Rescue with mouth rot

[Burra]

So I took the 5 year old beardie I rescued on Tuesday to the vet today. He has mouth rot. Nothing visible from the outside, and no symptoms except reluctance to eat crickets. He will eat worms. His previous owner said he was eating salad and fruits well for her, but he hasn't eaten too much for me. I'm thinking it's the stress of the move plus the mouth rot.

He got a Baytril injection, and then oral liquid smz-tmp antibiotic until his recheck in 3 weeks. Does this sound right to anyone with mouth rot experience? The vet also recommended newspaper or lizard carpet, no sand substrate as it can hold bacteria. He also said to use a good vitamin/mineral powder supplement daily on his food, as he suspects a deficiency. Does anyone else have any suggestions? I know mouth rot can be difficult to clear, so I want to do everything I can to help my big guy. We're already attached to Archimedes even though we've only had him a few days.

Thanks for any suggestions/input/or encouragement!

Tara

 

[kcarello]

Sorry, I know nothing about mouth rot,,and hopefully wont ever need to. Someone else should come along that will be able to help you. Good luck.

 

[Burra]

Thanks!

I'm not at all new to beardies, but I've never dealt with mouth rot before and hope I never have to again!

I'm really just looking for anyone else's experiences, maybe something that seemed to help besides the antibiotic.

I also talked to my vet friend yesterday, and she agrees with the other vet's treatment plan. We may also try CET Mouth rinse in a week or so, once he's eating better. I gave him a bath, he pooped, and I also syringe fed him some emergency food, I forget the exact name of it but he seemed to like it.

Today he is staring at his salad and worms, I'm hoping he will eat. I got a lot of different soft-bodied worms to hopefully make eating easier. (Phoenix worms, silk, horn, butter, and wax). I also made his salad super colorful to try to attract his attention.

 

[Burra]

Bumping hoping for any suggestions! Or just a "what you're doing sounds fine".

 

[Burra]

Bumping again. He's become lethargic and stressed from the antibiotic. His beard has been black the past 2 days. Hasn't eaten since starting the antibiotic, but i'm not overly concerned yet as he has a good body score (he weighs over 600 grams!). I'm going to get some baby food today, and I have a probiotic to add to it.

I had a few suggestions from a reptile rescue. They said neosporin on the actual infection, but I am very hesitant to do that INSIDE the mouth. I am a small animal vet tech and know that topical antibiotics are toxic if ingested, but I'm now not sure if that applies to reptiles. They also said to take him to a new vet since this one does not appear to be up to date on the latest reptile medicine. They said he should have had 5 Baytril injections, 1 every other day for 5 days. Since I am a tech I could have taken this home to do.instead he did the once injection and sent home the oral smz-tmp. I am looking for opinions on this as money is tight, and the next closest reptile vet is over an hour away. Of course I would take him, but if the general consensus is to to try the smz-tmp and see, then I'd like to do that first.

Thanks for ANY input at all.

Tara

 

[Burra]

Update for anyone following Archimedes' adventures with mouth rot, and for anyone in the future that might have to deal with this with a rescue:

He had the Baytril injection Thursday, started the oral Smz-Tmp Friday, had his 2nd dose Saturday, and now he is every other day with it so he didn't get a dose yesterday but is due today. He is no longer dark bearded and stressed, I really feel the antibiotic is upsetting his stomach, or I'm just stressing him giving it, or a little of both! :roll: If today's dose stresses him again, I'll call the vet. Hopefully it will be fine.

He was glass dancing this morning, his old owner said he does that when he needs to poop so I immediately took him out and put him in a warm bath. He drank some water and then pooped. He also ate 2 super worms today!!!! I know they aren't the best food, but they seem to be the ONLY thing he is even remotely interested in and I just want him to eat something on his own! I dusted them with calcium and vitamin, plus I put liquid vitamin in his bath water. He is currently basking and looking at me all proud. I really love him and hope he makes a full recovery ASAP!

It's going to rain here today so I won't be able to get him any real sun, but the rest of the week is looking good.

Again, any suggestions or comments are more than welcome. I'm going to continue to document our saga here in the hopes that it can help someone else in the future.

