Rushing to vet

[acidburn01]

Last night, I had toothless out while I was bleaching sections of my daughters hair. He was running in and out of the bathroom, around the room, etc. Nothing new there. Eventually I put him under the blanket and saw he had a black beard, but that's not necessarily uncommon for him, considering we have three other girls and two boys and he did see one of the girls and was at her tank once or twice. I get home from work around 11:30 this morning and went to get him out and hes still really black beard. (We separated their tanks so he can no longer see any other lizard from his tank) he's blackboard and his back is really light/pale and the last part of his tail is dark too, which both aren't super common for him. The pale back is his natural color but he always is darker. So, I get him out, bring him to the room and when I set him down, he doesn't sit up like normal. He just kinda lays down, like he has no energy. When he spotted Nova, he did a bit of headbobbing but he didn't wanna walk, run or eat a hornworm. I offered water, to which he ran to, but then like he ran out of batteries, just sat at the edge of the bowl, like he didn't have energy to tilt his head down. He did eventually and drank a bit before stopping abruptly. He didn't tilt his head up, so I'm assuming he swallowed it but instead kept slowly closing his eyes and letting his head sorta droop down, like he was trying to go to sleep. And if any of you know Toothless, you all know this is the 100% exact opposite of his personality.

So, we're rushing him to the uga vet emergency department, which is an hour and a half away. While I was extra careful to not drop any bleach onto the floor last night, there is always that voice in the back of my head that says "what if.?" So, naturally, not only am I panicking because Toothless seems VERY ill, I'm 100% blaming myself and can't stop crying. There isn't anything he could have eaten that would have made him this sick, save for maybe a tiny piece of stray paper, maybe a fuzzball or something.? He has had some pretty bad diarrhea the last couple of days, like clear the room nasty smelling but I don't think the two are related.

Fingers crossed we leave uga with our boy.

 

[xp29]

Last night, I had toothless out while I was bleaching sections of my daughters hair. He was running in and out of the bathroom, around the room, etc. Nothing new there. Eventually I put him under the blanket and saw he had a black beard, but that's not necessarily uncommon for him, considering we have three other girls and two boys and he did see one of the girls and was at her tank once or twice. I get home from work around 11:30 this morning and went to get him out and hes still really black beard. (We separated their tanks so he can no longer see any other lizard from his tank) he's blackboard and his back is really light/pale and the last part of his tail is dark too, which both aren't super common for him. The pale back is his natural color but he always is darker. So, I get him out, bring him to the room and when I set him down, he doesn't sit up like normal. He just kinda lays down, like he has no energy. When he spotted Nova, he did a bit of headbobbing but he didn't wanna walk, run or eat a hornworm. I offered water, to which he ran to, but then like he ran out of batteries, just sat at the edge of the bowl, like he didn't have energy to tilt his head down. He did eventually and drank a bit before stopping abruptly. He didn't tilt his head up, so I'm assuming he swallowed it but instead kept slowly closing his eyes and letting his head sorta droop down, like he was trying to go to sleep. And if any of you know Toothless, you all know this is the 100% exact opposite of his personality.

So, we're rushing him to the uga vet emergency department, which is an hour and a half away. While I was extra careful to not drop any bleach onto the floor last night, there is always that voice in the back of my head that says "what if.?" So, naturally, not only am I panicking because Toothless seems VERY ill, I'm 100% blaming myself and can't stop crying. There isn't anything he could have eaten that would have made him this sick, save for maybe a tiny piece of stray paper, maybe a fuzzball or something.? He has had some pretty bad diarrhea the last couple of days, like clear the room nasty smelling but I don't think the two are related.

Fingers crossed we leave uga with our boy.

Breathing the bleach is probably harder on them than ingesting it. The fumes may have gotten to him.
Honestly though if hos poop is that bad he probably has a parasite.
Keep us posted please.

 

[AHBD]

Oh boy, hopefully the vet can figure things out. A piece of paper or fuzzball would do nothing at all but IF a drop of something toxic was on the floor he might have ingested something. If that DID happen, chances are thst it wasn't enough to kill him but enough to make him sick. They might do a little bit of charcoal therapy just in case. Then there might have been a bottle cap, rubber band, etc.
Hope to hear a good update.

 

[acidburn01]

Breathing the bleach is probably harder on them than ingesting it. The fumes may have gotten to him.
Honestly though if hos poop is that bad he probably has a parasite.
Keep us posted please.

