Female acting different NEW UPDATE 10-6-08

[Camel413]

My wife took her over to the vet tonight for her surgery tomorrow, im hoping every thing goes well. He did warn me that surgery in reptiles carries greater risk that in animals such as cats and dogs.

If every thing goes ok we can pick her up tomorrow around 5 pm.

 

[diamc]

Oh, you must miss her & must be worried about her. I know we will all be thinking about her & wishing everything to go nice & smooth. Please update us as soon as you can. Keep your chin up. :wink:

 

[Camel413]

Well we brought her home today. She had the BLACKEST beard i have ever saw. You could definitely tell she was stressed to the max. She kept her head down and closed her eyes a lot, i feel so bad for her. I have not been around reptile injurys/surgerys before but her insicsion seems very long and isnt closed up real tight like a humans would be. I dont know if reptile skin is harder to stitch shut or what.

The vet gave us oral antibiotics and oral pain killers to give her. They also told us that she HAS to eat and if she doesnt eat on her own we MUST force feeder her.

I hope she feels a little better in the morning and sleeps ok tonight.

Diane, Tracy i just want to give a big thanks for all of your support, and wonderful knowledge that you keep sharing.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

GREAT that she has come through the surgery fine. Sorry that she had a blackbeard. Poor girl. It was for the best though. Keeping her well hydrated as well as getting food into her is important.
Try to keep everything lowered in her tank so she doesn't have to do much if any climbing right now so she doesn't hurt herself with the stitches in her. Did he give you any cream to put on the incision to help it heal & to fight local skin infection?
Which antibiotic did he give her & for how long? It sounds like everything is good though, & that it was done just in time. She was definitely going to be having more problems, so this should really help her out.
Let us know how she is doing. Give her a big hug for me.

Tracie

 

[diamc]

Oh the poor thing, she must be so sore. I've had some female surgeries so I know how uncomfortable she must feel. That's probably the reason for the dark beard, but she should improve daily. Does she have to go back to have her stitches removed or do they come out on their own?

Could you fill us in on the antibiotics & pain killers that he prescribed? Do you just mix them in babyfood for her to lick off her nose? Did he prescribe a probiotic like Benebac or Acidophilis?

I hope she can sleep well tonight & her color is better tomorrow. :love5: She may be more uncomfortable with a full belly as it may make the stitches pull a little more. Do you have shelf liner or tile down in the bottom of the tank? Just want to make sure it isn't a loose substrate like sand as that could get into the incision, sure don't want that.

I'm glad we could help, just wish it could have been an easier "fix" rather than the surgery, but guess that was the only way. Please be sure to keep us updated on her & good luck.

 

[Camel413]

Thanks for keeping up on this topic with me.

My first question is about the hydration. Can i give her a bath or should i keep her belly out of the water and just drip water on her nose?

The vet didnt give me any cream. Im not real sure on the meds either.
My bill says:
Baytril injection quantity 1 $12.96
Metacam-10ml(i think is a typo should be 1ml) quantity 1 $12.50

I have 5 syringes of the metacam in .2ml amounts i think this is the pain killer
I also have a bottle of pink liquid, must be refrigerated, it does not list the med on the label but i think this is the antibiotic.

Also I got a care sheet with instructions and it says that if i force feed i need to add methionine and/or carnitine to the mixture. The strenghts of the products differ so i will need to call the vet with the bottles sitting in front of me so he can calcuate the daily dose needed.

I have an appointment in 3 weeks to go get the stitches removed.

I have some probiotic left over from when i gave her meds of panacur and flagyl. Im not sure how effective it is. The stuff i got from the vet is a course ground yellowish powder.

I did have her on sand but while she was at the vet we removed the sand and put down newspaper and did remove items such as her hammock and rough basking rock only leaving smoother items in with her, to reduce climbing/catching her stitches on anything.



I forgot to mention this in my last post but there was also a little bad news with the surgery.
This was in my caresheet:
"The surgery went well this morning and she recovered quickly from the anesthesia. She is draining some from her incision which is normal. Keep her by herself and on newspaper to keep sand, ect. from adhering to the suture line. The surgery allowed me to examine other structures in the abdomen and she is suffering the effects of hepatic lipidosis or "fatty liver."

I just couldnt beleive this, she is just over a year old and i didnt think i was over feeding her THAT much. Im not sure what the previous owner fed her so that might have something to do with it.

 

[Camel413]

As of yesterday she no longer has black beard. She is moving around a lot more too. She does still head bob some, but not nearly as bad as before the surgery. She is eating good, eating almost all of her salad and eating her insects in the morning with vigor.

I have been giving her a drink everyday, boy is she thirsty. She drinks for about 10 minutes each day.

She still HATES getting her medicine. It is a big chore to do that but i know its for the best. I still have 2 more doses of the metacam and there is still a lot of the pink stuff in the bottle left. Directions for that say to give .2ml a day until gone, I'm just hoping the bottle looks deceiving because it looks like a lot of meds left.

The wound seems to be healing pretty good. We have a soft blankie in there for her and you can see where it has oozed a little but not bad. Plus she is moving around a lot and will even tolerate a little handling.

 

[Zemanski]

that's such good news

 

[EclpsPrinc]

Glad to hear your girl is on the mend. Did the vet make any suggestions for the 'fatty liver'? I wonder what would cause that in such a young dragon?

 

[Camel413]

We when my wife picked her up she didnt get to see the vet directly, we just got a printed out care sheet from him and the receptionist didnt know anything and wasnt helpful. When we picked her up pre surgury we did get to talk to the vet, he was extremely nice and very helpful.

I told him that i was afraid that my male dragon had fatty liver because before i came to this site i was apperantly over feeding him by a lot. From what ive seen on here adults are supposed to have 25-30 larger feeders a week. I was feeding him 20 crickets a DAY, or 20 supers a DAY. Not good, but know i know. I also told him that my male has just recently started to develop large fat reserves (in base of tail, head and legs)

After telling him this he said that i shouldnt worry because the problem with fatty liver disease is when they get sick and wont eat they start to use those fat reserves and this sends a lot of that fat towards the liver where it just cant process all of it and then gets stored in the liver causing fatty liver disease. He told me that if i cut him back to the proper diet he will slowly use the fat reserves and will slowly (takes a few years so very slowly) be used and he should be just fine in the long run.

 

[Camel413]

As of the last few days she had been restless again, head bobbing and a little black beard. Other than that every thing is the same. Still taking the meds, still eating good (insects and lots of salad). She had been drinking a fare amount too.

Tracy, Diane what would cause this? Could her stitches be itching or something?

 

[diamc]

Hi, so you're still giving the meds, what probiotic are you using? I suppose it's possible that she is going through some hormonal changes, that could be the reason for the headbobbing.

Gee, I guess I've lost touch of what has been going on & have some of your posts to read, I'll catch up now, sorry.

 

[diamc]

How does the area look, do the stitches look tight, is it still oozing a clear liquid, the area doesn't look red or swollen, right?

That's good that she is eating well & drinking a lot. Those meds are very drying & it will help to keep her hydrated.

 

[Camel413]

Well im not real sure how a stitched up reptile is supposed to look but its not red or inflamed looking. It has pretty much stopped oozing.

She is drinking quite a bit every night so thats good.

I never thought about the hormonal changes but that does sound very logical.

 

[Zemanski]

don't forget you can ring the vet for advice - the vet is responsible for what happens with the surgery and meds so if you're not sure about anything to do with them give them a ring just to check