Very Sick Little Figment

[NeosMom]

My poor, poor baby. Ok... he's not mine, but I'm feeling particularly possessive and protective of him right now. Since I'm home from work (sick myself) I spent the day lying on the sofa where his viv was right in my sight. Long story short... I started calling local vets and trying to find out what I could do to get him in and get a fecal exam done (with no fecal sample). Fortunately, he pooped all over my husband's chest which gave me a sample. Downside is hubby has a pretty severe stomach flu and Figment doing that nearly had him vomiting again. Anyway... fecal sample bagged up, I started making calls again. I found a vet in the next town that agreed to see him this afternoon.

It was a bizarre visit. The fecal float was started and while the vet waited, he came and did Figment's exam. He was totally impressed with our boy. Couldn't believe I had a calendar book with me to be able to tell him poop dates and weight / length tracking. Every question he asked about husbandry, he was thrilled with my answers. He told me that this was one of the healthiest looking dragons he had seen and he was very impressed. He hated to tell me so, but expected that Figment's only problem was going to be an upset tummy.

He was shocked to find high levels of both coccidia AND pinworms. I knew there was something wrong. I have been asking repeatedly about his poop and eating, but just knew something wasn't right. I am so glad I took the initiative and brought the poor little guy to the vet myself. I can't imagine if it had been left alone.

So, my (ok, not my, but for now I'm calling him mine) baby has to take BOTH panacur AND Albon. He is about to be soooooo miserable. I hate doing this to him. But I know it's necessary. I read the article on care for him and decided to start the regimen tomorrow before work. I let him have a big fat hornworm this evening, plus a super. He's basking now. I sure hope it's not his last hornworm for weeks...

Tomorrow morning he gets 1cc of panacur and then two more doses all ten days apart. And tomorrow he also gets .6 cc of Albon and then .3 cc every day for five more days. The good news is that tomorrow is the worst of it and the only day he has to take both panacur & albon. I have probiotics to give him in the evening and I bought baby food so he can be syringe fed if he won't eat on his own after the meds. I have a red night bulb to keep his temps up at night so he can be extra warm. He likes having his blankie over his head, so I will rig something up tomorrow night to be sure the lights won't keep him from sleeping.

Wish us luck. :love5: I know he will be just fine. It's going to break my heart doing all this, though.

 

[kcarello]

Poor little guy!

 

[sweetiepie9]

I'm so sorry that Figment is sick, poor little guy. Gabriel has been on panacur for the last 4 weeks, so what I found out by trial & error is that he feels better if I give him babyfood before I give him his dose. So you might want to try that on Figment, too, so he has something in his tummy before he gets the doses, they are really harsh on their tummies. He has a great mommy (even if he's supposed to be your husband's, I know who takes care of him!) and I know you'll do the best you can. Glad you got probiotics, are they a liquid? You might want to get some liquid calcium to give him daily, just to be sure, as he won't get much powder if he's not eating all that well. Let me know how he is after his first dose.
Take care
Deb

 

[NeosMom]

Oh how I wish I had read this before I got up and took care of MY baby. I gave him the full panacur dose and the first day albon dose on an empty morning tummy. He is going to b just miserable when I get home. I have powder pro biotic and calcium. I plan to mix a strong bit of it in a small bit of baby food and give that to him as soon as I get home from work. Half hour later I will offer bugs. (doubt he will take them). Then feed babyfood if not. Will keep you posted.

 

[NeosMom]

Hubby says he is eating salad!!!! :shock: This is just 3 hours after all that icky medicine. I can't believe it!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Now that is great, I guess his tummy is made of iron, good for him! I'd still give him food tomorrow before the dose he has to take, I know it helped Gabriel. Good for Figment!

 

[NeosMom]

Ok, Mr. Figment update! The pro-biotic went into my backpack along with the meds. Can't find it. Ugh... So, I stopped off at the organic market on my way home and grabbed some soy yogurt for him. I got home to find him hiding in a cooler section of his viv. So, I went to work putting calcium and multi-vitamins into the soy yogurt. I started off putting the soy on his nose and letting him lick it off, but he wouldn't take enough of it himself, so I had to get the syringe into his mouth and sort of force him. One tspn is what he got. I sure hope that is enough. Mean Mommy! He didn't gag or anything and I was slow about it, but by the time we were finished he had a black beard and mega stink eye going on. Put him back into his viv where I got the death stare for a while. I got Fluffy out to deal with something else and noticed after a few minutes of dealing with her that when I looked up he had mega googly eyes going on and had totally forgotten that he was mad at me. So, after a half hour of basking I brought him superworms to see if he was interested. He ate two and was really terrific about it. So, I got a hornworm to see if he was willing to eat one of them. He licked it like an ice cream cone, but that was it. Finally, I put a super and horn side by side in front of him and he gobbled the super. Fine. He ended up eating 8 or 9 supers. I'm thrilled with that. He saw Fluffy out running around and decided to do a full black beard, head bob and stomp for her, so I would say he is feeling better than I expected he would. I've had to chase him back to his basking spot once because he was trying to hide. Now he has scooched away from the basking spot again, but stopped halfway (still in a warmer area) and noticed Fluffy napping on the sofa, so he had to stop and black beard.

