Mike Is Sick ... Heart Problems

[Sekhautet]

Tonight Mike fainted while I was giving him a bath and we thought he had died. We rushed him to the emergency vet clinic, where they are fortunate to have a herp vet on staff. He came around a bit in the car, but was not doing well.

They took x-rays and ruled out cancer and pneumonia, but discovered that he has arithymia (sp?) of the heart. Tomorrow we have to have our normal vet draw blood and he needs an EKG too. We are so worried about him. The E.R. vet told us to take him home and that sudden death was a possibility, with his condition, because he is breathing shallow, but that he is not in any pain. Hopefully, they figure out what is wrong and can fix it, but we are not sure at this point.

He ate all his favorite insects when he got home and he is resting comfortably in his cage, but I cannot sleep. I am so worried.

 

[Livey]

Oh dear :/
I hope he perks up soon!
Best wishes to you and mike

 

[Sekhautet]

Mike is still with us, but not doing better. His breathing is very shallow and he is stabilized at the vet right now waiting for more tests. His colors look good and he was smiling this morning, when we woke him up. But he can't keep his eyes open for very long, because he is so tired from the heart problems.

They said last night when he thought he had died that he had a snycopal (sp?) episode. Apparently, lizards can sort of faint -- their metabolic functions will still get blood, but they shut down everything else they don't need, and that's why he looked like he was dead. They said if he stays that way for more than ten minutes, that he's pretty much dead, but we shouldn't give up on him, until then. I stayed up most of the early morning hours checking on him.

We are both exhausted.

 

[Jasper's Mom]

Nora, I'm so sorry to hear this! I hope there is something they can do for him.

 

[Jiffy]

Oh no Nora! I am so sorry that Mike is not doing well. Please keep us updated, and hugs to you and Will and Mike and all the rest of the critters!

 

[Sekhautet]

Mike is back home. They gave him fluids in an I.V. and ran a thorough blood panel. Our vet told us our husbandry was spot on, so no worries there, but yet, Mike has lost weight. So we need to feed him more protein than the others now to fatten him up. We also need to give him a 20-30 minute supervised bath each day. And they could not find a heart problem today, so who knows what the panel will show tomorrow. It's so scary and frustrating.

He is going back on Wed. for another fluid dose and we might start him on preventive antibiotics based on the blood panel tomorrow. We are trying to get a fecal sample from him, but he went at the E.R. office last night. *SIGH*

He is sleeping comfortably and will open his eyes for a moment, if you talk to him or open his cage up. He drank some water on his own, and I'm waiting for Will to get home, so we can feed him and weigh him and bathe him after dinner together, because he's Will's baby.

Hopefully some helpful news tomorrow. Until then ... we're just waiting and keeping an eye on Mike.

 

[MissT]

Poor Mike. Im sure you are worried sick! I hope the blood panel is helpful - the waiting is not nice at all!! Are they going to test again to look for the heart problem??

I hope Mike is feeling better soon!!

HUGS!!

T

 

[jeritta]

I am sorry ya'll are going through all this. I hope Mike is okay soon. Prayers are with you.
Jeritta

 

[Bratcat31]

I am so sorry for this stress. It is so hard having to deal with an ill baby.

Kelli

 

[Ostrommaysi]

My best wishes for your precious little Mike. I could only imagine what your going through with this. I know even when my beardie bumps his head I go into a worrying frenzy much less your poor beardie's problems. I'm sure he will do fine you just gotta give him all your love. Amazing things happen all the time it might not be as serious as it all sounds on paper.

Good luck Mike!

 

[Sekhautet]

Thank you to everyone for the support.

Mike ate a bunch tonight. The vet said to feed him as much as he wants right now, since he has lost weight and was dehydrated. He ate bugs and salad.

The test results came back and showed nothing, but this doesn't mean he doesn't have a heart problem. This is so frustrating. It could be arythmia that comes and goes and is in early stages. The problem is that there are not many people in the U.S. that do lizard EKGs or even know how to treat heart disease in lizards. Our vet said that often times, people cannot afford the expensive tests and treatments, so they don't often to get practice what they read. A mistake in dosage, which is really tricky for lizards can be fatal.

They want to do a blood culture to check for infection, even though his kidneys, liver, and everything came back fine. Not even any vitamin deficiencies showed. They have no idea what is going on.

I have to take him back on Wednesday. He did open both eyes for awhile tonight and seemed more alert. And he even ate his salad we gave him, so we are hopefuly, but cautious at this point. I can tell his breathing is still shallow. And he lost consciousness twice in his bath tonight and scared me to death again.

This is miserable!

 

[MissT]

How is Mike feeling this evening??

 

[Sekhautet]

Mike ate and pooped today, so I rushed in the Texas heat with his wonderful present to the vet's office this afternoon. I figured, if the cops stopped me they would get a whiff of dragon poo and leave me alone.

He headbobbed three times, but was too tired and fell asleep. And then later there was some armwaving -- very short.

We still don't know what is going on, which is super frustrating, but we are hopeful, since his blood panel came back completely normal and everything so far, that he will recover with TLC.

We're back at the vet tomorrow for fecal results, hopefully, and also for a blood culture to see if they can detect infection that way. Poor Mike! He still can't keep his eyes open much.

 

[MissT]

Is his poop being cultured also??? We had the opposite problem when Kazi was sick - yes he did look ill for a few weeks as he was anemic and had trapped wind but once that was sorted, he seemed fine despite a whole host of other issues going on in his little body! The vet is still baffled by it all as he appeared to be a perfectly healthy dragon who was eating well, pooping well and gaining weight!! If it hadnt been for poop cultures, mouth cultures and blood tests we would never have figured out what was going on with him!!!

I hope the blood culture gives you some more answers!

We are thinking of you!!!

Hugs!

T

 

[Goonie]

Nora, how's Mike doing? Was he able to stay awake longer today?
How's Will? I can only imagine how scared and worrried he must be. Did you ever give him a hug for me?