Rescue in abhorrent health (Updates and pictures)

[SamusTheDragon]

WOW :shock: , that poor girl =/ , well at least someone cares about her now. Why do people keep these pets if they obviously don't want them? You're doing a great job! I'm routing for her to be able to walk again soon!

 

[RaineKoenig]

lol, mine just laid a clutch of supposedly fertile eggs. None of them were good as she has been quite poorly. Anyway, they are about the size of a chocolate cadbury mini egg, maybe slightly bigger. The bad eggs were brownish in colour and very soft, squishy and dented. The 'good' eggs are more formed and white.

Yeah,i look at my guys and can't believe that they were ever that tiny. I didn't get mine until they were 1 1/2 yrs old, so missed that stage

keep up the good work

Yup, I didn't see anything similar to any eggs.

Baby Dragons are so tiny! I didn't realize that that's how small they were, they're so cute!

 

[RaineKoenig]

WOW :shock: , that poor girl =/ , well at least someone cares about her now. Why do people keep these pets if they obviously don't want them? You're doing a great job! I'm routing for her to be able to walk again soon!

People do a lot of stupid things; some are just worst than others.

 

[RaineKoenig]

I'm not sure if it's much, I didn't start rehabilitating her in water yet, but before I went to work yesterday (I wake up when everyone goes to bed, and I go to sleep when people usually get up) and I saw she semi held herself up.

The front of her body wasn't touching the ground! She kind of lifted herself up and walked a bit that way. She can't completely flex out her upper legs completely and they still seem bent in place and she's a bit uncoordinated but this is good!

I made her superworm, silkworm and butterworm soup (yeah it's as good as it sounds like, needless to say; I'm not using the blender for anything else). I threw in some butter squash and crickets and added calcium and vitamin paste.

The liquid calcium bottle the vet gave me has nothing written on it except that it's calcium so I can't answer the previous questions about it. I haven't called the vet for an appointment about the mouth rot yet I'll have to wait next week when I'll have a free day. Is there anything I can give her meanwhile? What do the vets usually give?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

You are her angel, for sure. I have absolutely no words at all to express my anger that is allowed to post on here! I simply am stunned at her condition. You are doing a great job with her.
Keep up the bath & water therapy as it is very effective.
I am not sure that looks exactly like mouth rot but there can be different stages of it. Have you tried getting a tiny soft toothbrush & cleaning out her mouth & gum area, gently? Since she is eating soft foods, it can accumulate on the gums causing dental & gum disease or problems just like in humans or mammals.

Tracie

 

[RaineKoenig]

Hello,

You are her angel, for sure. I have absolutely no words at all to express my anger that is allowed to post on here! I simply am stunned at her condition. You are doing a great job with her.
Keep up the bath & water therapy as it is very effective.
I am not sure that looks exactly like mouth rot but there can be different stages of it. Have you tried getting a tiny soft toothbrush & cleaning out her mouth & gum area, gently? Since she is eating soft foods, it can accumulate on the gums causing dental & gum disease or problems just like in humans or mammals.

Tracie

I'll try the toothbrush, mean while I'll do very mild saline solution rinses after she's done eating and see from there. I saw pictures of mouth rot and it doesn't look quite like that; I will call the vet nonetheless.

The toothbrush might be a bit rough, I'll try to find a super soft baby tooth brush.

 

[Beardednoob]

She is showing you that you are doing for her what she always wanted by holding herself up to you. I think anyways. Keep up the good work and my best wishes. :wink:

 

[RaineKoenig]

She is showing you that you are doing for her what she always wanted by holding herself up to you. I think anyways. Keep up the good work and my best wishes. :wink:

Thank you so much!

I will keep updating on her improvements for sure.

 

[RaineKoenig]

Sorry to bump the thread I just didn't want to flood the forum with a new one.

The water rehabilitation is really not working.

Giving her regular baths is hard enough.

When I put her in the water (even with a towel or foam piece) she panics and wiggles like hell. She's super scared the second she touches the water. I will keep trying for a few weeks, if she keeps panicking I will stop I really don't want to stress her.