I definitely plan to put a little something in his tummy before tomorrow's meds, but it should be a much easier day because he only has to take half the dose of albon that he took this morning and no panacur. Yay!!! I also plan to swap out his basking bulb for a night blue and see if I can cover his eyes with the blankie. Don't know how it will work, but I'll be up late enough to deal if it is a problem.

Will post more tomorrow. Crossing my fingers it will be more great news.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Sounds like the yoghurt is working, lucky you, you should see what I go through to get probiotics into Gabriel, he just won't take it, so I have to force feed it to him. I think feeding him first will help Figment & you'll have to continue watching to make sure he's under his basking spot, too, little booger. And look, he can still black beard & stomp Fluffy, so his hormones are still working :mrgreen: Good luck with him, won't you be glad when it's all done & he's clear? I will, too, it's been a long month for Gabriel, only 1 more dose & hopefully he's clear.
Take care,
Deb

 

[NeosMom]

It's funny... I understand how you feel being a long month with Gabriel, but I feel like he just arrived. I saw pictures of Fiz this weekend and can not figure out how he got so big. It's like time is just zooming by and all our baby dragons are just growing up in the blink of an eye.

I am so grateful Figment is such a good eater and little horn dog. I think it's going to give him fight to make it through this easier.

When you go back for Gabriel's check, does he have to go? Or just fecal? My vet told me just fecal is fine because Figment looks so terrific.

 

[ShannyBeard]

He is going to be fine, don't worry. I have the same problem - Papa Smurf has both coccidia and pinworms, too. He has low counts of both, but we are going to treat him this weekend. Of course, like you, I am beside myself for my little boy and I don't want him to have any tummy upset or problems. He already has been getting Acidolphiliz in his regular diet, so I am not too worried.

I plan on feeding him some critical care/carnivore care mixed together about an hour before I give him his meds. Not too much food, but enough so his tummy won't be upset.

Hopefully both of our little guys will get back to feeling better soon.

 

[NeosMom]

Awwwwww... Shanny I'm sorry bout Papa Smurf. If Figment is any indicator, it will be easier than you think. But Figment's counts are very high. To the tune of I heard the vet exclaim in the lab room "This guy is LOADED with coccidia." And then his paperwork shows his pinworm count higher than the coccidia. I really could just kill my husband right now. Once he and Figment are both healthy again, I just might.

 

[ShannyBeard]

Awwwwww... Shanny I'm sorry bout Papa Smurf. If Figment is any indicator, it will be easier than you think. But Figment's counts are very high. To the tune of I heard the vet exclaim in the lab room "This guy is LOADED with coccidia." And then his paperwork shows his pinworm count higher than the coccidia. I really could just kill my husband right now. Once he and Figment are both healthy again, I just might.

Loaded is just not the word you want to hear when it comes to parasites. Bummer. We ordered a tank and cage accessory cleaner called Coccicidal from bearded dragon.co. I heard coccidia is hard to get rid of in their tanks and extra special care needs to be taken so they don't just keep reinfecting themselves, at least that is what I have seen posted on this forum. It was only $3.00 for the bottle and it's concentrated so you would dilute with water. I have also heard of other people killing coccidia with steam.

 

[NeosMom]

I had heard steam. Work in a drycleaner, so I can borrow a steamer. Plan to do a mega spring cleaning on all the vivs this weekend.

 

[sweetiepie9]

So much work when they get those sorts of parasites. I never even asked the vet what sort of parasites Gabriel has. he's been in the bedroom the whole time, I've brought him out in the living room for only brief times & he's sat on a chair the others don't go near. So I think they're all ok. He's got very few left, had a fecal done last Saturday, so he gets his last dose on Sunday & then next Saturday do the fecal again, hope he's clear.

I hope both Figment & Papa Smurf get over theirs once their meds are done & they're both clear, poor guys. Putting something in their tummy has helped Gabriel not have such an upset tummy, that might work for both Papa Smurf & Figment. Good luck.

 

[NeosMom]

I gave Figgy some baby food (chicken) this morning. He loved it. Then meds. Mad at me. Then few more licks of chicken. Happy again. Trick is to keep him basking all day.