Please Help

[yarbharas]

My meeko was diagnosed with MBD about a month ago, she was on oral calcium injections, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatories for 2 weeks, and after the round of meds ended she was doing pretty well. Swelling had gone down slightly in her arms although not completely, and I was feeding her squash baby food mixed with her calcium through a syringe as well since she wouldn’t eat anything else during her meds. Once she got her appetite back I offered her Phoenix worms, wax worms, and supers and she wouldn’t eat the first two but pretty much inhaled the supers so we’ve stuck with them. Anyways, over the past week she’s taken a giant turn for the worse.. first she stopped using her back legs, she could still move them but only did so rarely because I’m assuming it hurt to move them since they’ve become swollen now too, and yesterday I had her out in my room and she could hardly move her front legs now too, and it’s gotten so bad that she just sits in one spot for as long as possible.

I know the vet says she has MBD, but I just don’t understand what I’m doing that would make it get worse instead of better? I lowered her reptisun 10 tube so that it’s 8” from the bottom of the tank since she can’t get on her log, I dust her superworm meals with lots of calcium daily since it’s the only thing she’ll eat, I put flukers liquid calcium in her water dish, and when it isn’t raining I take her outside for 20 mins a day so she can get some real sun. All she can do now is lay on the bottom of the tank. She’s still alert and holds her head up, she moves it around and watches people that walk into the room, and she still has really healthy poops. We’re going back to the vet once again for a blood test as soon as they can fit us in, not today however as they’re closed for Labor Day. I just need some help figuring out what it is that I’m missing, I hate seeing her in so much pain.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That is hard to see them like that! Do you have any pictures of her so we can see how the
swelling looks?
She isn't impacted is she, from the superworms?
The Reptisun 10 tube, is it mounted inside of the tank, overhead?
That doesn't make much sense she would be getting worse. Can you switch back to the oral
liquid calcium? Anytime they have metabolic bone disease, usually they need liquid calcium
instead of powdered because it's more easily absorbed.
I am wondering if she could have gout? I do recommend a blood test for sure to see what
else could be going on. It is a good sign she is alert right now, but hopefully she isn't in too
much pain.
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

 

[yarbharas]

There’s pics of her swelling. I have the light mounted on the back wall of the tank with command strips/hooks, it’s one of the Walmart fixtures. As for the impaction I don’t think she is, before all this she would eat supers constantly and we never had a problem with them. She did a rather large poo two days ago and there weren’t any undigested bits in it. For the liquid calcium, should I use the same stuff my vet prescribed me previously, same dosage? It was only meant for 2 weeks but they gave me enough to last at least month, and I saved it just in case.

And to be quite honest, part of me believes that it could be gout also. She was doing much better when all she was getting was the veggie baby food, and now that she’s eating just protien (she won’t eat any green I offer her) she seems to be much worse. I’m planning on giving her the baby food again starting tonight and seeing where that goes.

 

[yarbharas]

Just thought I’d update- we went to the vet yesterday for blood work after a scary couple of days waiting (Wednesday night I found she had fallen off of her log and was flipped on her back, thursday morning she may have had a small seizure). Results of the blood work will be here in a few days, but the vet already suspects that she has some kind of kidney disease. She said there’s no reason for her MBD to be getting so bad so quickly if she was completely healthy otherwise. We also got her a mani-pedi so her toes wouldn’t get caught in the carpet and make things worse, and some fluids in her belly because she was a bit dehydrated.

While this news is semi-relieving since I know it isn’t anything I’ve done wrong to her and could’ve prevented, our next steps are to get her on some new meds and possibly do a small procedure on her poor little legs to get the swelling down, based on the blood results of course. In the meantime, she’s back on the liquid calcium and anti-inflammatory meds, and we’re sticking with syringe feeding until I have another update so I know she’s getting her veggies.
Fingers crossed for my sweet girl!!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

When you get the blood tests back, I would love to see a copy of them.
Based on those pictures it really appears she has gout. That odd looking
swelling on the wrist area looks suspiciously like gout but not metabolic
bone disease.
I would start her on black cherry juice extract to help with kidney function,
also.
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

 

[yarbharas]

Thanks Tracie, just got off the phone with her vet and part of the blood test came back (they’re still reviewing her white blood cell count) and it does look like she has gout, and her calcium levels are normal. I’ll be getting the full thing when the rest of it comes in, and I’ll definitely send a copy to you. I’ve been instructed to discontinue her pain meds and increase soaks to 2-3 times a day to keep her hydrated and attempt to flush out her kidneys while the vet gets me a quote on allopurinol, and she also said to get rid of the swelling she already has, she’ll need to have a surgical procedure.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Poor girl, I was pretty sure it was definitely gout! How much will the
allopurinol cost you? So, the vet is willing to give the prescription for
you then I hope?
Start her on the black cherry extract along with extra oral fluids to help
out her kidneys right now. I agree, definitely discontinue the pain meds
as they can be hard on the kidneys.
I am not sure a surgical procedure will get rid of all of the swelling. They
may be able to scrape out some of the excess tophi/uric acid build up to
help alleviate some of the swelling.
How much protein are you giving her?

Let us know how she is doing.
Tracie

 

[yarbharas]

Conveniently, the vet is on vacation for the next few days so I haven’t heard back, but she’s definitely prescribing me the allopurinol mixed with another type of medicine that does the same thing I guess? I don’t recall what she said it’s name is, but she said mixing the two together has seen even better results than just the allopurinol.
I’ve been giving her .5ml of the black cherry extract mixed with water daily through the syringe by just dripping it onto her nose, but I was wondering if I’m able to administer it the same way as I was doing with her pain meds orally? Just forcing her mouth open and squirting it in that way so she gets all of it.
I’ve been giving her 2 baths a day, and I’ve tried dripping water on her nose as well but she doesn’t care to lick anything off. She doesn’t drink in her bath either. The vet wants me to come in this week when she gets back to teach me how to administer fluids through a needle syringe into her belly as well to give her an extra boost of hydration to flush her kidneys out, not as a permanent thing but just for a few days a week for the next few weeks.
As for protien, she was on the supers but I know those probably aren’t the best for her now so I’ve cut back to giving her 3 or 4 every other day, I want to get my hands on some silkworms but I have yet to find anyone with them in stock. We’re heading up to the reptile store soon to find an alternative as she won’t go after crickets at all. Do you have any recommendations for this?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How is your dragon tonight?
The vet might be mixing up some colchicine along with the allopurinol. It is an anti-inflammatory
medication to help with swelling.
So she is taking the cherry extract with water pretty well then? At least she seems to like it.
You can put it into her mouth along with medication too if you need to.
You can give just one bath daily, to avoid stressing her out too much.
Getting hydration through subcutaneous fluids into the coelomic cavity is not fun. It would help
but could be stressful also. When was she going to show you how to do that?
Since the overall protein levels should be decreased some right now keep them to 25 insects per
week. You can also try getting alfalfa powder to use in any slurries, or sprinkled on her greens
if she eats them, for non purine sourced protein. She doesn't like crickets? Phoenix worms are
usually well tolerated, also.
Silkworms are hard to come by sometimes, when they are off season.
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie