The Dresden Files - 12/9 Ember is now at peace

I couldn't help myself with the title of this thread. It makes me smile! The Dresden Files are some of my favorite fantasy books about a magician/warlock detective in Chicago. I love them and the name, so my new beardie baby is now Dresden. He will soon have a brother whom I am adopting this weekend from a family not far from me. They are moving out of state and want him to have a good home. They tried to sell him on CL but had no takers, or if they did they didn't like who was inquiring because they want him to have a good home. They are giving me him, plus his whole 55 gallon tank and stand for super cheap.
Dresden was 10 inches and 47 grams as of 8/3/2011 and was hatched the week of May 9th, 2011 which makes him 13 weeks old.

Here is Dresden as of this morning

This is the soon-to-be-brother. I need to find him a name. How can you name a beardie before you meet him or her?

--Maggie

 

[McSkweeky]

Her right hip looks a little odd to me too - not sure if it looks dislocated or if it's funny. The bone seems to stick out more on that side and her leg almost seems like it sits lower on the hip joint. It's hard to tell in the photo though..

Right leg (swollen) vs left leg (normal)

Underside of her right foot - even that is swollen

Close up of the toes on her left foot. Notice the swollen joints :/

Whole body! Her arm looks great

And because I had a camera out while Dres was sleeping rather cute-like and his pudgy belly is hanging out

 

[evanescent]

Rea - she's been doing great, which is why I wasn't super worried about her foot. But it's not getting better so I decided that I'll have to bite the bullet and get her into the vet this week. At least she's eating like a pig and still happy!

Her arm is looking great. It's healed up very well. The vet was impressed with her - she's a star! I'll take a couple pics here soon just so you can see. I know you already don't sleep and I don't want you to worry about her too.

Dresden's head is finally shedding. He looked like his head was exploding out of a paper sack when I got home from work today lol Now his body is in pre-shed! I can't wait to see his colors again.

*runs to take pics for Rea*

Great about Dres' head shed..is it all bright and pretty now? ^_^
He's beautiful, btw. c:

Don't wake her up, though it's probably too late now xD
I do sleep..just not as much as a teenager probably should. xP
I sometimes take midafternoon naps, though. O:
Yeah, I think you told me about the vet thing, how they were all impressed at how well-behaved she was and stuff.
Starbaby, lol.. also great about her arm. I know it should be fully healed by now, but Fizzy's tail still irks her sometimes, and she probably lost that years ago. missing limbs must suck, I am glad I still have all of mine. >.<

EDIT: Oh wow, I was so slow that you were done taking pics by the time I posted this xD

 

[evanescent]

Her entire right side of her leg/hip area in general seems to be swollen. ;^;

cuz her thigh seems a bit bigger than the left one as well, and obviously her foot..poor baby T--T and her left toes look awful..
do you think it could be gout? .__. kind of looks like it...I really hope not...</3

Everything from the belly up looks great, though.. her colours are really developing as she gets bigger and stuff. O:
also: Dres looks so adorable just clinging to his log..he looks like he's having a nice dream. x3

 

[MissT]

Oh poor Ember
Hopefully it is nothing serious. Maybe just pseudogout in which case it can be cured. She is too little for blood tests though, I think, so the vet *might* run an xray and possibly aspirate some fluids from around her joints to see if there is any tophi build up. Build up and swelling doesn't usually start until uric acid levels reach 10+ :? Phoebes level was 9 when we caught it although we are yet to confirm her gout- still haven't run xrays or aspirated fluids - that will all be done when she goes back to the vet in a couple of weeks. Hopefully the allopurinol, black cherry and serrapeptase will have helped to keep it at bay as she isn't swollen just has 'puffy' looking forearms.
I would get some serrapeptase for her too (available from Tracie). It helps a lot with swelling and discomfort- Phoebe LOVES hers and so did little Snoopy.
I honestly don't know if the vet will put her on allopurinol :? If he does think it is gout and gives allopurinol tablets, Tracie can tell you how to mix it into a suspension using karo syrup- I had to spend £26 on a bottle of karo since it's a specialist item over here- anything for my babies lol!

 

[McSkweeky]

I posted an update on her health thread here http://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=159410

My roommate did me a huge favor and dropped Ember off at the vet for me. After X-rays, blood taken for a blood culture, and an hour wait to see the doctor, Ember has septic arthritis. The doctor suspects that she may have gotten her blood infected when she was bitten as a wee baby and it's been slowly affecting her body. I have a copy of the X-ray but it's only viewable on a PC and I have a Macbook at home. I will post it up tomorrow when I'm at work. It shows degeneration of the joints, knees, elbows, and her right hip. She's going to be treated with injectable antibiotics which are to be given inter-muscular in her forearms. The doctor said that if we treat it aggressively enough that it should clear up the infection and hopefully the bone will grow back.

I want to cry for my little girl. I feel so bad for her.

 

[McSkweeky]

I need to post some happy moments now.

Dresden is 302 grams!! Ember is 42 grams!! I didn't weigh Nezzie though. She's been pretty steady at just over 400 grams. I'll get lengths tomorrow.

I left the sliding door of Nezzie's viv open, and Baxter decided he wanted to get to know her better

 

[McSkweeky]

X-rays have been posted in health if anyone is interested in seeing them.
My poor girl!

 

[McSkweeky]

Lengths as promised.

Ember is 9 inches
Dresden is 16.25 inches and was 314 grams today. He's chubby LOL I hope some of it starts turning into length or I'm going to have a pot bellied beardie.

Ember took her injection well today. I used her right arm as yesterday the injection was in her left arm. I'm going to try to rotate the arms so neither gets too terribly sore. The swelling is still the same. I should have results on the blood culture by the beginning of next week I hope.

**EDIT** Dresden is 6 months old today! Just to see how he is doing I looked at Beautiful Dragon's growth chart and he's about the size of the 9 month old beardie shown there. Here's hoping he at least reaches 20 inches!

 

[jewl495]

Poor Ember!! Does she seem stressed at all after the injections? Our last boy Jazz sure hated any injections and he would stress out so much it would break my heart!
Your babies are gorgeous BTW!

 

[MissT]

Awww Maggie, I didnt realise you were having to do the injections - its hard isnt it? And a little scary? I remember doing it with Kazi and he was 700g so I cant imagine doing them on a little 42g baby!!!

 

[McSkweeky]

IT STINKS. CRAPPY CRAPPY CRAPPY. I didn't have anyone to help me last night I had to do it on my own. That was rough. It's hard to hold a little thing! Plus she only has 1 whole front arm so if I'm injecting on her right side it's really hard to hold the arm still. She's doing well with it though. Still eating like a champ!

 

[MissT]

Have you tried doing it after she goes to sleep? I have read of a few people doing that!

 

[McSkweeky]

I haven't - and honestly the idea never occurred to me. It seems rude to wake her up with a sharp poke! I'll have to give it a shot if I keep having issues holding her to give the injection.

Thanks for the idea!!

 

[MissT]

Just throwing it out there - it was suggested to me once with Kazi but then I ended up giving him oral stuff anyway. But when I did have to give him injections, noone suggested it LOL! That was crazy and I hurt him so many times!!!

 

[McSkweeky]

I hate having to do multiple pokes because she moves and the needle comes out. Then I feel like such a bad mom! I was a vet tech for about 5 years so I have loads of practice with dogs and cats. Lizards are a whole new ball game.

Can you believe all I've learned in 4 months?! I got Doyle in July! Dresden and Nezzie came in August. What a whirlwind ride.