Hello,
I have a long story to share and not sure where to post it so if I'm in the wrong section please forgive me. Also, there will be pics coming soon!
So, here is our story, a story of 2 sick Beardies. This site has been a God Sent! Anything I did right I learned from here! Some of you may have read about our cl rescues. I posted it in Beardie rescue but don't know how to provide the link. In August my husband and I rescued the 2 sweetest Beardies you could ever know! We named them Talon, {male} and Moya, {female}. They were pretty sick when we got them on the 3rd of August. We took them to a vet, {that mis-sexed our male,} on the 4th of August, They were medicated with 3 different meds, for pin worms, Coccidia and another thing that I can't remember. They took the full course of meds over the month as the vet ordered. The follow up fecal on September 3rd was neg, all "cleared up" per the first vet I took them to.
Thru that month both had appetite issues from being sick and no doubt related to the meds. Talon more than Moya. So, I fed Talon chicken, turkey, squash and applesauce baby food with calcium {and vits added once during that week}. by syringe 3 times a day for a week since he would eat nothing, not one morsel. Moya was eating a bit but also had a very poor appetite so I syringe fed her several times when I didn't believe she had eaten enough. They both were so under weight when we got them. I also gave them both soy yogurt daily since one of the meds was an antibiotic. Slowly he began to eat again, hurray! and her appetite improved. I had always noticed some clicking and popping sounds coming from Moya, and upon listening, also heard it from Talon and in my inexperienced stupidity, I thought it was the sounds they normally made. {Oh, please forgive me my beautiful sick little babies!} Then on Sept. 22 while feeding Talon a small super worm I saw him go to pick one up and clear tan-ish liquid poured from his mouth. It was phlegm. It scared the living daylights out of me! The next day Sept. 23, we took them on an emergency visit to a new vet who was advertised as an experienced exotic/reptile Vet. I hadn't been impressed with the first one. OMG, what a difference! Dr. Keller actually gave them a real physical, going over them both with a fine toothed comb! Unlike the first vet I took them to who held them, pushed on their heads and handed them back, and had a tech check a fecal. Dr Keller checked and moved all of their joints, arms, hands and fingers and legs, feet and toes, and checked their tails too! He checked inside their mouth and looked in their ear holes with a light, he listened to their abdomens and lungs with....are you ready....a stethoscope! He checked their vents. He checked their belly's for constipation and impaction. I told him how we rescued them off of cl and the condition they were in, that they had been seen by another Vet the day after we got them and was medicated for their issues at that time, and had a neg. follow up fecal. I must say that our sweet little babies were excellent at the doctors and tolerated it all without complaint. We hold them several times everyday, play time, snuggle time, treat time, and "don't need a reason to" cuddle time so they both are very comfortable with being handled. Dr. Keller asked all the right questions I would expect a knowledgeable Vet to ask.....enclosure size?......did they have separate enclosures?...... UVB lighting, heat and humidity?....substrate?....diet with greens and live feeders dusted with calcium daily and vits once a week?.....exercise?...... And I told him they get a bath everyday at 9:30 am, and always poo in the bath, and get rinsed in running water of course....lol.....hurray, always clean, spotless enclosure!
OMG! I just can't say enough good about this Doc. As a side note both he and his Vet partner wife had their own Beardies when they were growing up.
Well, both of our beautiful babies had respiratory infections, and probably had had the RI before we got them since I was hearing that clicking in August and the guy that had them before had put them in a damp basement. They both got an injection of Baytril and a script of oral Baytril for 7 days then a recheck on October 3rd. When we went back for the recheck, they still had a few crackles in their lungs so he extended the meds for another week with a recheck in 2 weeks on the Oct.24th. Dr. asked about their bowels due to the antibiotics. I told him I was giving them soy yogurt daily and it was working, no loose or watery stool. I told Dr. Keller Talon was eating very well but Moya was eating nothing at all, that I was syringe feeding her 3 times a day so she wouldn't loose the weight she had gained. He said the Baytril can be very harsh on their GI tract and some Beardies loose their appetite, to continue what I was doing and be sure to offer her feeders and salads daily even though she wasn't eating right now.
