Seizure...Stroke?

[xp29]

She is such a sweetie. I understand not over feeding pets. I do get it, but im not really a fan of not offering food daily. Beardies are pretty good about not gorging themselves. I keep fresh salad everday, but i also offer insects. If they want them they eat them, if they don't want them they ignore them. But one thing about it their little bellies are not going to be hungry. I know alot of people will disagree with me but my beardies are healthy and at a good weight

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How is Littlefoote doing today, any changes or improvements?
Please keep us posted on how she is doing, we are all pulling for her.

Tracie

 

[bayoupig5]

Hello Tracie and all who are following this thread.

Littlefoot is truckin' along. I would not say there is really any improvement, but things are not worse (at least on the outside). I have not seen any toe tapping in a week or so, but given that she does not do this a lot anyway I am not going to say it is resolved. She is still a very gimpy walker, although, she seems to be a stronger gimpy walker Again, this is nothing new, and has been noticed since the septic arthritis years ago, although it has got worse over the years and shakier.

She is eating very well, still won't eat those veggies despite adding cherries, or strawberries or bee pollen...sigh. Although yesterday I gave her hornworms (3) and silks (4) and she got some veg. on those sticky legs. I am giving her my Magic Bullet slurries as well, so she gets at least 10 mls of veg anyway.

She gets up every morning, and will crawl out her bed, bask 3/4 of the day and then retreat to her cool side. She is not black bearded at all. She takes naps, but she is 10.5, so I guess that is normal.

If I figure out how to upload video to here, I got some walking videos to post. In the meantime, this is how she gets tucked into bed every night. I bolster her in case of further seizure, but so far, so good.

She is taking her liquid calcium every day and is still on the ceftazidime injections. We have a follow up scheduled for Aug 16th.

 

[bayoupig5]

Walking Video Links:

On Concrete

On Grass

 

[xp29]

Bless her little heart thats hard to watch. But she looks happy in the pics.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Poor girl, but you gotta hand it to her she keeps going! I am impressed, she is such a trooper.
I am so happy that you have been able to give her the will to live because she is happy & that
encourages her to want to be with you.
Maybe she will improve a little along the way, it is hard to know but we are all pulling for her.

Tracie

 

[bayoupig5]

Breaks My Heart...

Well I had Littlefoot at the vet on Tuesday last week for her follow up blood work. I still do not know the results of that yet, but despite those results things have taken a turn.

I noticed that she had some stuck shed on her tail yesterday and gave her three baths, two betadine soaks (10 min) and then wrapped it overnight in regular pain free Polysporin. The last part of her tail about 1 cm was hard and petrified which I figured must be tail rot. However, it was not too black, and the other part of her tail looked good. The stuck shed did leave a red wound on the the healthy part of her tail, which is why I wrapped it overnight. Not tight, I made sure....

This morning I got up, took the bandage off and to my horror this rot (?) traveled up her tail about 2-3 cm more!! Literally got bigger two to three times overnight. I do not understand...she is still on Ceftazidime, and she has had antibiotic treatment topically as well. How on earth can she even have tail rot, and why is it so fast!

I can only think that this may be part of her overall neurological issue, and maybe she is not longer getting the blood supply she needs to her tail. The stuck shed was not constricting per se, it just made the tail a little darker in color.

I was supposed to get a call from the vet today about her blood results, but given this new development I think I finally have to make that hard decision. Poor girl could not tolerate a surgery anyway.

Man this just breaks me.

 

[AHBD]

Aw man, poor thing can't catch a break. This might sound scary but if you want you can just have the vet [ or yourself with a sterile scissor ] cut that part off, a little way past the shriveled area. Without anesthesia, just a very quick cut or swipe .don't seem to feel much pain in their tails and it might not even bother her much. It's up to you, if you are against it I understand. If she can't go under anesthesia this is an option. Done at home would be less stressful.

 

[xp29]

Oh my, I'm sorry to hear this. Bless her heart. My heart goes out to both of you.

 

[bayoupig5]

I know the tail can be cut, I have a call into the vet. My real concern is the rapid onset of this, while also being on antibiotics. Most cases of tail rot are bacterial...stuck shed was not constricting that I could tell, tail was of normal shape. This is super nerve racking as well, cause as I wait...it is getting further up the tail. I have never experienced tail rot before, but this seems awfully rapid.

Vets here are not the greatest in terms of customer service they are not very responsive which makes this all the more stressful. So all I can do at this point is sit and wait. I do not want to do anything at home at tis point as I know she has not been 100% for a while now. She was battling some sort of infection or inflammation prior to this incident, which is why she was on Ceftazidime in the first place.

Does tail rot normally progress this rapidly?

 

[AHBD]

I don't think it goes this rapidly, it seems that somehow the extra soaks + wrapping it had some type of effect on it, maybe too much betadine dried it out. I'm just not sure. The reason I mentioned doing it at home is that the vet visit [ travel , vet handling her, cold exam table, etc] can cause more stress whereas her not knowing anything at home, a quick snip, application of gauze pad with a little water/betadine mix could be very quickly done. Again though, I know you might not be up for that but it could be done.

 

[bayoupig5]

Hey AHBD thanks for your responses,

I only did two Betadine soaks yesterday, and both were the mixture of weak to medium tea for 10 minutes, so I do not think this is the culprit of the rapid onset. Maybe removing the stuck shed exacerbated the issue, but I was so careful and did not break the tail end, was brushing the area with a soft bristle toothbrush and lightly scraping the loose skin with my short nails....who knows.

I got a call from the vet and she is going to consult with another specialist by phone, but feels that nothing should be done with the tail at this point, other than Betadine soaks. She said that she did not want to amputate anything until it stopped (if it stops). I will keep soaking with Betadine 2-3 times per day as per the vets advice and wait it out. I absolutely hate this for her, and again feel like a horrible beardie parent. All those questions, is this something I did, could I have done something else, could I have done more, should I be doing more, etc...

I was waiting for the blood work, but unfortunately the lab failed to test what we really needed and we only got half the numbers back. So her white cell count was unfortunately not rechecked. I do not even know if we are still dealing with an infection or not. Vet does not want to draw blood again so soon, due to the fact that she currently has a tail issue and that the infection on her tail will likely display an high WBC again. It is just a cataclysm of events. One thing after the other....sigh.

Vet does not feel this issue is entirely bacterial thought, and is thinking a blood clot or deposit of some sort may have clogged the supply to her tail. I am waiting for more word from this specialist, and maybe we can gain some light on this.

I really do not want her to suffer, that is my main concern, but despite everything she has gained 30 grams the last 5 wks, and has already eaten two large hornworms today.

I will update once I hear anything back.

 

[xp29]

She is definitely a fighter, we are all rooting for her!

 

[AHBD]

Yeah, this is really a super tough situation all around. I really feel for you and I'm rooting for your little wobbly girl. Good thing she's still eating for now , that's a little bit of good news.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Poor girl, that is terrible this has happened. It is absolutely nothing you did. We are all rooting for
her & I hope things turn around for her.
Tail rot usually doesn't progress that quickly so it is surprising this occurred like this. Have you tried
raw honey on the area instead or would that be too much hassle?
Is she still on the Ceftz or did you finish that up right now?

Let us know how she is doing.
Tracie