Itchy's going to the vet tomorrow :(

[clearlyjoyful]

He's never been before, and for those of you that know my circumstances, you should know why. But for those that don't - he was living with my mom for a long time and about 2 months ago (maybe even less) he moved in with me at my apartment. He's been doing so well and getting better and better and his colours are just gorgeous but two days ago he stopped eating entirely and has gotten fairly lethargic. I don't know what it is. I don't know if maybe it's the light or something, or if it's the fact that he's having a difficult time shedding or what but I'm worried. Then, just recently - as in tonight, his beard has gone completely black and his little shoulders. I'm so concerned and afraid that I will lose him.

And I made the mistake of Googling it, so I found a memorial on this forum saying "oh, his beard turned black and he died moments later" and I'm freaking out and hoping to god I don't find a dead beardie where my Itchy used to be in the morning. I don't know what I'll do. This is mostly just me venting.

 

[YBS0502]

best of luck to you both

 

[clearlyjoyful]

best of luck to you both

Thank you

 

[beardie parents]

I do suggest you get him to the vet, make sure the vet has a lot of knowledge about beardies because if you get him into a normal (cat/dog) vet, they don't know reptiles much less beardies. Also, post that pic in either the heath or the beardie ER forums and ask for help, I'm sure someone will be able to give you some ideas. My concern is his fatpads are really sunken in. You could try some babyfood (sugar-free). Good luck with him.

 

[clearlyjoyful]

I do suggest you get him to the vet, make sure the vet has a lot of knowledge about beardies because if you get him into a normal (cat/dog) vet, they don't know reptiles much less beardies. Also, post that pic in either the heath or the beardie ER forums and ask for help, I'm sure someone will be able to give you some ideas. My concern is his fatpads are really sunken in. You could try some babyfood (sugar-free). Good luck with him.

Yes, I know. As far as I know (and I'm pretty sure that this is just how it is) there's only one vet qualified to treat them in town so I'm hoping she's a good one. My friend got a bearded dragon at Christmas time and there was an accident with his tail and they were very good with him apparently.

He's been posted. I'm not sure what's up with the fatpads, but we've been trying to put some weight on him since he's been here (like I said before, a bit less than 2 months probably) and he looked much worse when he first got here. I will definitely ask about that tomorrow though. He has threads in both the ER and the Health forums asking about the lethargy and the not eating. The beard is a new development. Right now, he's asleep and still has the beard, so he's clearly uncomfortable. I'm wondering if it might be parasites - that could explain his inability to gain weight despite being fed by the buttload and his really stinky poops. We'll see, I suppose. I'm pretty anxious about it nonetheless! Thanks for the well-wishing, too!

 

[beardie parents]

I understand your worrying. I still worry about my girls (two female beardies), especially if something comes up.

 

[clearlyjoyful]

I understand your worrying. I still worry about my girls (two female beardies), especially if something comes up.

I just lost my betta fish, and I was sad about that but that would be nothing compared to losing this little bugger. Anyway, I'm off to bed. I'll update after the appointment tomorrow afternoon.

 

[beardie parents]

Good, I'll check in after work.

 

[kjinxx2]

I just lost my betta fish, and I was sad about that but that would be nothing compared to losing this little bugger. Anyway, I'm off to bed. I'll update after the appointment tomorrow afternoon.

I had to put my beta fish down a few months ago, I had her for a long time - that was hard.

 

[clearlyjoyful]

Okay, so I just got back. I'll just go over what the vet put in her report. It kind of all came at me really fast when I was there, so I'm glad I got a typed up sheet.

His appearance - "Underweight - thin and very little to no fat stores present" I told her of his past, and the whole, we rescued him from my mom's basement thing, so she knew about that. And I've been trying to fatten him up for the past 2 months. So I'll continue to do that.

Skin - "Mild signs of retained shed; missing toe previous injury as well as dead tail" I also was aware of both of these things, and they're not really a concern.

Eyes - "Normal"

Ears - "Normal. Clean ears regularly" I asked, this wasn't because they were dirty, just a reminder of sorts.

Teeth and mouth - "Very thick stringy mucus - dehydration present" I was also aware of this and tried multiple times to get him to drink in the bath! More on this after, though.

Respiratory - "Normal"

Circulatory - "N/A"

Digestive System - "Very little content - no signs of blockage or mass" Aware of this, too. He hasn't eaten anything but two TINY pieces of carrot in the last 3 days so... we'll see.

Genitourinary System - "Femoral pores - male" Well, now we finally know for sure!

Musculoskeletal - "Weak muscling" More on this in a minute.