And one last question, it's a stupid question but I can't find an answer. Do Bearded Dragons keep food in their beards hamster-style?

She was shaking her head violently after I fed her insect soup (again, yuck blender will never be used for anything except insect goo). So I took her out of her enclosure and she opened her mouth, and I saw food backed up in there. So, is this normal or not?

She kept her mouth open and actually let me remove the food with a q-tip and was cooperating, there had tons of food in there, I even found a whole cricket (I didn't feed her a whole non-blended cricket in 24-48 hours). Well the cricket wasn't WHOLE but I mean, I could still tell easily it was a cricket.

Oh and I forgot to answer the post about clipping her nails. I did clip them but I'm scared to get too close to her fingers. Her nails seem a bit mangled to me.

As for her mouth, I'm still not sure if it's mouth rot, in any case I will do a full cleaning tomorrow and use some Povidone Iodine which I have in massive quantities and I also got way too much of C. Diacetate, the vet also suggested I give her some Enrofloxacine (humm, Baytrill I think?) and I'll also rinse her out with a mild Saline solution a few hours after each feeding. The Doc said she will see her if I insist but to try this at home and if it doesn't get better in 2-2.5 weeks to come to see her, she doesn't want to stress the gal.

She's a trooper that one! She actually bit me [it was a warning bite haha].

 

[AHBD]

I agree that you should discontinue the baths. Once or twice a week at most. Give her water orally, that is the natural way to drink, [ use a spray bottle or syringe] not through the vent, and the poor thing has been through so much. Water therapy was a nice idea, but she is not a good candidate. And no, they don't store food in their beard pouch...she is just not swallowing it all. Wow, good thing she didn't aspirate abd choke on it ! Maybe check after every feeding now. By the way, you say your'e not sure she has mouth rot ? If any doubt at all, you may be better to not use any meds. She's had a rough life and if she doesn't eat well now, Baytril may cause her to lose her appetite altogether.

 

[RaineKoenig]

I agree that you should discontinue the baths. Once or twice a week at most. Give her water orally, that is the natural way to drink, [ use a spray bottle or syringe] not through the vent, and the poor thing has been through so much. Water therapy was a nice idea, but she is not a good candidate. And no, they don't store food in their beard pouch...she is just not swallowing it all. Wow, good thing she didn't aspirate abd choke on it ! Maybe check after every feeding now. By the way, you say your'e not sure she has mouth rot ? If any doubt at all, you may be better to not use any meds. She's had a rough life and if she doesn't eat well now, Baytril may cause her to lose her appetite altogether.

Excellent point on the Baytrill (or Baytril). I will still clean her with the other stuff but keep her away from any antibiotics.

I give her water through a syringe before/during and after meals, I didn't give her baths often either, just to clean her and help her digest every 3-4 days (approx. twice a week). What did you mean by not through the vent? As in mist her through the enclosures vent? I never did that, seems way too stressful and can't be good for her (they like it dry, that would up the humidity way too much - but that's just me).

That's what I thought about the food storage, it didn't seem "normal" I wonder why she isn't swallowing though. I think she jumps into the food too fast and face first and stuffs her mouth too much. I will be giving her smaller doses and checking her after 20mins after each meal.

I def. need to go to the vet.

Is there any transport ideas to keep her stress levels down? If I would put (clean) towel in a brown cardboard box and put her in there, would that help with the stress?

 

[AHBD]

What I meant by water through the vent [ the cloacal opening under the tail ] is that many well - meaning people think that dragons will get enough water by soaking them, and they believe that sufficient water is taken up through the vent [ I don't ] so they recommend excessive baths for any and all ailments. This doesn't properly hydrate the animal, even when they add Pedialyte, and it's a false sense of comfort for some owners to believe the beardies need that method more than oral hydration. So no, I didn't mean through the vent in the cage . LOL ! Sorry for the cofusion. So you say she dives in to her food , and stuffs her mouth ? Wow, at least she has a good appetite ! That's really a good sign....now if she would just swallow it all , she'd be on the right track ! As far as water therapy to get her moving, I just wonder if it causes excessive pain to thrash her body around, her legs being affected by the MBD she may still have very soft bones....these are my opinions and suggestions, and whether or not that type of movement can benefit her....to get her more mobile, I just don't think it will... I could be wrong. She's very weak and the MBD has taken so much out of her, I wonder if she is too tired to swallow large amounts of food and that's why some of it stays in the back of her mouth. Maybe just smaller meals more often will help her.

