Vet wants me to consider putting down

[Drache613]

Hello Brandon,

How is Zilla doing today? Poor girl, more injections! How long do they think she needs to get
the fluids for? I hope they are helping her out though.
Milk thistle doesn't have Serrapeptase in it. The active ingredient naturally found in it is called
Silymarin. If Serrapeptase was in the one product mix that you had found then it was mixed in
with it separately.
If you want just plain Serrapeptase, I do have that on my website. Here is a direct link for it if you
wanted to get some & it isn't in a calcium base.
Let us know how she is doing!

Serrapeptase

Cultured Pharmaceutical grade silkworm enzyme. This is used to treat joint inflammation and swelling as well as injuries of the spine. Serrapeptase also has Liver and Blood cleansing properties which is helpful for treating fatty liver disease and adenovirus. Serrapeptase seems to help reduce...

bug-de-lite.com

Tracie

 

[Subion]

Hello Brandon,

How is Zilla doing today? Poor girl, more injections! How long do they think she needs to get
the fluids for? I hope they are helping her out though.
Milk thistle doesn't have Serrapeptase in it. The active ingredient naturally found in it is called
Silymarin. If Serrapeptase was in the one product mix that you had found then it was mixed in
with it separately.
If you want just plain Serrapeptase, I do have that on my website. Here is a direct link for it if you
wanted to get some & it isn't in a calcium base.
Let us know how she is doing!

Serrapeptase

Cultured Pharmaceutical grade silkworm enzyme. This is used to treat joint inflammation and swelling as well as injuries of the spine. Serrapeptase also has Liver and Blood cleansing properties which is helpful for treating fatty liver disease and adenovirus. Serrapeptase seems to help reduce...

bug-de-lite.com

Tracie

She is getting fluids today then she gets a break. Then for every 3 days she gets another dosage for 4 times then that should be it. I found out yesterday that they are giving her a bit of vitamin b with each dosage. The first day she got 12ml of fluid then they decided to go with 10ml for every other dose. So over all she’ll have 8 doses unless something changes.

She’s not really wanting to eat yet. Few days ago she ate a blueberry and that was it. I made her take 3ml of crit care just to get something in her to keep her strength up. Yesterday she took a couple small bites of watermelon and I got her to take .7ml non dairy yogurt to try to help her tummy and give her a bit of treat.

The swelling in one foot is gone. The other one it’s still there a good bit. She is starting to try and fight a little when I give her meds and force water on her. The tech and dr have said she is also more active than a few days ago and not wanting to be weighed. She still has trouble when she does try to walk of course but I can see it’s not as bad as it was.

She did go potty some yesterday in the tub and it was dark. She hasn’t had protein in over a week so not sure why it was so dark and there was some undigested blueberries in it. She also had not put out anything compared to how much fluids she had been given. The white part was a dirty chalky looking white so hopefully it’s just dehydration going on. Her vet is on vacation until after next week now. She’s still not any energy and wanting to sleep a lot so I’m letting her nap a few hours to try to help her build strength up.

I’m not sure how she got this bad if it is dehydration. She did really good with fluids and food up until she started shedding. She was over hydrated before that and I give her a good bit of fluids and fruit to keep her going on hot days. Then she gets a bath or shower every few days. So my only guess is that we’re out in the sun almost all day when it’s nice she’s going through the liquids faster then I thought.

I got some of the serrapeptase ordered from you. Is it something I need to keep refrigerated? Just want to make sure someone is home when it’s delivered if needed.

Thanks

 

[Drache613]

Hello Brandon,

Yes, I will ship the Serrapeptase out for you today (Monday) so hopefully you will get that quickly!
How is she doing today?
I hope the swelling continues to go down. That does make me wonder if it is hydration status. She
has really been through a lot & reptiles do heal up slowly. It can take months to get them back to
normal.
She isn't digesting blueberries very well? Continue giving the extra fluids & some probiotics when
you can & consistency will help get her system back to more of a balance. Is she enjoying being
outdoors while it's warm?
We are all pulling for her! Keep us posted on her.

