Liver problems, need milk thistle advice

[Juniper]

Oh, he is an exotics vet! I referred to him as a "general exotics vet" as opposed to a reptile specialist; that may have been confusing. He is also a member of the Association of Reptile and Amphibian Veterinarians and does work with a lot of reptiles. His main specialty is ferrets, though, and I've gotten the impression that that and the general breadth of his exotics practice means he is not as up on his bearded dragon medicine as I would hope. No one else within a three-hour drive is ARAV-certified as far as I can find online, but I'll go out of state if I have to. In the meantime, bringing him some articles sounds like a good idea, and thank you for all your help!

 

[EllenD]

No problem, I understand what you mean now, I thought he was a General Vet...although, as you have already figured out, in the US all that a veterinarian calling themselves and "exotics" vet means is that they are a General Vet who is willing to see animals other than dogs and cats, that's it. It doesn't require any addition or specialized education or training at all. Usually what happens is that a veterinarian who wants to see and treat all types of pets after they graduate from Veterinary Medical School will call themselves an "Exotics" Veterinarian, so that everyone knows that they are willing to treat all types of pets, and then they will pay membership fees to join all the different specialty associations in the country so that they get information on lectures, new treatments, etc. Typically what happens over time is they develop an animal that they really like to treat and they focus on that particular animal as far as all of their continuing education and training goes, like with your Exotics Vet, he chose ferrets (another hard to find specialist). The difference between an Exotics Vet and a Certified Vet in reptiles, birds, etc. or a Reptile Specialist or Avian Specialist Vet, etc. is that these two continued to go to Veterinary Medical School to expand into a specialty after they graduated with their General Veterinary Medical degree, and after they finish their initial specialized education in Veterinary School, they both have to do either a 2 year internship of a 4 year fellowship (those were the terms when I started graduate school back in 2002). And then a Board Certified Veterinarian decides to take the Board Exams in whatever specialty that they went to extra school for and that they did either their internship or fellowship in, and they pay a bunch of money to continue that Certification every year, and they are required to go to so many event/conventions and do so many continuing education credits per year...that's an expensive pain in the butt, lol, which is why it's so rare.

Anyway, I emailed him, he went to the Penn State game yesterday, lol, it was the last home game here in State College and I know he tailgated all morning before and then all night after the game, so he's probably still asleep right now. He has one of those absolutely massive RV's that's larger than most people's houses, lol. So he has fun...

 

[Juniper]

Any word from your vet? I've tried pulling up journal articles myself, but the promising-looking ones are all behind paywalls. I'll go there if I have to, but if your vet has access and is willing to share, it's much appreciated!

Norbert and I are going in on Friday to get her stitches out and I'll talk to the vet about thyoroxine then. She's been eating well this week; usually eats a little salad now if I give her a couple hours after waking up to get hungry and then leave her alone with it. I'm feeding dandelion, collard, and mustard greens. (She's most interested in the latter, I think because they are all ruffly and interesting-looking.) I give her roaches and squash baby food with milk thistle after salad time.