Oh boy, hopefully the vet can figure things out. A piece of paper or fuzzball would do nothing at all but IF a drop of something toxic was on the floor he might have ingested something. If that DID happen, chances are thst it wasn't enough to kill him but enough to make him sick. They might do a little bit of charcoal therapy just in case. Then there might have been a bottle cap, rubber band, etc.
Hope to hear a good update.

Well, I made sure to keep an eye on the floor, to make sure i didn't drop anything and while he ran in and out of the bathroom, he didn't come over to where I was standing. But I did mention the possibility to the vet.

The vet said his vitals were good, his breathing is a bit labored and symptoms are non specific so they're keeping him overnight for supportive care, bloodwork, fecal and ct scan and to give him some oxygen. They did say when they took him back, he was alert, holding himself up and even bit a stick they offered to gage his alertness. So fingers crossed still.

 

[MollyM]

Well, I made sure to keep an eye on the floor, to make sure i didn't drop anything and while he ran in and out of the bathroom, he didn't come over to where I was standing. But I did mention the possibility to the vet.

The vet said his vitals were good, his breathing is a bit labored and symptoms are non specific so they're keeping him overnight for supportive care, bloodwork, fecal and ct scan and to give him some oxygen. They did say when they took him back, he was alert, holding himself up and even bit a stick they offered to gage his alertness. So fingers crossed still.

Fingers crossed, hope everything will be ok

 

[acidburn01]

I called for an update on Toofs. And they just said no news is good news and so they aren't doing overnight updates and I'm like, I just wanna know if he's more alert now or not. They said the exotic vet will call us first thing and thankfully dr. Kendall is the vet who worked on Nova's surgery case and has dealt with Toothless, when we brought him to be a blood donor for her surgery. So, they'll call around 8ish and its gonna be a long night. I dont think I'll be able to sleep at all and I'm exhausted. I cried all afternoon in fear of Toothless. You guys know how active he is and if you could have seen it, it was so scary. He was so... listless, I'd have to pick him up and just kinda move him to make sure his eyes opened and he was still alive. I had him on my chest and he kept desperately crawling to my face and rubbing his face/body against my face, like a cat. He hasn't tried to cuddle with my face (more specifically, my mouth because of warm breath) since he was a baby, like 5 months old and he'll be 3 in June. I'd get him out first thing in the morning and put him on my chest and he'd crawl up to press his little body against my mouth so I could breathe on him and he loved the warmth. So, him doing that tells me he's definitely not feeling well. Worst case, I hope he just ended up licking up something that made him sick and some oxygen and fluids will make him feel better. Worst case, I did drop some bleach, even just a drop, and he licked it up and I poisoned my lizard.

Y'all, i just want my Toofy. I love all my lizards so so so much, they're all my babies, but as you guys know, Toofs was my *first* baby. That i spent a long time baby talking and hand feeding him to earn his trust, to create the bond we have. The others are my babies but Toothless is my **baby** and I just want him home and okay.

Toofy photo as payment for my pathetic rant. The Tooficorn.

 

[acidburn01]

Vet called. Said his rib indentions were turning dark.? So she gave him some pain meds and he lightened up some, but hes not wanting to move around much this morning. She said theyre going to do a ct scan today but because hes critical, he could pass under sedation. And even though she said his risk is lower than what nova's was going into surgery, but the way she said it filled me with dread. She said his bloodwork showed fatty liver disease, but that was super common and they get it at the drop of a hat. Hes a good weight, a good size, is active and eats okay. He basks most of the day and always seemed so healthy. I don't understand what could be making him so ill so quickly. I dont kmow how to handle this

 

[xp29]

Hopefully the lil guy pulls through, I do know how much you love him. I remember when you got him as far as that goes. It's damn hard seeing them suffer, I've been there. My heart goes out to you. Try to stay positive, the good news is at least he didn't get into something poisonous. Hopefully there is something the vet can do.

 

[acidburn01]

Hopefully the lil guy pulls through, I do know how much you love him. I remember when you got him as far as that goes. It's damn hard seeing them suffer, I've been there. My heart goes out to you. Try to stay positive, the good news is at least he didn't get into something poisonous. Hopefully there is something the vet can do.

