Respiratory infection?

[BossLady3]

my beardie is about 6 - 7 years old and is currently being treated with Albon for worms. Im doing the 3 day on and 3 day off method with fecal afterwards. he gets a probiotic an hour after the meds and is eating better. on the third day I noticed that one eye was swollen shut... I got a quetip and rubbed it gently on the eye to try and loosen it uo and he proceeded to dive his eyeball onto the quetip. after awhile the eye opened up but seemed irritated. well I suppose thats to be expected when you shove something in there right?

we are on the third day of "off" treatment and he will be starting his new dose of Albon this evening. his eye opens completely and most of the time looks fine, but occasionally it will tear up pretty bad and the quetips come back with alot of wetness on them. he will also squint sometimes... but only in one eye. he doesnt have a clicking noise but sometimes he does breath in rather sharply and crackle on the way out. this happens maybe 4 times throughout the day. he doesnt sleep with his head vertical but every now and then will fall asleep in a bulldog stance as if basking, but the head is completely horizontal. he had one day of mucus bubble in his nostril on the same side his eye has been bothering him.

does this sound like a RI? hes my first beardie and I got him as a rescue... Im into leopard geckos. IVe had him for a year now and have always had problems with him either not eating, not pooping, being lethargic, etc. but I wanted to know if this sounds like side effects from albon? do I need to adjust my husbandry to catch this? since he is on albon he gets bathed daily for 20 minutes.

MVB Trex 100 watt (4 and a half months old) 12hour/12 hour
basking spot at 105F
night time room temperature stays at 70 - 75F
he has lost weight so is on 5 supers a day with as much critical care as I can get him to eat. he doesnt usually touch his greens on his own, but I always keep some in the tank with him anyway.
he has paper furniture and is changed daily
all poop is spot cleaned immediately and I wipe his vent down with a babywipe

any help or advice would be appreciated. I will take him into the vet if I have to but I really hope theres something I can do on my own. I also dont know what stringy mucus is like... he has always had it a little thick, but always very clear. pictures or more detailed descriptions would be helpful

 

[BossLady3]

any advice on how to treat, or even treat for a RI?

he doesnt like the basking temperature above 105 and usually wont bask. Im very hesitant to give him baytril right now since hes on albon, but after the next few days I can start that treatment aswell.

Is Reptaid (not flukers) worth a shot?

I only have two choices of local vets.... Banfield and another one. I refuse banfield, and the other one seems decent enough but they are primarily cats and dogs. I dont know of a reptile specialist in my area.

 

[Kalyn876]

Hello,

It sounds like some type of infection to me. I would start the baytril once hes off the albon, when giving an antibiotic make sure your giving anitbiotic in the morning and probiotic in the evening so they do not effect eachother. If you could raise night time temps to around 80F (Cermic heat emitters work great) it would be beneficial, if there is a water dish in the tank remove it to avoid excess humidity.

Hopefully this helps!

Kalyn

 

[dragonlover3]

Mucus + most any sounds with respirations = respiratory infection. Sounds like a RI. Yes, all meds are harsh on our dragons but being sick with the equivalent of Beardie bronchitis is even harsher. Being on Albon should not prevent him from being on any antibiotic. I currently have a juvie with a RI, she is on Baytril, Albon and Panacur and showed improvement in 2 days. Vets will treat for worms and coccidia when a beardie has an infection so the beardie doesn't have to fight those as well as the infection. This forum only recommends 2 UVB bulbs that have the correct amt. of UVB for bearded dragons. Reptisun 10.0 tube or the Arcadia D3 12%. The others available are known to cause eye and health issues. Your basking spot is a bit high at 105*F. Adults are usually comfortable closer to 100*F. it may contribute to him not basking, that in combination with being sick. What are you monitoring temp with? What do you feed your beardie? Do you use supplemental calcium and vits?
You can raise the enclosure temp to 80 to 82*F at night, the extra warmth boosts their immune system but be sure to hydrate well! You can sleep your dragon with his head slightly elevated on blankies or towels if that appears to be more comfortable for him. If he has mucus draining you can sleep him with his head slightly lower than the rest of his body to help the mucus drain, but that will be an all-nighter as you will want to monitor your beardie for choking if mucus is draining out of his nose and mouth. Advice for Respiratory Infection....see a vet as soon as possible, especially since he's a rescue.
Amanda

 

[Spikey07]

I think the website to check for reptile vets in your area is http://www.herpvetconnection.com/

 

[BossLady3]

thank you all for your replies.

I did months of research on his UVB source and am quite pleased with it - I have no desire to go to a UVB tube when his MVB works so well. if Mega Ray cannot get its bulbs working properly when it comes time to replace this bulb I will go to the reptisun or arcadia bulbs. I should clarify he IS basking at 105F, its if it gets higher than that he wont bask for very long.

I upped his basking temperatures from 102 to 105 because I was told that would help if he was getting a RI. he ate quite a bit of squash baby food and critical care. if I give straight critical care it just clogs the syringe up and baby food gives it the right texture to easily administer.

he has mustard greens and collard greens available at all times. sometimes I throw in a shredded carrot or strawberry to entice him but it usually all gets ignored for the baby food/critical care slurry. I add in calcium 5 days a week (two of those are with D3) and two days of herptivite vitamins.

his one eye is a little runny still when he woke up - I have him up all night and down during the day so I can tend to him and watch over him at all of his waking hours. its why I can also spot clean his cage after a BM (usually during!). he had a BM in my lap while I was administering breakfast and it was for once rather firm yet still squishable. his urates were darn near perfect aswell - not chalky or runny. he has never produced a finer BM since Ive had him and I cannot be happier about it.

no snot bubbles yet and he seems rather hyper this evening. I still have to wait another 2 hours to administer the Albon so that I can make sure he had enough time to digest his breakfast. an hour after the Albon he will get his probiotic (acidophiliz +), another hour after that he feels better enough to eat again a few times before being put down for bed.

I called my local vet and make an appointment for tuesday of next week as thats the soonest he can see me. hopefully he will be alright untill then. I will pick up a ceramic heater tomorrow for night time warmth, are there any other recommendations I can do for him in the meantime?