 

[RaineKoenig]

What I meant by water through the vent [ the cloacal opening under the tail ] is that many well - meaning people think that dragons will get enough water by soaking them, and they believe that sufficient water is taken up through the vent [ I don't ] so they recommend excessive baths for any and all ailments. This doesn't properly hydrate the animal, even when they add Pedialyte, and it's a false sense of comfort for some owners to believe the beardies need that method more than oral hydration. So no, I didn't mean through the vent in the cage . LOL ! Sorry for the cofusion. So you say she dives in to her food , and stuffs her mouth ? Wow, at least she has a good appetite ! That's really a good sign....now if she would just swallow it all , she'd be on the right track ! As far as water therapy to get her moving, I just wonder if it causes excessive pain to thrash her body around, her legs being affected by the MBD she may still have very soft bones....these are my opinions and suggestions, and whether or not that type of movement can benefit her....to get her more mobile, I just don't think it will... I could be wrong. She's very weak and the MBD has taken so much out of her, I wonder if she is too tired to swallow large amounts of food and that's why some of it stays in the back of her mouth. Maybe just smaller meals more often will help her.

Hahaha! I'm actually laughing out loud at the vent misunderstanding haha. I didn't even think they might absorb water from there more than orally, I just bathe her in warm water to clean her and help the digestion.

And I thought you meant dumping loads of water through the cage on the lizard haha

I'm not sure, but she seems sturdy, bone wise. I give her high concentrations of calcium and the swelling went down a LOT, even if it's just been a few days since I first posted, she seems to be able to get up more on her own, I actually saw her completely lift her body off the ground! And yes, she tackles food like a rugby player. Even when it's not live food, she sortta prowls and just dives in head first and goes at it. Most def. I will be giving her smaller portions, I feel horrible that her black metal like head-banding was my fault, I can't believe I didn't notice that she wasn't swallowing her food.

Her rear legs never had swelling from what I can remember they were, and still are emaciated (am I using this word right?) and her front legs were super puffed up/swollen.

I really want to find the people that did this to her, and beat them with a stick, but not a big stick like a baseball bat because that would injure them too much. And not a too skinny stick either, but like a medium diameter stick so it's between a golf bat (I know it's a golf club, I prefer calling it a "golf bat") and a baseball bat. And just, whip-beat some brain cells into them - or just somewhat instant Karma or whatever. Pfff!


Is there any other type of food I can feed her which is very high in fat and proteins? She has to gain some weight.

 

[AHBD]

No beating people with sticks, you will just end up in jail and no one will be able to care for your sick girl. Ha-ha ! As far as higher protein / fat type foods, it may be best to keep giving what you are [ I don't remember if you have Critical Care formula from your vet] , but maybe add some of that a little at a time to her present diet. I can't remember if you make insect + veggie smoothie type [ slurries] meals but you might try that. It's great to hear that she drinks a lot, that's still the best way to hydrate.

 

[PeppersGirl]

I really want to find the people that did this to her, and beat them with a stick, but not a big stick like a baseball bat because that would injure them too much. And not a too skinny stick either, but like a medium diameter stick so it's between a golf bat (I know it's a golf club, I prefer calling it a "golf bat") and a baseball bat. And just, whip-beat some brain cells into them - or just somewhat instant Karma or whatever. Pfff!

:laughhard: :laughhard: Sorry I couldn't help it, never known someone put so much thought into stick selection!! :lol:

But just wanted to say good on you, she's a fortunate lizard to have someone who cares so much about her. Keep it up, and I hope she pulls through for you!