Our much loved and uber spoilt little lady Cleopatra died peacefully and comfortably in her sleep this afternoon , died showing her happy colours and just a slight BB.
She had been suffering an invasive bone cancer that suddenly started in her pelvic region a few months ago ( developed a spur there - thought she must have broken her pelvis somehow in her tank , but vet said it was unbroken and this was boney growth (he'd never one on a lizard before) - inoperable and didn't seem to impede or bother her til a few weeks ago when it doubled in size and invaded her ribs and her right arm , and likely invaded her torso .
Vet told us beardies are susceptable to cancer and she had a poor prognosis , even if they surgically removed as much of the boney growth as possible (appeared suddenly over a few days) , her quality of life after surgery would be very bad ( if it's invaded her spinal track ) so we opted to let nature take it's course and give her the best life quality for what was left of her time.
Vet gave us pain relief to keep ( frozen in fridge ready to inject daily doses enough for 4 weeks , never used ) and told me to use if she started BBing ( in pain / much discomfort ) , but only time we saw her BB was today (only on her fringe spines).
As a result the cancer there was resulting big loss of apetite in the last few weeks ( went off her food so had to resort back to daily small feeds of her fav insects ( crickets ) , her she'd only tolerate 4 or 5 medium crickets or 2 superworms ( had to cut these up) ,suspect stomache capacity was being reduced by cancer in her organs , wouldn't touch her greens anymore , which she usually loved ( choy leaf , berries ), or live superworms ( previously loved them ) .
Since she was off her bugs and greens , I started offering daily drinks of water which she seemed to enjoy ( dropwize on a little round food tub lid which she'd lick dry a few drops at a time).
In her last 2weeks she became very lethargic , and her skull fat deposits gradually became depleted and eyesockets sunken, resorted to Herpaboost paste as a top up given as a sup using my cone nozzle syringe , so knew she was on terminally ill.
So more quality dad and mum time and treats =
manuka honey by syringe with food ,
daily meals of her fav bugs ( added mealworms and mealworm pupae ( loved them til then the end ) .
Was still pooing regularly daily ( multiple times , and thermoregulating ) til today when she chose the cool spot in her tank for a final nap , placed her on her heatslab and she refused to stay there ( usually loved it) .
We discovered her lifeless a hour later , thought she was asleep , was cool so placed her on her basking spot ( was very limp ).
Checked 2 hour later RM had set in , not sign of life . She now in wrapped in paper towels in a sealed freezer bag in the freezer waiting to be buried .... perhaps in a few months when we take the thick plastic sheets off the 3 small herb veg beds , wormbomb ( add worm eggs ) and prep for seedlings and seeds .
Going to miss her uperty attitude , her charisma , and her affectionate interactions, and our nightly cuddles.
Fluffy and Caesar have noted her absense and been looking at her ( now dark empty ) tank .... they know something has happened to her.
RIP Little Cleo.
She had been suffering an invasive bone cancer that suddenly started in her pelvic region a few months ago ( developed a spur there - thought she must have broken her pelvis somehow in her tank , but vet said it was unbroken and this was boney growth (he'd never one on a lizard before) - inoperable and didn't seem to impede or bother her til a few weeks ago when it doubled in size and invaded her ribs and her right arm , and likely invaded her torso .
Vet told us beardies are susceptable to cancer and she had a poor prognosis , even if they surgically removed as much of the boney growth as possible (appeared suddenly over a few days) , her quality of life after surgery would be very bad ( if it's invaded her spinal track ) so we opted to let nature take it's course and give her the best life quality for what was left of her time.
Vet gave us pain relief to keep ( frozen in fridge ready to inject daily doses enough for 4 weeks , never used ) and told me to use if she started BBing ( in pain / much discomfort ) , but only time we saw her BB was today (only on her fringe spines).
As a result the cancer there was resulting big loss of apetite in the last few weeks ( went off her food so had to resort back to daily small feeds of her fav insects ( crickets ) , her she'd only tolerate 4 or 5 medium crickets or 2 superworms ( had to cut these up) ,suspect stomache capacity was being reduced by cancer in her organs , wouldn't touch her greens anymore , which she usually loved ( choy leaf , berries ), or live superworms ( previously loved them ) .
Since she was off her bugs and greens , I started offering daily drinks of water which she seemed to enjoy ( dropwize on a little round food tub lid which she'd lick dry a few drops at a time).
In her last 2weeks she became very lethargic , and her skull fat deposits gradually became depleted and eyesockets sunken, resorted to Herpaboost paste as a top up given as a sup using my cone nozzle syringe , so knew she was on terminally ill.
So more quality dad and mum time and treats =
manuka honey by syringe with food ,
daily meals of her fav bugs ( added mealworms and mealworm pupae ( loved them til then the end ) .
Was still pooing regularly daily ( multiple times , and thermoregulating ) til today when she chose the cool spot in her tank for a final nap , placed her on her heatslab and she refused to stay there ( usually loved it) .
We discovered her lifeless a hour later , thought she was asleep , was cool so placed her on her basking spot ( was very limp ).
Checked 2 hour later RM had set in , not sign of life . She now in wrapped in paper towels in a sealed freezer bag in the freezer waiting to be buried .... perhaps in a few months when we take the thick plastic sheets off the 3 small herb veg beds , wormbomb ( add worm eggs ) and prep for seedlings and seeds .
Going to miss her uperty attitude , her charisma , and her affectionate interactions, and our nightly cuddles.
Fluffy and Caesar have noted her absense and been looking at her ( now dark empty ) tank .... they know something has happened to her.
RIP Little Cleo.
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My condolences.