Tracie

 

[Subion]

Hello Brandon,

Yes, I will ship the Serrapeptase out for you today (Monday) so hopefully you will get that quickly!
How is she doing today?
I hope the swelling continues to go down. That does make me wonder if it is hydration status. She
has really been through a lot & reptiles do heal up slowly. It can take months to get them back to
normal.
She isn't digesting blueberries very well? Continue giving the extra fluids & some probiotics when
you can & consistency will help get her system back to more of a balance. Is she enjoying being
outdoors while it's warm?
We are all pulling for her! Keep us posted on her.

Tracie

Thank you Tracie. I’ll defiantly keep an eye out for it so I can start her asap on it.

I don’t think she is digesting food properly at the moment. The other day she had the peeling of a blueberry in her stool. Today I’m hoping it’s remnants of watermelon. It was hard to tell but it looked a little to pink and spread apart to be blood.

sat. before the vet she was holding her head up good and even starting to put more pressure on her right arm. Then they gave her fluids and afterwards she just seemed so run down. Yesterday it was cold and rainy so she wanted to sleep all day. Didn’t want out from under her blankets. I got her up enough to feed her and let her sit in the sun for maybe an hour and gave her a bath. She’s been going potty every time and her stool seems to be getting lighter in color but the urate is staying that dirty chalk look. I don’t think she’s putting out any of the water she’s taking in yet. Last time after her shots she would go potty and alot of just pure liquid would come out with it. This time she’s going potty very little and it’s soft but no liquids besides a little urate. It’s also not formed up but breaking apart in the water.

Today she seems like after going potty she felt a little better and seemed like some of the swelling in her left paw went down some since she went. But at same time she acts like her right leg today is weaker. I called her specialist to let them know what was going on and see if they wanted me to try anything or special tests. Her dr here is out all this week and they said if needed they could probably get another vet to look at her but they aren’t trained like her dr here to deal with exotics.
She holds her head up while laying around when outside but she’s usually ready to sleep when we get in the house. I don’t know if they need to do some blood work to look for something. They haven’t done any tests since beginning of June. Also I’m worried of course it’s something that she needs in her heart meds again or even an ultrasound to make sure everything is going good from surgery. I just want answers at this point so we can fix things.

She will still eat a little blueberry or watermelon out of my hand and maybe lick some slurry or critcare but most the time I’m forcing her to take stuff. Been giving her a lot of water and she’s not happy with that. Again between the injections and what I give I’m not sure where she’s holding it all unless her body was extremely dehydrated within a week after starting to shed. She still has a bunch of places in her body that looks like they are starting to shed so not sure what’s an issue that could be tied to the swelling or the shed is making it worse.

 

[Drache613]

Hello Brandon,

How is Zilla this evening?
I hope her swelling continues to go down. Shedding will cause areas to appear somewhat swollen
sometimes. They can get a bit dehydrated too. She has possibly been a little on the dehydrated end
for awhile just due to her egg problems.
I hope she wont need to go back on any medications though, as a lot of them tend to be hard on their
systems long term.
I'm sure that she does get frustrated with having to take injections, oral fluids, etc. Hopefully she will
start to eat more on her own. It is a good sign that she does try to move around more & is holding her
head up also.

Keep us posted on her!
Tracie

 

[Subion]

Hello Brandon,

How is Zilla this evening?
I hope her swelling continues to go down. Shedding will cause areas to appear somewhat swollen
sometimes. They can get a bit dehydrated too. She has possibly been a little on the dehydrated end
for awhile just due to her egg problems.
I hope she wont need to go back on any medications though, as a lot of them tend to be hard on their
systems long term.
I'm sure that she does get frustrated with having to take injections, oral fluids, etc. Hopefully she will
start to eat more on her own. It is a good sign that she does try to move around more & is holding her
head up also.

