It's been a while since I've posted on this forum. And a lot has happened.
Rin's tail has always had a very tiny nip on the end of it, and it started turning a lighter dark shade from the tip to about 1/4 up, so I took him to the ONLY vet in our town who works on lizards. He assessed Rin by only having him walk on the table, and said he looks healthy, and as long as the tail underside is not dark too, he's good. He never offered a blood test or anything else. I could have turned him down, of course, but he didn't even give me that option.
Since then, the dark part has traveled up his tail to about half the tail. There's a raised ring around it where the dark part stops and the tail is normal, lighter colored. I have thought for a long time that it's blood poisoning from the tip of his tail being bitten as a baby.
I had to research WHERE there is an actual lizard vet in our surrounding area. I finally found an actual vet clinic that specializes in birds and reptiles, about 40 miles away. I made an appointment to take Rin in to that clinic to be two Saturdays ago. And about an hour before we left, I had him outside in the backyard, with the sliding door open. EVERY DAY he sits outside to get sunshine, and someone either sits outside with him or keeps the sliding door open and sits in a chair in the dining room and when he is ready to come in, it's actually adorable....He runs off the lawn, to the patio and then hops onto the threshold for the sliding door and into the house. Well, that day I put him outside, and asked my 9 year old daughter to watch him for 5 minutes while I went upstairs to change, and I came down, and she was watching TV. NO RIN...anywhere! My daughter was devastated and of course blamed herself. All I could think of, was that Rin was taken away by some talons attached to a predator bird. We both had a big cry, and I called the clinic to cancel the visit. Two hours later, my daughter went down stairs and yelled out, "LOOK WHO I FOUND!" He had come into the house originally, while my daughter was watching TV, and he must have climbed under something at the time. There he was, ready to jump into his viv. So, I called the vet clinic back, and rescheduled for last Saturday.
My daughter and I took him in to the vet's on Saturday, and the vet offered a lot of different things to make sure the small bite had made his tail partially die at the tip, and caused the darkness of the bottom half of his tail. He did a blood panel which will be ready sometime tomorrow. He also offered to put him on antibiotics for now, until the white blood cell count comes back, which I agreed to.
The first estimate was for me to give Rin injected antibiotics, and I found out that oral antibiotics are $125 less, so I chose that. I also insisted on getting Bene-bac (spelling?) for him. The vet said that it's controversial but agreed. I have been around the block a few times and KNOW that antibiotics take out the good bacteria. That's a no brainer.
So, now we wait, although he is fairly certain there will be an amputation involved. When I asked him if it would be the small tip at the end, and he said that if it has to happen, it would be to the point where the ridge is on the tail, which is about half way up the tail. The amputation will be another $300 when it's all said and done.
I am soooo upset at that other stupid vet. He hadn't a clue what he was doing. He did not offer up ANY advise nor any alternative such as blood tests, etc. And of course the other vet defended the INACTION of the other vet, probably because he did not want to get involved in a crazy lady suing the other vet over her pet. hah that would not happen, but Im sure he has come across all kinds of crazy when it comes to people and their pets.
The up side is, Rin LOVES the Bene-bac He sees the syringe and he runs for it like it were food. Then opens his mouth and starts to lick before it even touches his lips.
BUT...should I give it to him while he is taking the antibiotics or AFTER the antibiotics are all used??
The vet said to give it to him daily, while I give him antibiotics every other day, but everywhere I read, it says to give it to him AFTER the antibiotics have run it's course.