We went back for the check up on the 24th. Talon and Moya were both still sick and started to have few fine popping and crackling sounds again. Neither was eating on their own. I had brought a fecal to see if it had anything to do with their poor appetites. They both had tons of pin worms again, and that Coccidia. Dr Keller treated them for it with the meds Albon, Panacur, and continued another 5 days of Baytril. Dr Keller believed their immune systems had been kicked hard by their early non-care and neglect but with all the good and proper care and nutrition they were getting at home now he believed once we could get it all cleared up they would be fine. He doesn't believe at this point it is chronic. So on Nov 7th went back to the vet for check ups. Lungs clear....hurray!.... and fecal neg.....hurray! Talon is eating very well, to well...lol...my fault. He now weighs 540 gms, up from the 120 gm in august, and he is now 17 1/4 inches, but has lost part of his tail, he's my Chubster. Moya weighs 410 gms, up from the 144 gms she weighed in August when we got them, and she is now 16 3/4 inches and also has lost some tail, she is my Little Miss.
Only issue now is Moya's appetite. She still isn't eating anything....nothing! So Dr. Keller checked her all over again and said he felt the bump/lump that tells him she is constipated even though she was passing a tiny amount of stool everyday, I had thought it was tiny because I was feeding her the baby food. So he instructed not to feed her on Tues to see if she could get hungry and stimulate her to eat, warm baths 4 times a day for 20 minutes with very gentle tummy rubs and do it for 48 hours. She had a strange episode in the bath one eve, her 4th bath of the day, she got all dark, almost black all over her whole body and her eyes closed and she started to put her head down, I grabbed her out of the tub, she was limp for about 10 seconds though it seemed like forever, then she perked right back up, put her happy colors on and you'd never know what just happened, What the heck was that? And yes, I'm asking the Vet when we go back Monday. His plan if the warm baths didn't work go to plan B, go back to feeding her baby food like I had been and feed her some baby food applesauce with some olive oil added to it, at least 2 cc's of it and continue the warm baths 4 times a day So I did all that. No BM, so next day I tried one more thing, I gave her about 3 cc's of warm baby prunes, warm baths and tummy rubs. Well, that did it. She cleaned out, so happy she wasn't impacted. But she still is not eating yet. At the last visit Dr. Keller said there is an appetite stimulant he could give her if needed. Well, Monday I'm on my way back to the Vet for her lack of appetite and to see about that stimulant and to ask about that episode she had in the tub, Thank God that hasn't happened again!
Just a note. I am not independently wealthy! The Vet, Dr. Keller, has been so good to us. His office visit for exotics $50 each. He only charged us $50 for the office call for seeing both of them on that first visit and only charged me meds for one but gave me enough for both of them. On all the other visits he has only charged me $25 for the office call, that is seeing and treating both of them. He has only ever charged me meds for one but always given me meds for both of them. He only charged me for 1 fecal though he did both. He's our hero!
So, that is our story. 5 Vet visits in 3 months, and another on Monday. It's been a long 3 months, lots of medications and lots of time and love and finally they are near healthy.
When they crawl up my blouse to my shoulder, wiggling and settling in to snuggle into my neck, when they look up at me and speak with those beautiful eyes, when they always show their happy colors whenever I pick them up, when they don't want to return to their enclosure and hug onto my arm, when they come to the front of their enclosure and sit down patiently waiting for me to pick them up, when they step into my hand to be picked up, when they get a shot at the doctors and run across the exam table and up the front of me to hide under my chin, when they lay sleeping so beautiful and peaceful on my chest, when I look over at my snoozing husbands and one of them is curled up in his neck snoozing too, when they look right at me when I call their name, these and a million other reasons are why I'm in love with them! My husband and I are both retired and we can think of nothing we would rather be doing than being caretakers to these wonderful, sweet, beautiful creatures. We are so very happy we found them, and we are humbled to be able to share their life with them!
I hope you enjoyed our story and it continues.............