Keep us posted on her!
Tracie

Sorry it’s been a few days, been busy. A couple days ago we had a bit of a bad day. She seemed weaker in all her legs again. Luckily yesterday she was doing a lot better. Then after going potty some she seemed to be more energetic. Today we had to go get her shot and the person who did it kinda had me worried. Instead of putting water in both sides like everyone else has been doing they decided to put it in one location so she had a huge knot on her back for awhile. Right where it looks like she is starting to shed to.

After the shot she was just beat again. She did stay awake most the day though and her swelling in her feet seems to have been gone since she woke up before the vet. She’s been sorta fighting me a bit here and there when I hold her ways she don’t like again. She also wanted down on the ground a bit when we were at the park and would take a few steps. So she’s getting back to where she was at least. She’s also starting to have really runny watery stool so she’s definitely getting hydrated again. Hopefully this time she stays in this direction. We have i think 2 maybe 3 more vet visits but all are 3 days apart then go from there.

Edit: Just wanted to add she had climbed a little also on my shoulder to lean up against the chair I was in. She hasn’t even had the energy to crawl on my shoulders without help a few days ago, even then her foot was swollen to where she had a really bad limp.

 

[Drache613]

Hello Brandon,

That sounds promising, for her to have a little more energy to climb up to your shoulder. Bless her,
I hope she is feeling better. Did the lump of fluid on her back go down? Hopefully you wont have to
take her in for many more shots, I'm sure she is tired of it.
That is a good thing, if her urates start to stay more watery hopefully her system is getting caught back
up again. It looks like she is having a great time outside!
I hope her strength starts to improve more, she deserves to fully recover, poor girl!

Tracie

 

[Subion]

Hello Brandon,

That sounds promising, for her to have a little more energy to climb up to your shoulder. Bless her,
I hope she is feeling better. Did the lump of fluid on her back go down? Hopefully you wont have to
take her in for many more shots, I'm sure she is tired of it.
That is a good thing, if her urates start to stay more watery hopefully her system is getting caught back
up again. It looks like she is having a great time outside!
I hope her strength starts to improve more, she deserves to fully recover, poor girl!

Tracie

Apparently the mail is behind since the Serrapeptase that was originally suppose to be delivered today never showed had still is in transit to next facility. Was hoping to start her on it today.

She has 3 more injections I believe and that’s it. Hopefully no more needles until her checkup in September. Her paw is still a little bit swollen today when you compare it to the other one. Also when she first got up her toes were a bit stiff feeling. The other 3 feet they were like rubber when touched but the swollen one was the issue, it seems they loosened up as the day went on.

She hasn’t been as active or holding her self up as much today when we were out. But when she got in the tub she went potty and wanted out, soon as I drained the water she wanted back in to swim some. She swam until she started shutting her eyes like she was getting tired. Then we went park for a bit so maybe that’s why she wasn’t as active. When we came home she got a small nap in. When we went back outside she was lazy but I fixed her up a little swimming pool I bought her last year she never got a chance to use. It’s a little small now so need to find something better but she swam around in it best she could. Eventually she got tired and was ready for bed a little early tonight.

I was surprised that usually when I try to give her anything out of a syringe she doesn’t want it. Today she went after it when I had a bit of applesauce in one for her. Besides that and a few blueberries she didn’t have much an appetite or even want much fluids. I did get her to eat some greens between berries by tricking her and putting a small piece in her mouth after she was finishing her berries. She wasn’t happy about that.

Now just gotta get her swelling all the way down, her appetite back and hopefully her energy level will come back. She definitely needs a break from everything that’s gone on.

 

[Drache613]

Hello Brandon,

I hope she is feeling better & that the swelling will continue to go down. She does need a well
deserved break from all of this!
At least she was enjoying her little swimming pool. Maybe you can upgrade her this summer!
Hopefully she got some some nice sunshine, too. I'm sure she got worn out too but a little extra
rest is fine.
She is onto your tricks of trying to get her to eat her greens! LOL They are very smart & tend to
catch on quickly. Are her fat pads filling out anymore? You can try getting the sweet potato & the
squash mixed up for her, to give some starches for weight gain.
Keep us posted on her!

