fluid on lungs and heart

[mojo505]

i have a 5 year old female beardie who is not acting like herself.

she has stopped eating crickets for 7 days but will eat a few worms and a few bites of greens. she has been opening and closing her mouth more often than normal and it seems to slowly be getting more frequent. she is alert, color looks brigjt. i noticed tonight a small amount of moisture in the corners of her mouth. i gave her a soak and she gulped down a lot of water and then started making a hiccup noise i have never heard before.

i am concermed becauae i dont have a herp vet to go to and we have he holiday weekend coming up. her behavior has been slowly changing for about 10 days but most noticable changes on gapping had been 2 or 3 days.

her hot spot is 105, warm side 95, cool side 80, brand new reptisun 10.0 tube installed 1 week agoany help/houghts welcome

 

[mojo505]

I just took Mojo (5yr old) to vet and she had an x-ray done on her chest after changes in her behavior (gaping, popping noise when she is breathing) and the vet said she has fluid on her lungs and around her heart. Started on antibiotics... has anyone else had a dragon with a RI with the same type of results? How did your beardie respond to antibiotics?

 

[Esther19]

I'm sorry to hear your dragon has an RI. Often, antibiotics can reduce their appetite. One important thing is to give her a probiotic to restore the good gut flora that the medicine will kill. Acidophilus+, bene-bac, or SOY yogurt are good probiotics. It is best to give the probiotic 5-6 hours after the medicine.

 

[mojo505]

Thank you for the info. You would think the vet would mention that. Do you have any personal experience with dragons and RI? Lol, I am not sure what kind of info I am looking for... I just have myself all worked up because she said it wasn't presenting as obvious as she would have liked. She had some concern that it was possibly something related to her heart like congestive heart... but she has sent the x-rays to an expert to be reviewed. I probably won't hear anything until next business day which is Monday. A Beardie Slave could go insane!

 

[Esther19]

Well, the popping noises certainly present the symptoms of an RI. I can't speak to the heart issue. One of my dragons did have a RI, which was remedied with the antibiotics. My vet never mentioned a probiotic, either, but it is highly recommended by very smart folks on this forum. It would also be good to keep her tank at 80 degrees overnight. If I remember correctly, that helps boost the immune system. If you do not have a ceramic heat emitter, which offers heat without light, you can leave a bulb on. Just make sure you cover her eyes so that she can sleep well. I also give my special needs dragon bee pollen to help boost her immune system. I just got some capsules at WalMart and mix it in with her food.

They will sometimes lose their appetite with antibiotics. Also, don't bathe her for a while. We don't want her to aspirate any water.You can offer her water via dropper or syringe. Dribble it over her lips so she can lick it up. I wouldn't try to open her mouth and put it in, again, due to aspiration risk.

Breathe deeply, Beardie Slave. It sounds like she is in excellent hands with you.
Don't worry about congestive heart failure until you have definite reason to.

 

[mojo505]

Agreed, worry when its time to worry!

Thanks for the info. I read a blog somewhere else which of course i can't find now about setting up a hospital type setting for RI infection so we are keeping the cool side a little warmer and taking other steps to get her back to good. We had boas and one came with an RI - blowing bubbles in the nose, slobbering, gaping, the whole nine yards... heat increased fixed him almost immediately. Been a few years but that little tidbit of info stuck with us and hopefully has come in handy here too since she had to wait 2 extra days for a vet to come back into town who knew anything about beardies.

 

[Esther19]

How is Mojo tonight?

 

[mojo505]

she seems better less gaping. shes tucked bed and lights out. sleep does a beardie good

 

[Esther19]

Her worried humans, as well. I hope she is much improved in the morning.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Sometimes when they get respiratory issues, it can go into pneumonia with reptiles. They lack cilia in their lungs to clear out debris/mucous, etc so the fluids can have a hard time cleaning out.
The Baytril is the most commonly prescribed drug for respiratory issues. If the oral route of administration doesn't work, you can always try the nebulizer treatments too which seem to do very well.
Keeping her warm overnight as suggested will help her immune system, also.

Let us know how she is doing.
Tracie

 

[mojo505]

Thank you for your support and information. She seems a little bit more like herself today. Still not interested in eating. I have managed to give her the Baytril, a little bit of organic babyfood squash and small amount of mustard greens... like a sliver. She woke up at her normal time and went over and pooped in her normal spot without me coming in to wake her up. Not a lot of poop but looks normal for her. I do worry about dehydration.

 

[Esther19]

Give her water with a dropper. If need be, add a bit of unsweetened juice.3-4 times a day would be good.
Glad to hear she is a bit improved today.

 

[mojo505]

I got some pedi lyte and I read you can do a soak with 1/2 water 1/2 of that. what are your thoughts? if I did that it wont go very far. I mixed some with her squash.

 

[mojo505]

here's my big question about dehydration... will she know she is dehydrated and drink from the dropper? seems like I put it on the tip of her nose/lip and she just lets it run off.

 

[Esther19]

Sometimes I think mine don't know the water is dripping, so I separate the side of their lips a bit and insert a couple drops. Then, they either ignore it, or realize that it is something they want to lick up. It's all a crap shoot. For the bath you only need her vent area to be covered. You could bathe her is a smaller container, perhaps, to conserve the Pedialite. Giving the pedialite with the squash is good, too. I wish I was more help.
One would think they would drink because they realize they are dehydrated, but I can't swear to it. You can watch her poopers to assess hydration.