I
I have a long story to share and not sure where to post it so if I'm in the wrong section please forgive me. Also, there will be pics coming soon!
So, here is our story, a story of 2 sick Beardies. This site has been a God Sent! Anything I did right I learned from here! Some of you may have read about our cl rescues. I posted it in Beardie rescue but don't know how to provide the link. In August my husband and I rescued the 2 sweetest Beardies you could ever know! We named them Talon, {male} and Moya, {female}. They were pretty sick when we got them on the 3rd of August. We took them to a vet, {that mis-sexed our male,} on the 4th of August, They were medicated with 3 different meds, for pin worms, Coccidia and another thing that I can't remember. They took the full course of meds over the month as the vet ordered. The follow up fecal on September 3rd was neg, all "cleared up" per the first vet I took them to.
Thru that month both had appetite issues from being sick and no doubt related to the meds. Talon more than Moya. So, I fed Talon chicken, turkey, squash and applesauce baby food with calcium {and vits added once during that week}. by syringe 3 times a day for a week since he would eat nothing, not one morsel. Moya was eating a bit but also had a very poor appetite so I syringe fed her several times when I didn't believe she had eaten enough. They both were so under weight when we got them. I also gave them both soy yogurt daily since one of the meds was an antibiotic. Slowly he began to eat again, hurray! and her appetite improved. I had always noticed some clicking and popping sounds coming from Moya, and upon listening, also heard it from Talon and in my inexperienced stupidity, I thought it was the sounds they normally made. {Oh, please forgive me my beautiful sick little babies!} Then on Sept. 22 while feeding Talon a small super worm I saw him go to pick one up and clear tan-ish liquid poured from his mouth. It was phlegm. It scared the living daylights out of me! The next day Sept. 23, we took them on an emergency visit to a new vet who was advertised as an experienced exotic/reptile Vet. I hadn't been impressed with the first one. OMG, what a difference! Dr. Keller actually gave them a real physical, going over them both with a fine toothed comb! Unlike the first vet I took them to who held them, pushed on their heads and handed them back, and had a tech check a fecal. Dr Keller checked and moved all of their joints, arms, hands and fingers and legs, feet and toes, and checked their tails too! He checked inside their mouth and looked in their ear holes with a light, he listened to their abdomens and lungs with....are you ready....a stethoscope! He checked their vents. He checked their belly's for constipation and impaction. I told him how we rescued them off of cl and the condition they were in, that they had been seen by another Vet the day after we got them and was medicated for their issues at that time, and had a neg. follow up fecal. I must say that our sweet little babies were excellent at the doctors and tolerated it all without complaint. We hold them several times everyday, play time, snuggle time, treat time, and "don't need a reason to" cuddle time so they both are very comfortable with being handled. Dr. Keller asked all the right questions I would expect a knowledgeable Vet to ask.....enclosure size?......did they have separate enclosures?...... UVB lighting, heat and humidity?....substrate?....diet with greens and live feeders dusted with calcium daily and vits once a week?.....exercise?...... And I told him they get a bath everyday at 9:30 am, and always poo in the bath, and get rinsed in running water of course....lol.....hurray, always clean, spotless enclosure!
OMG! I just can't say enough good about this Doc. As a side note both he and his Vet partner wife had their own Beardies when they were growing up.
Well, both of our beautiful babies had respiratory infections, and probably had had the RI before we got them since I was hearing that clicking in August and the guy that had them before had put them in a damp basement. They both got an injection of Baytril and a script of oral Baytril for 7 days then a recheck on October 3rd. When we went back for the recheck, they still had a few crackles in their lungs so he extended the meds for another week with a recheck in 2 weeks on the Oct.24th. Dr. asked about their bowels due to the antibiotics. I told him I was giving them soy yogurt daily and it was working, no loose or watery stool. I told Dr. Keller Talon was eating very well but Moya was eating nothing at all, that I was syringe feeding her 3 times a day so she wouldn't loose the weight she had gained. He said the Baytril can be very harsh on their GI tract and some Beardies loose their appetite, to continue what I was doing and be sure to offer her feeders and salads daily even though she wasn't eating right now.