Tracie

 

[Subion]

Hello Brandon,

I hope she is feeling better & that the swelling will continue to go down. She does need a well
deserved break from all of this!
At least she was enjoying her little swimming pool. Maybe you can upgrade her this summer!
Hopefully she got some some nice sunshine, too. I'm sure she got worn out too but a little extra
rest is fine.
She is onto your tricks of trying to get her to eat her greens! LOL They are very smart & tend to
catch on quickly. Are her fat pads filling out anymore? You can try getting the sweet potato & the
squash mixed up for her, to give some starches for weight gain.
Keep us posted on her!

Tracie

Tracie the supplement is finally suppose to be here probably Tomorrow. Thanks again for the help with that.

We’ve had a few busy days. We have a small family owned zoo about 45 min away from our house and I went with my sister and her kids to it The other day. Since Zilla likes looking at fish I decided to let her see some the other animals. She seems to enjoy it until she got close to the parrots which was a surprise since my parents have one that doesn’t bother her. She had made a friend I wish I had a pic of. Unfortunately me by myself couldn’t get a good shot and everyone else already was past that area. It was a baby monkey of some kind that everytime it saw Zilla it would get a surprised look on its face and scratch its head. When we tried to walk away it would wine and follow us until it could see Zilla again. It was adorable.

I told my sister who’s in town right now from Florida that if they see anything bigger then the “pool” I got her when they go back let me know. Everything here is too large or small. She found one on Amazon and we’re going to try it out.

I’ve been mixing some squash in with her slurries but not sure if it’s becsuse of the shedding but she’s not got much an appetite. The leg that was swollen looks to be back to almost normal and its shed came off yesterday. Now she has 2 more legs (one starting to peel) and part of her side/back that needs to shed.

She’s swimming decent when in the water. She’s not exploring or walking much yet but she will walk when she’s gets hot or needs to. She’s also starting to put a little pressure on the what was swollen paw and hold herself up a little bit with it. So she is getting better I’m hoping once I get some serrapeptase in her maybe she’ll feel better also. Just gotta get that appetite back. after a few bites of fruit or licks of slurry she’s acts like she’s done. I don’t know if maybe it’s from the injections also making her not want anything. But usually day of injection she’s done most of the day but I can’t blame her. I know how sore th at stuff can make you.

 

[Drache613]

Hello Brandon,

No problem at all! Let me know how she does on the Serrapeptase....I hope that it helps out
for her. She is trying to put a little weight on the swollen foot?
I was sure hoping that the swelling on the leg was just due to pre-shed water retention. At least
she is improving now, it takes time. She has been through a huge ordeal!
Injections have got to be annoying for her so I don't blame her at all for being tired.
Keep working with her on the food intake, how are her fat pads looking on top of her head? Have
they started to fill back in yet?

Keep us posted on her!

Tracie

 

[Subion]

she has some more fluids injection in the morning. I was hoping they wouldn’t bring her back in for them. They did some blood work the other day and we’re just waiting for results now. They want to make sure nothing else is going on with her since she’s not got much an appetite on her own yet. Unusually it’s her blueberries and maybe a little squash or other fruit she’ll eat on her own. Seems blueberries are the one thing she goes for the most and acts like she has an appetite around. She did get a few bites of greens today with them and wasn’t happy about it. I gave her some critcare yesterday just to try and get her some other stuff in her system to help build her up. She seems to at least like to lick it for the most part. She took a few ml with out a fight.

Her foot swelling is gone now I believe unless it’s so small I don’t see a difference but she’s still not to active. I’m also not seeing anymore shed either, it finally came off after about a month. Hopefully she’s done and that will increase her appetite some. She also seems to have moved around a bit more since I have started the serrapeptase. I’m giving her just under the recommend dose since she is right at one of the dose starting points. Trying to play safe incase she loses some weight but the vet said she put on a little since last week.

Today she was fighting me to get in her pool while i tried to fill it up. Then when I was trying to put more water in the bucket she was trying to get in the Sink with the bucket I use to fill the pool. At one point she tried to jump off my shoulder I believe when we were heading out to the pool. She did swim a bit and after laying in it for a good while climbed out on her own and walked a little ways to get into some shade. So she’s trying to move a bit more at times it seem. After Al that she was just worn out. Too much for one day just took it out of her.

