0791
Member
- Beardie name(s)
- Tinkey, Stinker, Tubby
In August, I took my now 9 month old Tubby to the vet for his first annual check in. The vet ended up diagnosing him with MBD based off the symptoms of tremors and soft jaw. He did no other testing except a physical exam and sent me on my way. The only advice he gave me was to increase his calcium to once a day from the 3x-4x a week that I was doing and said after time things should start looking up. I thought it was weird he did not give him any calcium medications to treat this, but I gave him a chance since he's from a reptile vet directory website and generally seemed to know more about bearded dragons than some other vets I had went to. I followed his advice and gave the Repashy calcium/multivitamin everyday for sometime.
After a few months, I noticed Tubby was not improving at all, and actually developed a few other odd symptoms. He started to hide in his hut almost daily, his eyes had started to water only while he ate (it'd form a glaze that when wiped away is grainy like sand), and he'd excessively slow blink and I'd always visibly see his second eyelid. He still seemed to eat just fine and was growing/gaining like your average bearded dragon aside from having little twig arms. I decided to take him back to the vet for an appointment 3 days ago and I'm not really sure what's going on anymore. He did the same thing again for this appointment, no other testing aside from a physical exam (did a fecal test as well, waiting for the results). At first, the vet seemed concerned for a URI, so he checked Tubby's lungs with a stethoscope, checked for discharge around the nose/eyes/mouth, and found nothing from either of those. He also checked inside of his mouth and stated there was a build up of fluid. He came up with the conclusion that Tubby's watery eyes were the result of him not properly absorbing his vitamin A. The rest of the appointment was some discussion on his MBD, so we both agreed on giving Tubby injections. I thought these injections were related to his MBD, but when I got home and looked up the medication it seems like it's used to treat infections. I am just really confused and worried because he never stated openly what infection Tubby would be diagnosed with to be prescribed ceftazidime. It also seemed a little odd to put him on an infection medication without doing any other forms of testing aside from a physical and proper diagnosis, but I'm not the vet. It seems like there was a bit of miscommunication that I am trying to get figured out, I already reached out to them and am awaiting a response since they were closed on the weekend.
I did make mention of a mistake that I thought could be directly affecting his progress with his MBD. I was using an off-brand light fixture + bulb for a long while before I started seeing a lot of people complain that it's not as good for your pet as your Reptisun or Arcadia. I recently upgraded him to the ProT5 Arcadia 12% from REPTI ZOO T5 HO UVB Lighting Combo Kit on Amazon. Ever since I upgraded him, he seems to be slightly improving. I still don't think that would be enough with the calcium dusting by itself to help him get over this MBD would it? I am not sure what to do. I will say he has seemed to improve somewhat since his first injection, so maybe this isn't a horrible thing after all. I am feeling a little lost and worried about this whole situation currently as I've been waiting for them to get back to me.
Anything is appreciated, like anything at this point.
Thank you!
After a few months, I noticed Tubby was not improving at all, and actually developed a few other odd symptoms. He started to hide in his hut almost daily, his eyes had started to water only while he ate (it'd form a glaze that when wiped away is grainy like sand), and he'd excessively slow blink and I'd always visibly see his second eyelid. He still seemed to eat just fine and was growing/gaining like your average bearded dragon aside from having little twig arms. I decided to take him back to the vet for an appointment 3 days ago and I'm not really sure what's going on anymore. He did the same thing again for this appointment, no other testing aside from a physical exam (did a fecal test as well, waiting for the results). At first, the vet seemed concerned for a URI, so he checked Tubby's lungs with a stethoscope, checked for discharge around the nose/eyes/mouth, and found nothing from either of those. He also checked inside of his mouth and stated there was a build up of fluid. He came up with the conclusion that Tubby's watery eyes were the result of him not properly absorbing his vitamin A. The rest of the appointment was some discussion on his MBD, so we both agreed on giving Tubby injections. I thought these injections were related to his MBD, but when I got home and looked up the medication it seems like it's used to treat infections. I am just really confused and worried because he never stated openly what infection Tubby would be diagnosed with to be prescribed ceftazidime. It also seemed a little odd to put him on an infection medication without doing any other forms of testing aside from a physical and proper diagnosis, but I'm not the vet. It seems like there was a bit of miscommunication that I am trying to get figured out, I already reached out to them and am awaiting a response since they were closed on the weekend.
I did make mention of a mistake that I thought could be directly affecting his progress with his MBD. I was using an off-brand light fixture + bulb for a long while before I started seeing a lot of people complain that it's not as good for your pet as your Reptisun or Arcadia. I recently upgraded him to the ProT5 Arcadia 12% from REPTI ZOO T5 HO UVB Lighting Combo Kit on Amazon. Ever since I upgraded him, he seems to be slightly improving. I still don't think that would be enough with the calcium dusting by itself to help him get over this MBD would it? I am not sure what to do. I will say he has seemed to improve somewhat since his first injection, so maybe this isn't a horrible thing after all. I am feeling a little lost and worried about this whole situation currently as I've been waiting for them to get back to me.
Anything is appreciated, like anything at this point.
Thank you!