We went back for the check up on the 24th. Talon and Moya were both still sick and started to have few fine popping and crackling sounds again. Neither was eating on their own. I had brought a fecal to see if it had anything to do with their poor appetites. They both had tons of pin worms again, and that Coccidia. Dr Keller treated them for it with the meds Albon, Panacur, and continued another 5 days of Baytril. Dr Keller believed their immune systems had been kicked hard by their early non-care and neglect but with all the good and proper care and nutrition they were getting at home now he believed once we could get it all cleared up they would be fine. He doesn't believe at this point it is chronic. So on Nov 7th went back to the vet for check ups. Lungs clear....hurray!.... and fecal neg.....hurray! Talon is eating very well, to well...lol...my fault. He now weighs 540 gms, up from the 120 gm in august, and he is now 17 1/4 inches, but has lost part of his tail, he's my Chubster. Moya weighs 410 gms, up from the 144 gms she weighed in August when we got them, and she is now 16 3/4 inches and also has lost some tail, she is my Little Miss.
Only issue now is Moya's appetite. She still isn't eating anything....nothing! So Dr. Keller checked her all over again and said he felt the bump/lump that tells him she is constipated even though she was passing a tiny amount of stool everyday, I had thought it was tiny because I was feeding her the baby food. So he instructed not to feed her on Tues to see if she could get hungry and stimulate her to eat, warm baths 4 times a day for 20 minutes with very gentle tummy rubs and do it for 48 hours. She had a strange episode in the bath one eve, her 4th bath of the day, she got all dark, almost black all over her whole body and her eyes closed and she started to put her head down, I grabbed her out of the tub, she was limp for about 10 seconds though it seemed like forever, then she perked right back up, put her happy colors on and you'd never know what just happened, What the heck was that? And yes, I'm asking the Vet when we go back Monday. His plan if the warm baths didn't work go to plan B, go back to feeding her baby food like I had been and feed her some baby food applesauce with some olive oil added to it, at least 2 cc's of it and continue the warm baths 4 times a day So I did all that. No BM, so next day I tried one more thing, I gave her about 3 cc's of warm baby prunes, warm baths and tummy rubs. Well, that did it. She cleaned out, so happy she wasn't impacted. But she still is not eating yet. At the last visit Dr. Keller said there is an appetite stimulant he could give her if needed. Well, Monday I'm on my way back to the Vet for her lack of appetite and to see about that stimulant and to ask about that episode she had in the tub, Thank God that hasn't happened again!
Just a note. I am not independently wealthy! The Vet, Dr. Keller, has been so good to us. His office visit for exotics $50 each. He only charged us $50 for the office call for seeing both of them on that first visit and only charged me meds for one but gave me enough for both of them. On all the other visits he has only charged me $25 for the office call, that is seeing and treating both of them. He has only ever charged me meds for one but always given me meds for both of them. He only charged me for 1 fecal though he did both. He's our hero!
So, that is our story. 5 Vet visits in 3 months, and another on Monday. It's been a long 3 months, lots of medications and lots of time and love and finally they are near healthy.
When they crawl up my blouse to my shoulder, wiggling and settling in to snuggle into my neck, when they look up at me and speak with those beautiful eyes, when they always show their happy colors whenever I pick them up, when they don't want to return to their enclosure and hug onto my arm, when they come to the front of their enclosure and sit down patiently waiting for me to pick them up, when they step into my hand to be picked up, when they get a shot at the doctors and run across the exam table and up the front of me to hide under my chin, when they lay sleeping so beautiful and peaceful on my chest, when I look over at my snoozing husbands and one of them is curled up in his neck snoozing too, when they look right at me when I call their name, these and a million other reasons are why I'm in love with them! My husband and I are both retired and we can think of nothing we would rather be doing than being caretakers to these wonderful, sweet, beautiful creatures. We are so very happy we found them, and we are humbled to be able to share their life with them!
I hope you enjoyed our story and it continues.............
I
