Sick dragon but all tests normal

[Ndlujan]

We took Camo back to the vet today, she has put on a little weight, but not much. It's still better than losing like the last couple of times though.
The vet put her under anesthesia and took a further look into her eye, she couldn't find anything wrong with it at all. She gave Camo an injection of antibiotics and sent some home for me to give her an injection every 3 days for the next 12 days. She is hoping this will work better for her eye than drops and that maybe there is an infection that is not being picked up by them.
Camo hasn't eaten anymore on her own since the one cricket that she ate last week. I am still syringe feeding her the critical care and am also going to start blending up some greens, veggies and bugs to give her in a syringe as well. We have an appointment scheduled to go back to the Vet on October 5th, hopefully she will be doing better by then.

 

[Ndlujan]

At Camo's visit yesterday, her eye issue was put on hold for the time being. She has a mass in her tummy that should not be there. The vet said it's close to her intestines and her liver and most likely what is causing her not to eat because the pressure from eating is causing her pain. Camo is having surgery today to remove the mass. Hopefully they don't find anything too terrible during the surgery, the vet said if they find something that causes them to believe it would be more humane to euthanize her they will call me during surgery, I'm really really hoping i do not get that phone call. Otherwise they will call me when the surgery is over and let me know how everything went and what the mass was. As long as everything goes well i should be able to pick her up tomorrow. If anyone reads this today, please say a prayer for my girl.

 

[AHBD]

Aw, poor girl....I really hope that your phone call will be what you want to hear ! You've taken great care of her and some beardies can bounce back from major surgery so hopefully there won't be any complications and she will pull through !

 

[onceblue]

I'm so sorry about the mass. I hope the surgery goes well for your beardie.

 

[Ndlujan]

Thank you both

Camo made it through the surgery just fine and is in recovery. The mass was actually a big blob of stomach content that was trapped in her stomach. They don't know why though. They took a biopsy of her stomach and her liver that will hopefully give us more info as to what is going on there. We won't know any results for about 2 weeks from the biopsies though. I can pick her up tomorrow afternoon as long as she uses the restroom

 

[AHBD]

Hey, that's great news so far. So the vet said it wasn't a growth but it was a mass of undigested food ? Very odd !

 

[Ndlujan]

Yes, she called it stomach content, when i asked exactly what that meant she said food that just got stuck there. I thought it was quite odd too! She uses the restroom once or twice a day so everything has been having to get past that glob of food. I'm sure it hurt.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Wow, how odd! I am glad to hear she came through surgery well & that it wasn't a cancerous mass though.
How is she doing this evening?
I bet she sure feels better too! How late in the day do you feed her?

Tracie

 

[Ndlujan]

Hi Tracie, I just got to pick her this morning. She's still a bit sleepy from anesthesia, but wakes if she's touched. I'm sure that's because she's in pain. The vet said it was critical care mixture that was impacted in her tummy which is even more odd. I always feed her by 6:30 - 7:00 at the latest and her lights don't go off until 9:00-9:30.
I had her basking spot at 105 farenheit but the previous vet told me that was to hot and to get a smaller bulb to lower the basking area to 95-97 farenheit. I did that and then the impaction happened. So the vet that did get surgery said to switch back to the bigger bulb. That's what could have caused it?

 

[Ndlujan]

So today has been one week since Camo's surgery. She has only been allowed 1ml of critical care mix every 3-4 hours and had not gotten to the point where she would take a while 4 ml during a one day period but she was close. She was not passing bowel movements, but she was passing urate but struggling to do so.
When i came home on lunch today to feed her she was very lethargic and not responsive to the sound of my voice, which she always is. She did wake when i picked her up but laid right back down to sleep as soon as i put her back in her viv. Needless to say i had to take her back to the vet this evening. They said she is very dehydrated despite getting plenty of fluids through her critical care mix. Evidently the dehydration is keeping her from being able to make a bowel movement. They kept her at the vet to get her hydrated and hopefully get her to pass a bowel movement, and to keep her under observation for a few days.
Her biopsy results of her stomach and liver are not back yet.
I'm very worried about her, especially the dehydration. She's always thirsty no matter how much water she gets and that just doesn't seem right to me.
I'm asking for prayers for her again please. She's such a sweet girl and her life has been so rough. I just want to see her well and happy. I feel so bad for her.

 

[CooperDragon]

Poor girl. I hope they're able to keep her hydrated and get her better soon. My thoughts and best wishes are with her!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I am sorry I had not responded back on your thread.
Wow, impacted critical care, really? Geez, how terrible. I hate to hear you had to take her back to the vets due to dehydration. I am glad she came out of her anesthesia without any problems.
How long do you think they may keep her there again?
I hope they are able to get her system hydrated & working better soon. I will be thinking about you both. Excessive thirst can be liver or kidney issues so I hope it isn't that.

Tracie

 

[Ndlujan]

Thank you both for your well wishes for her.

Tracie, that's ok. I see you comment on a lot of posts and I'm sure you are busy! I'm not sure how long they'll keep her, probably a few days. They want her to use the bathroom while she's there as well. She had been passing urates, but they were getting smaller. We were all worried about impaction again, the good news was they felt around and said there was nothing that felt abnormal like an impaction would. The vet did say that the excessive thirst could be a liver issue so she's glad they did the liver biopsy. I'm just hoping they can figure out the issue so we can start getting her some treatment for whatever it is. Do you know if there is an actual treatment for liver issues?

 

[CooperDragon]

I've heard of folks using milk thistle to treat liver problems with some success. It sounds like your vet is quite competent so she is in good hands.

 

[Ndlujan]

Thank you, I will mention that if her liver biopsy comes back abnormal. I do think she is in good hands at this vet, so that helps. They gave her x rays with contrast today to make for sure that she wasn't getting impacted again and to make sure that her surgery site had not ruptured. The x rays revealed good news, things are moving along in her digestive tract, just slowly and no ruptures. They are keeping her for a few more days so that they can tube feed her to get plenty of good nutrition in her and keep giving her injections of fluid. They said she has perked up and is looking around too. I'm very happy that she's doing so well, I'll be even happier when she gets to come home.