vrenee1018
Juvie Member
I haven't been on in a while to discuss my baby girl, Juniper. A few times here and there, but since COVID, it seemed like the world stopped and normalcy was hard to find again. We got Juniper in February 2022. The store we got her from thought she was 5 or 6, but a year+ later we find out that she was 8 or 9.
Something was always off with Juniper. I knew instantly, as soon as she would try to perch on her branch in her new home. She was absolutely sweet, but a can shy of a 6 pack, if you understand my drift. Rather uncoordinated, but she seemed happy nonetheless. She went through brumation this past winter, which made me happy because I felt if she was able to do something that beardies naturally do in the wild, then she felt at home with us. She came out of brumation without a problem, hungry for buggies and salad. Fast forward to May of this year, spring time. She wasn't eating ad much, the warmer it started to get in the house, but I didn't think too much of it because our other beardie, Tampico, typically does this in the warmer months.
I left for New Mexico at the beginning of May because my uncle had passed. I came back to Juniper looking rather sickly. She started walking even more unusual and wouldn't move much, nor would she eat food. We syringe feed her Flukers reptiboost, but she never seemed interested in food. She started having seizures and I wanted to cry everything she had an episode. We took her to a vet that said they couldn't help her seizures because they didn't make seizure medication for beardies. She also said that Juniper had eggs. She did tell us that Juniper had an infection, and gave us medicine for that, but it turned out she was much more sick than this vet knew. How sick? Well, we were unsure until we took her to the best vet hospital in the U.S., UC Davis.
Upon arrival on an emergency basis, they did an ultrasound and could tell she had an enlarged artery, heart disease, her gallbladder was distended, her intestines squished, and she had fibroids (they called that her reproductive disease). Everything was squishing her poor little insides and they said that was the reason she wasn't eating. (I could only imagine how uncomfortable that would feel..trying to cram food down when my intestines were squished from both sides) After running a blood panel they found she had an all over body infection and she was also very anemic. The odds were against her from the beginning. The vets said that whatever was happening with her, started a long time ago. So we left Juniper in their care. If there was any chance for her to survive and come through, it was with them. They worked around the clock with her. Constantly updating us with their efforts. She wasn't getting better, but she wasn't getting worse.
They were able to control her seizures with medication, and for almost a week, she was seizure free. She still wasn't eating on her own, but was taking the Omnivore care without issue. She seemed to be responding to the new antibiotics they put her on. All was looking like we were going to bring her home (2 weeks had gone by) and at least keep her comfortable for whatever happy life she had left.
But then a fibroid ruptured and caused her to go septic. The vet said her best chance at survival was to remover her reproductive system and clean out the rest of her body. There were risks because of how sick she was, but if we did nothing, she would surely die. They needed to make sure they had blood for her should she hemorrhage during surgery, so we took Tampico to them, and sure enough, they did a blood transfusion during surgery. (Amazing what vets can do with a creature so small) Her surgery went very well, but we were faced with something just as difficult, her waking from anesthesia. As of now, it's almost been 24 hours since they finished and tried to wake her. It doesn't appear that she will.
My poor baby girl Juniper. Mom and dad did all they could to save you. I hope you knew how loved you were.
So to all out there with a beardie they love, if you think something is wrong with them, please take them to the vet. A vet that specializes with reptiles and has time to tend to your beardie. It is heartbreaking when people give up animals thay are not properly cared for and you have to piece them back together.
Something was always off with Juniper. I knew instantly, as soon as she would try to perch on her branch in her new home. She was absolutely sweet, but a can shy of a 6 pack, if you understand my drift. Rather uncoordinated, but she seemed happy nonetheless. She went through brumation this past winter, which made me happy because I felt if she was able to do something that beardies naturally do in the wild, then she felt at home with us. She came out of brumation without a problem, hungry for buggies and salad. Fast forward to May of this year, spring time. She wasn't eating ad much, the warmer it started to get in the house, but I didn't think too much of it because our other beardie, Tampico, typically does this in the warmer months.
I left for New Mexico at the beginning of May because my uncle had passed. I came back to Juniper looking rather sickly. She started walking even more unusual and wouldn't move much, nor would she eat food. We syringe feed her Flukers reptiboost, but she never seemed interested in food. She started having seizures and I wanted to cry everything she had an episode. We took her to a vet that said they couldn't help her seizures because they didn't make seizure medication for beardies. She also said that Juniper had eggs. She did tell us that Juniper had an infection, and gave us medicine for that, but it turned out she was much more sick than this vet knew. How sick? Well, we were unsure until we took her to the best vet hospital in the U.S., UC Davis.
Upon arrival on an emergency basis, they did an ultrasound and could tell she had an enlarged artery, heart disease, her gallbladder was distended, her intestines squished, and she had fibroids (they called that her reproductive disease). Everything was squishing her poor little insides and they said that was the reason she wasn't eating. (I could only imagine how uncomfortable that would feel..trying to cram food down when my intestines were squished from both sides) After running a blood panel they found she had an all over body infection and she was also very anemic. The odds were against her from the beginning. The vets said that whatever was happening with her, started a long time ago. So we left Juniper in their care. If there was any chance for her to survive and come through, it was with them. They worked around the clock with her. Constantly updating us with their efforts. She wasn't getting better, but she wasn't getting worse.
They were able to control her seizures with medication, and for almost a week, she was seizure free. She still wasn't eating on her own, but was taking the Omnivore care without issue. She seemed to be responding to the new antibiotics they put her on. All was looking like we were going to bring her home (2 weeks had gone by) and at least keep her comfortable for whatever happy life she had left.
But then a fibroid ruptured and caused her to go septic. The vet said her best chance at survival was to remover her reproductive system and clean out the rest of her body. There were risks because of how sick she was, but if we did nothing, she would surely die. They needed to make sure they had blood for her should she hemorrhage during surgery, so we took Tampico to them, and sure enough, they did a blood transfusion during surgery. (Amazing what vets can do with a creature so small) Her surgery went very well, but we were faced with something just as difficult, her waking from anesthesia. As of now, it's almost been 24 hours since they finished and tried to wake her. It doesn't appear that she will.
My poor baby girl Juniper. Mom and dad did all they could to save you. I hope you knew how loved you were.
So to all out there with a beardie they love, if you think something is wrong with them, please take them to the vet. A vet that specializes with reptiles and has time to tend to your beardie. It is heartbreaking when people give up animals thay are not properly cared for and you have to piece them back together.
that. She was well loved, & I'm sure that she