 

[traceyb73]

I am a newbie so I don't have any answers, but it sounds like he is starting to feel better. Eating anything sounds like an improvement! I have read on here that the antibiotics can upset their stomachs. Did you get any advice anywhere else on here? If not, you can always PM Tracie (she is one of the mods). She is brilliant.

I wish you the best!

 

[Burra]

Thanks! Right now I'm in wait and see mode since the antibiotic doesn't seem to stress him anymore and he's eating a little on his own. I'm considering doing a course of Reptaid with him once the antibiotic is done and he has his 3 week recheck with the vet.

He ate some baby food squash off of his snout last night. I wanted him to have some veggies and was glad he took it that way. I'm just hoping I'm not spoiling him too much along the way! :mrgreen:

 

[traceyb73]

I'm so glad he is adjusting to the anitbiotic! From what I have been told, squash baby food is so good for them and it's fantastic he is eating it! Hopefully he will gain strength and get back to normal again. As fa as the spoiling...isn't that what they are for?

 

[Burra]

Another update in the hopes that this help someone down the line:

He's taking the Smz-Tmp every other day, yesterday was an "off" day and I caught him eating some veggies today! I think it was the stress of the vet visit and the injectable Baytril that had him stressed.

He's pooping perfectly normal every other day during his bath. I'm still putting liquid vitamins in there with him because he drinks while he's swimming around. Yes, he swims and runs around in there, he really loves his bath time!

He's been basking a lot, and I still have his temperature increased a little.

I've been taking him outside for a minimum of 10 minutes of real sun on the days it hasn't rained.

I have not looked in his mouth in a few days, I kind of want to give him a break and since he's eating I'm not too concerned. I'm hoping he's all clear after 2 more weeks of the antibiotic.

I decided I'm definitely going to do a course or two of Reptaid after he finishes the antibiotic. I will be emailing Elliot soon to discuss it.

 

[Burra]

I syringed fed Archimedes some baby food squash since he went on a hunger strike again. I'm going to try his favorite, superworms, later to see if he has any interest. He has not lost any weight, has big fat pads, and appears healthy in general. He is improving other than eating, he is much more active, enjoys his bath, enjoys being out in the sun, LOVES to watch us and the other animals in the house. We are his personal TV!

My other issue is his mouth seems to look the same inside, red on the top front. It doesn't appear inflamed,no white pus at all, just red. It's not getting worse, it's just not getting better either. Maybe I'm expecting too much, the vet said 3 weeks of antibiotics and then a recheck to see if it was completely gone.

He's watching me right now from his basking perch! It's amazing how fast they adapt to a new environment and a new family!

 

[Burra]

I just worry too much with his hunger strikes. I'm 99% sure it's from the every other day antibiotic, and he is a good weight, so tell me I need to stop worrying! :roll:

Actually, he is now getting spoiled. As in opening his mouth for me to put the baby food in spoiled! :lol: But today was his off day with the antibiotic and that's when he usually eats. So far, so good. The vet recheck is next week (I think, I need to look at my calendar) so we'll go from there.

If anyone else goes through this, please feel free to message me with any questions. I'll be happy to help you the best that I can. The vet said variety in food is the most important. Not just a lot of different veggies, but different gut loaded bugs too. This way they get natural vitamins they can utilize better. He still recommends dusting, but variety too.

 

[Burra]

Well, he ate on his own for 3 days in a row now, even with the antibiotic. That makes me happy!!!

 

[Burra]

Bumping for Tracy!

Thanks!
His vet recheck is Thursday. I will try to take a pic today,but I can definitely it is not at all better,but not worse either.

 

[Drache613]

Hello Tara,

Thanks. I had just missed it the other day.
How is he doing?
What supplies do you have at home? If you dilute some betadine that is pretty safe to use just to help with rinsing out his mouth. If he manages to swallow a small amount, it wont hurt him. Or you could even use regular listerine with no sugar, etc. The original brand works very good as an antiseptic. You could just dilute it a little for a mouth rinse for him.

How is his appetite coming along?

Tracie