Yes, we did go ahead and do the MRI. Waiting on results.
I do feel that he shows a lot of symptoms of ADV, but if he did have ADV, at this advanced stage, is there anything that can do for him or is the vet right that it would be best to put him to sleep?
If the symptoms are from ADV, usually when they get that bad it's a sign that the disease has progressed too far. But really, Tracie would know better than I would.
If the symptoms are from another cause, it's potentially still treatable dependent on what the cause is.
Hopefully the MRI gives us something to go off of.
The MRI came back normal. The vet said Rygel had taken three times normal (even with reversal medication) to come round from the sedation. They gave him supportive care all day, but his symptoms got worse. We went in to see him. He was wrapped up very warm and comfy in a blanket, but it was clear he wasn’t really even with us anymore. We decided to have him put to sleep. We’ve also consented to a necropsy to hopefully find out what happened. I am devastated. Rygel was my comfort during hard times, and gave me a reason to get out of bed during tough times, and something to smile about every day. Even the vet and assistant cried whilst we said goodbye.
I'm so sorry. I wish we could have been of more help to you. Even we start to get attached to these dragons that we only know via the internet, and it's so sad. I can only imagine how tough it is for you. You tried your best and you were there with him in his final moments. He was loved.
I hate to hear that you lost Rygel, I know the heartbreak. I am so glad that you were
there for him when he needed you the most. I am positive that he felt your presence at
that time, too which brought him comfort.
My condolences to you & your family.
Thank you all for your kind words and support. I am utterly heartbroken. Rygel meant so much to me. I miss him so much and can’t imagine how I can ever accept that he’s gone , or living with no more beardie cuddles from him.
Give yourself time to grieve-- eventually you will maybe want to get another- for now it will hurt but as time goes on you may want to try again-- please let us know of outcome of necrosopy--
Karrie
Thank you. I know it will take time to grieve. The necropsy report may take some time to come back. My vet explained that the initial examination may not be conclusive, and they’ll have to take various samples and study them under a microscope to get answers.
Rygel’s illness is very much a mystery to them. They are a teaching hospital and are often referred many complex cases that other vets cannot diagnose. One of the vets taking care of Rygel has seen hundreds and hundreds of dragons, yet noted neurological symptoms in Rygel that he’s never seen before.
Rygel’s vet thinks there is a possibility he had west Nile disease, though I’ve tried looking that up and cannot find anything about it. But apparently a lot of his symptoms match. I’ll certainly post the results of the necropsy when I have them, but if anyone here has heard of bearded dragons with West Nile disease, I’d sure appreciate your thoughts and opinions.
This is the same place that we took Rygel to on Tuesday. But the doctor we saw was different. With it being a teaching hospital, what happens is that you get assigned a student, who will take a history with the owner, and then the student will take the animal to a different room (away from the owner) where they present the case to an intern. The intern will then make a treatment plan with the student, and then a supervising exotics vet will go over everything they decided and make any recommendations and authorise medications and such. On Tuesday. The dr we saw wasn’t the proper exotics intern - I think she was just filling on, or getting in a bit of exotic experience.
The problem with that was that she really didn’t make it clear to me how sick they thought Rygel was, and she failed to ask a lot of questions about the progression of his condition and the symptoms they had noticed. So when they gave him that antibiotic shot, it was because they were concerned by how ill he seemed and felt that the risks of not doing anything whilst waiting on results was greater than giving the shot.
The vet that handled his care on Thursday onwards was a proper exotics intern, and she was very thorough about explaining why and how they had ruled out many other common causes. In the end, I was practically begging them to find some other test that would tell us what was going on, but the dr explained that the outcome (putting him to sleep) would still be the same. The necropsy will give us answers without Rygel having to suffer .
Yes, I think it was West Nile virus. How would Rygel, have gotten that? I didn’t think mosquitos bite reptiles because of their scales? Was it because he ate one that was affected with the virus?
The vet thinks he may have had west nile virus? I am not sure if I've ever heard of the
virus affecting a bearded dragon but I could definitely research & check that for you.
When will the necropsy results be in, do you know?
I hope you are doing ok today.