nbaragon
Member
Hello all -
I am posting this on behalf of my friend in Japan, whose 2 1/2 year old female beardie, Nico, is very ill. My friend has been taking Nico to one of the most respected reptile vets in Tokyo, but the vet hasn't been able to identify what's causing it exactly, even after taking X-rays, so I thought to ask here in this forum too. Any help will be appreciated!!
ABOUT NICO:
2 1/2 years old
Female
370g
16 inches (nose tip - tail tip)
*Nico has been given Calcium with Vitamin D3 regularly, and all the setups are correct.
In the end of July, my friend noticed that Nico was dragging her hind legs, so she thought Nico might have MBD, and took her to the vet immediately. The vet took some X-rays, and pointed out that a lower part (belly side) of her lumbar spine was missing/melting. Please see the arrow in the picture.
The vet suggested 3 different possibilities:
1) Bone fracture resulting from a traumatic injury;
2) Some type of an infectious disease; or
3) Some type of a cancer.
The vet confirmed that other than the affected site described above, there’s no indication of Calcium deficiency, so he ruled out the possibility of MBD.
(I’m trying to have my friend ask the vet again for his exact reasoning why he thought there’s no indication of Calcium deficiency in other parts of Nico’s body. They didn’t have a blood test at that time. Maybe these X-rays can tell?? I don’t know… Does anyone know??)
Considering the way Nico has been kept in the cage, my friend did NOT think the external injury was a possibility, so they are looking into either infection or cancer.
Nico is currently taking medications (probably some type of antibiotics – My friend will find out the exact name of the medicine soon), and the vet says if these medications work at all, the diagnosis will officially be infection, and the possibility of cancer can be ruled out. If the medications don’t work, the official diagnosis will, unfortunately, be cancer.
They are still waiting to see what happens with the medications, but my friend recently (middle of August) noticed that Nico seems to be dragging her hands as well, not just hind legs. Please note that Nico is NOT having tremors or twitches, but it’s more like she’s having a hard time walking. She won’t lift up her belly either.
Also, following the vet’s instructions, my friend is giving her a rehabilitative massage for about 5 minutes every morning, which means she moves Nico’s legs and hands back and forth. Nico doesn’t like it -- maybe it hurts??
Other than not being able to move freely, Nico is eating just as much as she has always been, and pooping once a week.
The last blood test Nico had was in March this year, and according to the vet, all the numbers looked good. She hasn’t had any blood test since the issue started in the end of July.
One more thing to note -- This may or may not be related to the current issue, but Nico had some infertile eggs in February – March this year (which was confirmed by the vet at that time), but the eggs later got "absorbed" (also confirmed by the vet), and Nico ended up NOT laying them. As we all know, around that time in Japan the devastating earthquake/tsunami happened, which caused some nuke plants to shut down there, and people had to have so-called "planned/rolling blackouts" for a few weeks, where each district/area took turns and intentionally knocked out power for 3 hours or so, once or twice every day, in order to avoid a total blackout. Therefore, while it must have been tough enough already for Nico for carrying eggs, she had to be put in a not-so-perfect condition in terms of lights/heating at that time.
So, our questions are:
1) Does the vet’s observation/analysis/strategy seem appropriate and reasonable?
2) If there’s someone out there who went through something similar, is there anything my friend can do to make Nico feel better?
Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated!!
I am posting this on behalf of my friend in Japan, whose 2 1/2 year old female beardie, Nico, is very ill. My friend has been taking Nico to one of the most respected reptile vets in Tokyo, but the vet hasn't been able to identify what's causing it exactly, even after taking X-rays, so I thought to ask here in this forum too. Any help will be appreciated!!
ABOUT NICO:
2 1/2 years old
Female
370g
16 inches (nose tip - tail tip)
*Nico has been given Calcium with Vitamin D3 regularly, and all the setups are correct.
In the end of July, my friend noticed that Nico was dragging her hind legs, so she thought Nico might have MBD, and took her to the vet immediately. The vet took some X-rays, and pointed out that a lower part (belly side) of her lumbar spine was missing/melting. Please see the arrow in the picture.
The vet suggested 3 different possibilities:
1) Bone fracture resulting from a traumatic injury;
2) Some type of an infectious disease; or
3) Some type of a cancer.
The vet confirmed that other than the affected site described above, there’s no indication of Calcium deficiency, so he ruled out the possibility of MBD.
(I’m trying to have my friend ask the vet again for his exact reasoning why he thought there’s no indication of Calcium deficiency in other parts of Nico’s body. They didn’t have a blood test at that time. Maybe these X-rays can tell?? I don’t know… Does anyone know??)
Considering the way Nico has been kept in the cage, my friend did NOT think the external injury was a possibility, so they are looking into either infection or cancer.
Nico is currently taking medications (probably some type of antibiotics – My friend will find out the exact name of the medicine soon), and the vet says if these medications work at all, the diagnosis will officially be infection, and the possibility of cancer can be ruled out. If the medications don’t work, the official diagnosis will, unfortunately, be cancer.
They are still waiting to see what happens with the medications, but my friend recently (middle of August) noticed that Nico seems to be dragging her hands as well, not just hind legs. Please note that Nico is NOT having tremors or twitches, but it’s more like she’s having a hard time walking. She won’t lift up her belly either.
Also, following the vet’s instructions, my friend is giving her a rehabilitative massage for about 5 minutes every morning, which means she moves Nico’s legs and hands back and forth. Nico doesn’t like it -- maybe it hurts??
Other than not being able to move freely, Nico is eating just as much as she has always been, and pooping once a week.
The last blood test Nico had was in March this year, and according to the vet, all the numbers looked good. She hasn’t had any blood test since the issue started in the end of July.
One more thing to note -- This may or may not be related to the current issue, but Nico had some infertile eggs in February – March this year (which was confirmed by the vet at that time), but the eggs later got "absorbed" (also confirmed by the vet), and Nico ended up NOT laying them. As we all know, around that time in Japan the devastating earthquake/tsunami happened, which caused some nuke plants to shut down there, and people had to have so-called "planned/rolling blackouts" for a few weeks, where each district/area took turns and intentionally knocked out power for 3 hours or so, once or twice every day, in order to avoid a total blackout. Therefore, while it must have been tough enough already for Nico for carrying eggs, she had to be put in a not-so-perfect condition in terms of lights/heating at that time.
So, our questions are:
1) Does the vet’s observation/analysis/strategy seem appropriate and reasonable?
2) If there’s someone out there who went through something similar, is there anything my friend can do to make Nico feel better?
Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated!!