood at all?

Tracie

 

[Camel413]

Hello thanks for the quick replies.

She hasnt acted like she was in pain but has been very restless, head bobbing and some black beard the last week. I assumed (never assume i know) it was the hormone differences. She has also been digging like crazy but i thought that maybe her body was telling her that she had eggs from before or something. Also i knew that i couldnt really put a lay box in with her because of her incision.

No blood, thanks goodness.

She laid a total of 10 eggs and after that she has been calm and just hanging out on her basking spot. No black beard. Hopefully she will eat good tomorrow, she slacked off a bit the last few days.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Good that she seems to have calmed down now. Wow she still had 10 eggs left in her after that surgery, unbelieveable. That really is quite a few though. So, her beard is not black now & she is not headbobbing anymore, that is a good sign that she is not in pain then.
Great that there was no blood!
Keep me posted on her.

Tracie

 

[diamc]

Thanks for that info Tracie, learn something new everyday. I'm glad to hear that she is doing better, she must be relieved now that she has passed them. Yes, please keep us updated on her.

 

[Camel413]

When I checked on her this morning she had a small poop with one egg with it. That made a total of 11 eggs passed!!!

She ate very good this morning and ate quite a bit of salad during the day.

I called the vet this morning and he told me that he tried to work as quick as he could so she was under the anesthesia for the shortest amount of time possible. He said that he tried to get all the eggs that he could see but thought there might have been "a couple at most" behind her intestines that he left. I told him that she laid 11 and he said that was a lot more than he anticipated. He also told me that he did remove 25 eggs from her along with her ovary and uterus.

The vet was very nice and seems like he really cared for the animal, he kept telling me that he would make it right what ever needed to be done. I am supposed to keep a close eye on her, if she acts normal we will "assume" that she passed them all and its all ok. If she started to act odd again he told me to call him right away so we can go from there.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Great that the vet was so nice & helpful & he does seem caring as well. That is quite a few to pass after surgery but it does happen sometimes. At least she is doing much better & that is probably the last one that she will pass though. I would give her a bit of extra calcium though for a week or so to help get her levels up too. Poor girl, she has been through an ordeal for sure.

Tracie

 

[Camel413]

Yes it has been and ordeal for her and a big adventure for my wife and I. I am hoping we are near the end, still have to get her stitches out, that appointment is Oct 14. Still have a few doses of meds left (oh boy fun fun) but like i said nearing the end.

 

[Camel413]

After she laid her eggs on sunday (9-28-08) she ate like a pig. Like i said in a previous post the vet told me to keep an eye on her and he would make it right. She ate and ate and ate...but never had a bowel movement. It is now 10-6-08, 8 days later still with no poop. I figured she might be egg bound or something else went wrong, infection or something.

I took her in this morning with no appointment, i know she didnt feel good. Thursday and friday she was getting darker and darker. Saturday and Sunday she didnt move much, kept her head down and closed her eyes a lot.

I called the vet around 2:00 pm today and he said that a few hours after bringing her in she had a LARGE bowel movement with 2 very hard urates. He said that the hard urates was probably the reason for the constipation.

Also just to make sure there was no eggs he took another Xray and also did an ultrasound. While she was there he took her stitches out and said that her incision looked great.

What surprised me the most was when my wife went to pick her up he said, "no charge today." He did tell me the he did the xray and ultrasound with no charge to me but i figured i would get charged for the stitch removal. I would say he did a good job with making it right.

He also told me to just keep an eye on her and do not hesitate to call if something seems wrong.

 

[LJean]

Goodness! The poor girl. And the two of you!

Glad to hear she is doing better. And the no charge must have been a nice surprise.