My sweet baby, Fuji, has been diagnosed with a gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma. He’s only a year and a half old and my heart is breaking.
I’ve been a member of this site since I got him but never posted until now. Reading other posts here about this condition really helped me so I wanted to make my own.
I got Fuji in May of 2017. He is my first bearded dragon and I’ve loved him more than anything in my life. I did so much research before I got him and have always given my all to taking care of him. He gets fresh greens and veggies from the farmers market every week, I breed discoid roaches for him, he has all the best lighting and supplements, I take him outside for sunshine every chance I get. Taking care of him has never once felt like a chore and I have loved and cherished every second I’ve had with him. Coming home and seeing him each day has brightened every day without fail. Over winter, Fuji brumated for 3 months and I was worried sick. In mid February, it finally ended and he was eating again but not much. I took him to the vet and she recommended giving him for calcium and hand feeding him his greens for a bit, and to come back for tests if he didn’t perk up soon. Somehow, this worked and he started eating all his bugs and even devouring all his salad! I was so happy. After about a month, his appetite slowed down again until it went away completely. The last time he ate was 6/17/18.
I tried giving more calcium in his water, feeding him repashy grub pie from a syringe with vitamins, giving him a probiotic, but nothing helped. Fuji began to lose a lot of weight and I took him to the vet this past Friday, two days ago. The vet did blood tests and he is anemic, his blood sugar is off the charts, and it is the same for a level of something from the liver, I don’t remember what that one is called. He got suddenly worse yesterday and threw up, another symptom of the cancer, and had a black beard for a few hours. I’m worried sick and can’t decide when is the right time to take him to the vet to say good bye. I don’t want him to suffer or his last days to be painful. I’m going to have to call out of work for a couple days because there’s no way I can keep myself together.
Since getting the news, I’ve read a lot of cases of this and most lived around a week to a month after the diagnosis. Fuji is continuing to lose weight rapidly, double digits in a matter of days, and his eyes are looking more sunken. He is becoming more lethargic. My heart is breaking. This tumor seems to always affect young beardies, around a year and a half to 3 years or so.
Always track your beardie’s weight and if they stop eating and are losing weight, see a vet. A gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma causes anemia and extremely high blood sugar. It commonly spreads to the liver and may cause a disturbance there as well which can be detected by a blood test.
Unfortunately, this cancer is genetic and there’s no way to prevent it or really fix it.
The vet offered an exploratory surgery as an option but with these symptoms, the cancer has most likely spread very far and the prognosis is poor. Chances are, the vet would find the cancer and recommend not waking him up after that. I don’t want to put him through a surgery which can’t help him so I have decided to love him as much as I can in the coming days and make him as comfortable as possible. I have no regrets in getting Fuji or in how I have cared for him. I’ve made sure his life has been wonderful and it just hurts so much that such a sweet little boy has to have this happen to him. Life really isn’t fair.
Please do everything you possibly can to give your beardie a good life and cherish every single day you have with them.
I would appreciate it if anyone has any stories or tips about coping after the loss of a beardie. I feel like my world is ending.
I’ve been a member of this site since I got him but never posted until now. Reading other posts here about this condition really helped me so I wanted to make my own.
I got Fuji in May of 2017. He is my first bearded dragon and I’ve loved him more than anything in my life. I did so much research before I got him and have always given my all to taking care of him. He gets fresh greens and veggies from the farmers market every week, I breed discoid roaches for him, he has all the best lighting and supplements, I take him outside for sunshine every chance I get. Taking care of him has never once felt like a chore and I have loved and cherished every second I’ve had with him. Coming home and seeing him each day has brightened every day without fail. Over winter, Fuji brumated for 3 months and I was worried sick. In mid February, it finally ended and he was eating again but not much. I took him to the vet and she recommended giving him for calcium and hand feeding him his greens for a bit, and to come back for tests if he didn’t perk up soon. Somehow, this worked and he started eating all his bugs and even devouring all his salad! I was so happy. After about a month, his appetite slowed down again until it went away completely. The last time he ate was 6/17/18.
I tried giving more calcium in his water, feeding him repashy grub pie from a syringe with vitamins, giving him a probiotic, but nothing helped. Fuji began to lose a lot of weight and I took him to the vet this past Friday, two days ago. The vet did blood tests and he is anemic, his blood sugar is off the charts, and it is the same for a level of something from the liver, I don’t remember what that one is called. He got suddenly worse yesterday and threw up, another symptom of the cancer, and had a black beard for a few hours. I’m worried sick and can’t decide when is the right time to take him to the vet to say good bye. I don’t want him to suffer or his last days to be painful. I’m going to have to call out of work for a couple days because there’s no way I can keep myself together.
Since getting the news, I’ve read a lot of cases of this and most lived around a week to a month after the diagnosis. Fuji is continuing to lose weight rapidly, double digits in a matter of days, and his eyes are looking more sunken. He is becoming more lethargic. My heart is breaking. This tumor seems to always affect young beardies, around a year and a half to 3 years or so.
Always track your beardie’s weight and if they stop eating and are losing weight, see a vet. A gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma causes anemia and extremely high blood sugar. It commonly spreads to the liver and may cause a disturbance there as well which can be detected by a blood test.
Unfortunately, this cancer is genetic and there’s no way to prevent it or really fix it.
The vet offered an exploratory surgery as an option but with these symptoms, the cancer has most likely spread very far and the prognosis is poor. Chances are, the vet would find the cancer and recommend not waking him up after that. I don’t want to put him through a surgery which can’t help him so I have decided to love him as much as I can in the coming days and make him as comfortable as possible. I have no regrets in getting Fuji or in how I have cared for him. I’ve made sure his life has been wonderful and it just hurts so much that such a sweet little boy has to have this happen to him. Life really isn’t fair.
Please do everything you possibly can to give your beardie a good life and cherish every single day you have with them.
I would appreciate it if anyone has any stories or tips about coping after the loss of a beardie. I feel like my world is ending.