As for her fat pads they are still sunken. No where near as bad as they were but they still could use some more puff in them.

 

[Drache613]

Hello Brandon,

Keep trying to get her fat pads improved. It does take time but I know she can do it!
Well, it certainly seems she is feeling better if she is fighting you on things & wanting
to jump off of things so you are definitely going to have to watch her closely!
I'm glad to hear her swelling is going away now. She has been through a lot but she is
improving though even though it's slow. She has an appetite so that is positive news! A
lot of them tend to love blueberries.
Let us know how the blood test results are, if you can post them that would be great. I
hope she doesn't have to get more injections.

Keep us posted on her.
Tracie

 

[Subion]

Hello Brandon,

Keep trying to get her fat pads improved. It does take time but I know she can do it!
Well, it certainly seems she is feeling better if she is fighting you on things & wanting
to jump off of things so you are definitely going to have to watch her closely!
I'm glad to hear her swelling is going away now. She has been through a lot but she is
improving though even though it's slow. She has an appetite so that is positive news! A
lot of them tend to love blueberries.
Let us know how the blood test results are, if you can post them that would be great. I
hope she doesn't have to get more injections.

Keep us posted on her.
Tracie

Well I have some good and bad news.

First the good. I went to vet yesterday for another fluid injection. They are going to cut down on them as long as she doesn’t seem she gets worse and see how she does. They said the blood work looked good, I have a printout I’ll have to get it posted later when I get home. As for fluids we are talking about once a week for a few weeks then rechecking blood. If all looks good they want to cut back to every other week and go from there.

The bad new. So yesterday after her shot she was worn down like normal a little more this time. She didn’t even really want to hold her head up like she has last few. She slept almost all day so I left her lights off for her to get a good rest. I did get her up a bit to swim, she wasn’t as active as last few days. She went potty and the urate looked as if it sort of had some orangish tint to a bit of it. A few days ago it was just around it some.

Today when I woke her up she had her paw in a weird position like it was behind her but her toes were being pressed down on almost like she was taking a step so I thought it may just been asleep. That paw is a bit swollen (which is weird since she just had fluids) and she’s limping if she tries to walk which is not much. She’s just laying around like she feels bad. This is always how the swelling spells start. I got an appointment mon if it doesn’t get better or can set up an emergency visit if need to. She did get in the pool for a bit not swimming though. She went potty and it was all urates with again some orangish tint to it.

I really don’t know what changed that she was doing good and getting better then this again. A few days ago she was walking more and grabbed something outside and ate it before I could see so I don’t know what she got. Other than that she’s had more an appetite over last couple. She had some crit care. I had her off blueberries a few days then last few she’s had 3 a day. Other than that it’s been her slurries that have yellow squash, collard greens and or turnip greens in them as main ingredients. Then to change up the flavor I add a small bit of honey or some baby food (sweet potatoes, butternut squash, sweet corn with green beans, peas, or green beans, pumpkin) mixed with water. I don’t force her to take anything, when she’s down I quit unless she hasn’t ate that day I may fight her to get 1ml syringe in her so she has something in her tummy. She still is taking blueberries off me though right now. Could it be something in the slurries or baby food? I buy all organic baby food and make sure it’s only the item and water in ingredients. I probably started occasional baby food back after her first surgery when the vet told me to do it to get food in her and usually when she’s not feeling well or not eating is when I give it to her. This was before I was aware of crit care and her first swelling started after her first surgery. Or could it be something irritating her gallbladder? I’m running out of ideas and can’t stand seeing her keep getting like this. We’ve been to 4 vets now and no one has figured it out.

 

[AHBD]

I don't know but it could be from the repeated visits and injections now. She may be very stressed by the ride to the vet, the sights, sounds + smells can be causing fear and the fluids may be unnecessary as well. Maybe give her a break from all of this and recuperate on her own slowly, little by little.