Major Dehydration issues with Ozzy!

[CrymsonStarite]

Hey all. I'll be quick.

My family went on a quick vacation, 5 days. We just returned, and our caretaker for Ozzy put a lot of fluff in the way of Ozzy's condition.

He has EVERY symptom I have read of dehydration. Blue eye lids, sunken eyes, lethargy, dry skin, and no appetite.

I'm not going to force feed him water, because I know rehydrating too quickly can be lethal by sending him into shock. I'm going to spray him with a fingertip sprayer.

One of the biggest issues is the fact his poops have been VERY loose, drying him out. Another, that I will solve, is his cage has had no airflow.

I follow a regular diet for him. He was given a medicine for pinworms a few weeks back that I think may just have taken effect, causing this problem.

Any help would be great, especially if someone can find the cause. Thanks!

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....If he's dehydrated, he needs to drink. Have you put him in a shallow lukewarm bath ? Let him drink in the bath and he will hydrate himself. A spray bottle won't help unless you mean spraying on the tip of his nose so that he drinks. If he's weak in the bath, hold him up and dribble water on his nose until he realizes there's water to drink. Five days shouldn't do that much damage unless he was excessively over heated, of course as you mentioned, meds. increase the need for fluids. Hopefully he will bounce back

 

[dragonlover3]

Hi,
You can help hydrate him by giving a 10 to 15 minute bath/soak in warm water daily, or even a couple baths daily if you feel he's very dehydrated. They absorb water thru their waste vent.
Spraying a dragon really doesn't hydrate them as they do not absorb water thru their skin.

Did you have a follow up fecal check done after the worm meds were finished to see if he was clear? Sometimes they may need a couple of courses of meds to get rid of the worms? If he finished up the meds a couple of weeks ago I don't believe the meds would be causing this. However if he didn't have a clear fecal, and wasn't clear of all the worms with the med course, in the past couple of weeks he could have been re-infested which would cause the lack of appetite and poo to be very loose and runny again.

What is your substrate. If it's anything loose, that can contribute to re-infestation as it is very unsanitary and will harbor worm and parasite eggs from the waste.

Can you run down your set up for the experts. It can help them rule out any other causative factors.
Amanda

 

[CrymsonStarite]

As a response, I'd just like to know something I can do for him immediately, to make sure he stays alive. It's no comfort knowing the cause if he doesn't make it.

Should I continue dripping the water on his nose? There's been improvement in the past few hours, the blue under his eyes is fading.

 

[AHBD]

Is he drinking the water you're dripping on his nose ? That and giving him a shallow lukewarm bath, where you can also see if he'll drink. Only if it's not too late, you want to be sure he's dry before the lights go out.

 

[CrymsonStarite]

Is he drinking the water you're dripping on his nose ? That and giving him a shallow lukewarm bath, where you can also see if he'll drink. Only if it's not too late, you want to be sure he's dry before the lights go out.

He does drink the droplets, not all of them though, but he drank some before, so I don't want to over-hydrate him. I've been doing that, it makes him more active, which is a good sign, he doesn't drink the bathwater often though.

 

[Esther19]

You can bathe him twice a day. Glad to hear he will lick the drops. That will help so much!

 

[CrymsonStarite]

You can bathe him twice a day. Glad to hear he will lick the drops. That will help so much!

It is, he's improving.

As a general statement, I think I discovered the cause. For the winter, my mother decided to get a warming pad for him, to place on the side of his cage, the OPPOSITE side of where the heat lamp is. It was to keep the cage a bit warmer, as my room gets VERY cold during the winter. Now that it is warming up, it's affecting airflow, and keeping it very warm throughout the night, so he dehydrates because of being too warm for too long.

There may be other issues, but that's probably a factor. Any help?

 

[cdajen]

One bit of advice I can give you is to use Coconut water (not milk, or cream). It is high in electrolytes, has some sugar but not much, is balanced with the right amount of sodium, potassium and calcium. They seem to like the flavor. Put some in a syringe, see if you can get a tiny amount in his mouth so he can taste it and he should actively lick his nose or the tip of the syringe to get more. That was you can be sure of how much he's actually taken in, and even with larger amounts, it shouldn't lead to an electrolyte imbalance. Coconut water is much better than pedialyte which is far to high in sugar, as are sports drinks. If you have access to a vet that will give you Lactated Ringers solution, you can do subcutaneous fluid, in the same basic way you would do them for a cat or dog. Small needle under the skin but on top of the muscle and fat ( a spot high on the back is probably best) you allow the solution to slowly drip until you have a decent size swelling under the skin. You remove the needle and allow the solution to slowly be absorbed. This can be repeated several times daily. I'd try the coconut water first. Go with natural, unsweetened, unflavored coconut water. Best of luck to you and Ozzy.

 

[CrymsonStarite]

Thanks for all the help everyone, but I'm sorry to say, Ozzy didn't make it, he passed about an hour and a half ago...

 

[AHBD]

Oh no, I'm so sorry about your Ozzy. How very sad for you + your family. I'm truly, truly sorry,and my heart goes out to you !

 

[CrymsonStarite]

Oh no, I'm so sorry about your Ozzy. How very sad for you + your family. I'm truly, truly sorry,and my heart goes out to you !

Thanks, at least he's no longer in pain.

 

[Esther19]

I am so sorry to hear that your Ozzy crossed over.

 

[cdajen]

I'm very sorry for your loss.