Nervous System - "Normal"

Lymph Nodes - "Normal"

Recommended procedures:
Reptile profile
Radiograph
Fecal

Diagnosis:
"Likely chronic issue - ongoing metabolic bone disease most likely
Continuing on with proper husbandry (ensuring UVB lighting changed every 6m); temp range is good and set up ok as well
Try bathing daily to increase hydration (shallow water bath in cage)
Keep humidity on high end of normal range
Try force feeding to get through this episode (sweet potato or pumpkin baby food is sometimes enjoyed by bearded dragons and will encourage eating); supplementing calcium to baby food
Buy a multi-vitamin is also recommended (given weekly on food)

Goal right now is to get our friend eating again and supplementing Ca/P to food. Without Ca ratios hard to know how much Ca to supplement orally"

So basically, she thinks it's MBD but there's no way to know how long he's been this way. She mentioned that his muscles are very weak, which I have noticed as well, so we're going to work on trying to resolve the calcium thing as soon as possible. She mentioned that gutloading the crickets/worms with foods that are also covered in calcium powder PLUS dusting the crickets themselves would be extremely helpful. She wants to get bloodwork done (the reptile profile) but I can't do that right away, because of financial constraints (it'll be just over 100 bucks), and I'm going to get a fecal done as soon as he poops next. He pooped today, but there was just urates and liquid, presumably because he hasn't eaten anything. Tonight he'll be getting baby food with multivitamins through a syringe. We're going to try our best to fix this. I want him to be better.

 

[bunnyrut]

wow, that sounds like a lot on your plate.

i was given Ox-Bow carnivore food from my vet to feed to Mr Dargon when he wouldn't eat. It still comes in handy when he refuses to eat. It mixes to an almost peanut butter consistency so when he won't eat i say "i'm getting the peanut butter!" and magically he has an appetite and starts to eat his food. :roll:

had the light lost it's UVB while at your mom's? That would be the only reason why I would think MBD would appear.

There is liquid calcium, that might be easier to get into his system.

the force-feeding is never pleasant for either party. my vet recommended using a Popsicle stick to pry the mouth open to get the syringe in. or anything flat enough to get into the mouth. did you vet show you how to open his mouth?
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as for the $$ issue... would people here be willing to donate a few dollars to Itchy? Every dollar donated would help with the $100 blood work.

clearlyjoyful would just need a paypal account and people can send money that way.

 

[clearlyjoyful]

Oh my god, it is. This is my first beardie, and I got him when I was 15 so I didn't really know what the heck I was getting into and that contributed a lot to his malnourishment and probably the MBD too. When I was living there, though, he was fed daily and he was taken care of. Not as well as he is now, but better than when it was just her. The thing is, she has 4 kids (including me), 3 cats, 3 dogs and a bajillion fish, so he just kind of got pushed to the side while he was there. The UV light was almost definitely expired while he was there. He came here and I replaced it as I moved him. She did say it probably developed a long while ago and has been there ever since.
She said she didn't want to toy with liquid calcium dosages until the bloodwork was done and she could be certain of how much calcium is actually in his system, unfortunately. But she did say it was definitely okay to, while I'm force-feeding him, mix it into the baby food, along with some multivitamins.

She didn't really show me how to open his mouth. She did it herself to find out if he was dehydrated or not, but a popsicle stick does seem like a good idea. Do you think it'd be okay to just gently open it with my fingers? My boyfriend is willing to help me by doing that while I put a bit of the food in there via syringe, but I'm wary about it, in case he's too rough. I don't think he will be, it's just that he's weak (Itchy, not my boyfriend).

It would be fantastic if anyone was willing to do that, but of course I'm not going to push people to do that. I'm just unemployed and my only source of income is sporadic supply jobs at a daycare at minimum wage. But I'm working on it.

 

[Kalyn876]

Hello, sorry to hear about itchy I think with proper maintnence he will get better its just a long slow road. Here is a topic here on the board where I advised someone on the easiest way I've found to open mouths on dragons. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=169487

Hope this helps

You have already probably mentioned this elsewhere but, what brand of UVB are you using? tube or coil? how close can he get to it?

 

[clearlyjoyful]

Hello, sorry to hear about itchy I think with proper maintnence he will get better its just a long slow road. Here is a topic here on the board where I advised someone on the easiest way I've found to open mouths on dragons. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=169487

Hope this helps

You have already probably mentioned this elsewhere but, what brand of UVB are you using? tube or coil? how close can he get to it?

Thanks for the thread. I'm having trouble getting him to eat from the syringe too. I tried just kind of massaging it along the side of his mouth and he did start licking for a bit, then he stopped. He got barely any food though. It was just squash baby food mixed with vitamin powder and calcium powder.

It's a ReptiSun and it's a tube. He can get fairly close to it, like... 6 inches maybe less? It is through a screen because I have yet to figure out a way to mount it inside the tank.

 

[Kalyn876]

You can use 3M command hooks if the fixture has holes in the back, if not you can use heavy duty velcro. I had mighty putty on hand and used it to make a couple shelves for the fixture to sit on.