Hi,
First of all sorry for the long read, trying to be as thorough as possible. In hopes someone can help.
My beardie has been getting swollen paws a lot. Been to multiple vets and no one seems to know the cause. She currently is having it going on again. She starts by letting her leg hang when I pick her up and if i try to touch she acts like it’s uncomfortable and pulls it away. She can’t really walk with out a limp and when trying she sometimes has trouble raising that arm if she has to climb higher. I should also add the swelling is very minimal right now and always in paws never the joints. The vet says gout would affect the joints not the paws so I don’t know if that’s what it is or not.
The reason I think it’s gout is it seems to happen when she eats a decent amount of insects. This week she had some extra since she hasn’t been getting much over last few months because of the last time this happened it seemed to be when she ate a bunch, Also she’s been brumating on and off. This past week I gave her 5 med dubia on Fri or sat with some repashy plus, then tues I gave her 5 more with a non d3 calcium. She also had some hornworms that day and some salad (which normally she won’t eat, had a good bit of bee pollen on it so she did eat some). Then every day or 2 I give her around 15 soldier fly larva. Now she has the issue again.
I got a vet appointment set up at her usual vet for thurs but trying to find one sooner somewhere. One place won’t call me back to see if they can get her in sooner until Mon. The other place was closed and I’m going to call in the morning but I’m hesitant there, had a lot of bad experiences with them when younger and hear all kinds of bad stories I prefer not to go unless I have to.
Her normal diet consist of:
Collard greens, Mustard greens, Turnip greens daily (mixed or one at a time)
Kale (occasionally if I can’t find any other decent looking greens)
Around 15 soldier fly larva every day or 2
A few dubia Dubia or super worms Once or twice a week (cut down last time this happened incase it was gout.)
Carrots maybe once a week if that
A few blueberries daily some days she gets extra
Occasional watermelon or banana or similar fruit
Bee pollen on salad 1-2 times a week
A little bit of black cherry juice mixed in water every 3 or 4 days
Water offered daily
Repashy plus once or a calcium without d3 usually once a week each covering her worms or dubia
She is using a reptisun t5 tube bulb for uvb that runs 90% of her cage. Just changed bulb about a month ago. I borrowed a meter (forget the name) from a friend to measure output and where she likes to sit most the time it’s in the 4-5 range, her other place she lays is around 2-4. Her basking bulb is a 75wat and I have it on a dimmer so I keep it around 93-95 directly underneath. She lays usually in that or just out to where it’s 90 or under.
The only other thing I can think to mention is one vet says her calcium in the blood is always high levels (almost dangerous) but she does get trembles evne with those reading to where the vet puts her on a liquid calcium for about 2 weeks and it seems to get rid of trembles. So they don’t know why the blood shows high but she acts weak.
Thank you for any advice or ideas on what I should do/try. This is my first dragon so I don’t have much experience and try to learn as I go,
Brad
First of all sorry for the long read, trying to be as thorough as possible. In hopes someone can help.
My beardie has been getting swollen paws a lot. Been to multiple vets and no one seems to know the cause. She currently is having it going on again. She starts by letting her leg hang when I pick her up and if i try to touch she acts like it’s uncomfortable and pulls it away. She can’t really walk with out a limp and when trying she sometimes has trouble raising that arm if she has to climb higher. I should also add the swelling is very minimal right now and always in paws never the joints. The vet says gout would affect the joints not the paws so I don’t know if that’s what it is or not.
The reason I think it’s gout is it seems to happen when she eats a decent amount of insects. This week she had some extra since she hasn’t been getting much over last few months because of the last time this happened it seemed to be when she ate a bunch, Also she’s been brumating on and off. This past week I gave her 5 med dubia on Fri or sat with some repashy plus, then tues I gave her 5 more with a non d3 calcium. She also had some hornworms that day and some salad (which normally she won’t eat, had a good bit of bee pollen on it so she did eat some). Then every day or 2 I give her around 15 soldier fly larva. Now she has the issue again.
I got a vet appointment set up at her usual vet for thurs but trying to find one sooner somewhere. One place won’t call me back to see if they can get her in sooner until Mon. The other place was closed and I’m going to call in the morning but I’m hesitant there, had a lot of bad experiences with them when younger and hear all kinds of bad stories I prefer not to go unless I have to.
Her normal diet consist of:
Collard greens, Mustard greens, Turnip greens daily (mixed or one at a time)
Kale (occasionally if I can’t find any other decent looking greens)
Around 15 soldier fly larva every day or 2
A few dubia Dubia or super worms Once or twice a week (cut down last time this happened incase it was gout.)
Carrots maybe once a week if that
A few blueberries daily some days she gets extra
Occasional watermelon or banana or similar fruit
Bee pollen on salad 1-2 times a week
A little bit of black cherry juice mixed in water every 3 or 4 days
Water offered daily
Repashy plus once or a calcium without d3 usually once a week each covering her worms or dubia
She is using a reptisun t5 tube bulb for uvb that runs 90% of her cage. Just changed bulb about a month ago. I borrowed a meter (forget the name) from a friend to measure output and where she likes to sit most the time it’s in the 4-5 range, her other place she lays is around 2-4. Her basking bulb is a 75wat and I have it on a dimmer so I keep it around 93-95 directly underneath. She lays usually in that or just out to where it’s 90 or under.
The only other thing I can think to mention is one vet says her calcium in the blood is always high levels (almost dangerous) but she does get trembles evne with those reading to where the vet puts her on a liquid calcium for about 2 weeks and it seems to get rid of trembles. So they don’t know why the blood shows high but she acts weak.
Thank you for any advice or ideas on what I should do/try. This is my first dragon so I don’t have much experience and try to learn as I go,
Brad