Well. They tried to call but for some reason, because they call from private numbers, unless they call from a landline, at&t blocks it and it can't be turned off. He went through the ct scan a few hours ago and did well. He's still groggy from the sedative. They're waiting to get with radiology but the student was willing to tell me that he didn't see anything out of ordinary or obvious but did notice the fatpad in his chest was a bit bigger than usual and that may be causing his breathing and there was some changes in his liver since yesterday but wouldn't say either way. Upside is he's otherwise stable and even though he's groggy, they can rouse him, but he tries to go back to sleep and unfortunately still does have the black beard. Which tracks for Toothless, he's pretty active but when hes ready to sleep, he's like a 13 year old boy, there's no waking him to do anything. Another upside is he isn't on oxygyn but they will most likely keep him another night for observation and will call to discuss his ct scan in a few hours and no news is still good news. So by the not being on oxygyn alone, I've got hope for him.

 

[AHBD]

Thanks for the update, I really hope he improves and you get your little fella back soon.

 

[xp29]

Well. They tried to call but for some reason, because they call from private numbers, unless they call from a landline, at&t blocks it and it can't be turned off. He went through the ct scan a few hours ago and did well. He's still groggy from the sedative. They're waiting to get with radiology but the student was willing to tell me that he didn't see anything out of ordinary or obvious but did notice the fatpad in his chest was a bit bigger than usual and that may be causing his breathing and there was some changes in his liver since yesterday but wouldn't say either way. Upside is he's otherwise stable and even though he's groggy, they can rouse him, but he tries to go back to sleep and unfortunately still does have the black beard. Which tracks for Toothless, he's pretty active but when hes ready to sleep, he's like a 13 year old boy, there's no waking him to do anything. Another upside is he isn't on oxygyn but they will most likely keep him another night for observation and will call to discuss his ct scan in a few hours and no news is still good news. So by the not being on oxygyn alone, I've got hope for him.

Man you guys have been through it. If he handled the anesthesia ok he is probably stronger than you thought. Christina and I will be worrying right with you.

 

[acidburn01]

Man you guys have been through it. If he handled the anesthesia ok he is probably stronger than you thought. Christina and I will be worrying right with you.

That and not being on oxygyn today have me the most hopeful. The fact that the doc didn't see anything glaringly obvious does have me a bit concerned, though. He likes to slip down the side of our bed into the floor and when he lands, it looks awful. Like full scorpion that skateboards will do so im hoping he didnt break anything. Id feel really damn awful for wiggling him around to make sure he was alive on the way to the vet.

 

[xp29]

That and not being on oxygyn today have me the most hopeful. The fact that the doc didn't see anything glaringly obvious does have me a bit concerned, though. He likes to slip down the side of our bed into the floor and when he lands, it looks awful. Like full scorpion that skateboards will do so im hoping he didnt break anything. Id feel really damn awful for wiggling him around to make sure he was alive on the way to the vet.

I've been guilty of that to. I'll do it sometimes if my guys are napping at weird times. "Let me see those eye balls"

 

[acidburn01]

I've been guilty of that to. I'll do it sometimes if my guys are napping at weird times. "Let me see those eye balls"

They finally called and said hes morbidly obese. Like.?¿?¿ she said his fat body in his chest is very large and needs to be on a diet but like.?? Toothless barely eats and is long, how tf is he overweight.?¿? She said his fat pads in his chest are pushing on his lungs, hence his hard breathing, and his other organs. And they said he is experiencing the fatty liver disease, but said it's super common in captive beardies and his gallbladder has some stones. But I guess that doesn't explain how this all happened literally overnight. They said theyre going to give him supportive care and send him home with some liver protectant meds, gallbladder meds and pain meds and we can pick him up tomorrow.

I refuse to believe that he's overweight. He's maybe 710g and is just under 22 inches long.

 

[xp29]

They finally called and said hes morbidly obese. Like.?¿?¿ she said his fat body in his chest is very large and needs to be on a diet but like.?? Toothless barely eats and is long, how tf is he overweight.?¿? She said his fat pads in his chest are pushing on his lungs, hence his hard breathing, and his other organs. And they said he is experiencing the fatty liver disease, but said it's super common in captive beardies and his gallbladder has some stones. But I guess that doesn't explain how this all happened literally overnight. They said theyre going to give him supportive care and send him home with some liver protectant meds, gallbladder meds and pain meds and we can pick him up tomorrow.

I refuse to believe that he's overweight. He's maybe 710g and is just under 22 inches long.

I know the fatty liver disease is a big issue with these guys. I suspect we been keeping captive bred for so long we've forgotten what the wilds look like.
Hopefully the meds help him feel better very quickly.
Don't beat yourself up about not picking up on it sooner. In my experience they are perfectly normal and then they are not. They really do hide illness very well.