Vomiting, gasping

[Esther19]

My year and a half old girl who has had health issues. just vomited a fair amount of clear liquid and now opens her mouth and gasps a big gulp of air every couple minutes. I am leaving to mee the vet in an hour. Is there anything I should do in the mean time?
Thank you

Edit; She has heaved a couple times, but seems to be improving. On the way to the doc in a few.
Thanks. I know you would have helped if you could have.

Update: Doc gave her some anti-nausea meds. Took blood. Results tomorrow. Thanks.

 

[AHBD]

I'm so sorry about your girl Esther....I hope things turn out O.K. ! She has a good dragon mom for sure, that's in her favor. I'd ask what she was doing [ was she in the bath ? ] or what she had recently been doing / eating, but I'm sure you will go through all that at the vets. Please update when you find anything out. Best wishes !

 

[ShannyBeard]

Wonder if she ate something that disagreed with her, poor girl. You are both in my thoughts.

 

[Esther19]

Thanks for your concern. She was in her tank. It had been about 7 hours since her baby food breakfast. The medicine the doc gave her must have helped. There have been no dry heave type of movements since. I'm anxious to see what the blood work reveals. Her MBD is not improving, and seems to be getting worse, or maybe the muscles, despite my best efforts. I'm fortunate to have a great vet. Thanks again for caring and for your support.

 

[ShannyBeard]

Poor girl

 

[AHBD]

Aw, poor little girl. How long have you had her ? Is she getting liquid calcium? If you haven't already tried it, getting some natural sun can help, but of course an adult with MBD may have just so much mobility no matter what is done. Hopefully this frightening episode will pass though.

 

[Esther19]

She gets 0.2 units (I forget the name) of Tracie's Calci-Blast daily. Vet said to double it. When the vet was drawing the blood, she pooped right at the end and prolapsed. Now she tries to poop from time to time and just a teeny bit comes out, and just a tiny prolapse ocurrs. I would give her a cool sugar bath, but I don't want her cold before bedtime.

I've had Cissy for a year and a half. 6 weeks after I got her, she started acting funny. We went to the vet, who diagnosed MBD. After a lenthy treatment, another x-ray showed that her bones were much better. Her muscles, however, have atrophied. I give her exercise as much as I can to increase her strength, but it seems that of late she is losing her coordination, and her flipping is much more frequent. I take her everywhere.Thank goodness, in the daytime, she can be our class pet. If my son is not home to watch her, I have to stay home if she isn't welcome where I go. But she's my sweetie girl, so we make do. She sleeps with me, too.

It is just getting warm enough here to go out, which we've done 4-5 times. She loves being outside. That's what we did while waiting for the doc to get back to town. I figured if I was going to die, I'd want to be outside, so I guessed that she would, too.

She strains as if to poop about every 5-10 minutes. I hope nothing is wrong. If a nerve was hit while drawing blood, will this go away?

Thanks,
Esther

 

[Evergreen]

I'm really sorry to hear of her troubles Esther, it sounds like shes had a rough time but shes got the most loving parent and I'm sure you'll be able to make the right choices for her. I hope she stablizes soon and her bloodwork comes back with some clear answers

 

[Esther19]

Bless your heart. Thanks.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

So sorry to hear about your girl!
Which UVB are you using, the Reptisun 10 tube bulb? I forget how close the light is from her?
I would like to see the blood test results if possible!
Definitely, you can double the dose of calcium to up it to 2mg/kg that will be fine.
Are you keeping her in a warm tank over night, around 80 or so?
Please let us know how she is doing! I really hope that she is feeling better soon.

Tracie

 

[AHBD]

Hi Esther, I'm sorry that Cissy is having such trouble, this is hard on you as well. I might suggest that she be left in her tank since she is ill rather than taking her everywhere with you , she may not be able to get enough heat and UVB which is critical right now. And a cool sugar water bath will help reduce the swelling on a prolapse that is still protruding, but once the tissue is back in, it's not needed. If you ever do give a cool bath, be sure to rig a heat lamp over her to keep her warm. But again, the sugar bath is meant for when the actual prolapse has happened and is still hanging out. Poor thing, I hope that the sun will help her some. Take care !

 

[ShannyBeard]

If she is flipping and having trouble in her tank, remove all of her furniture and adjust her basking spot so it is on the floor. You'll need to lower the UVB and mount it inside her tank so she can get to within 6" of it. I agree with the others that she needs to be in her tank and I'm willing to bet if you can just give her the flat surface of her tank to be in, then she should not flip over. (is this correct, I hope? I had the same thoughts and struggle with my rescue dragon). And I agree on the higher nighttime temps to boost her system and help her heal.

 

[Esther19]

Thanks, girls. There is no furniture in her tank, and the bulb is adjusted to keep her warm and in range of UVB on the floor of her tank. "Everywhere" included school and home, with an errand on the way home at times. Yesterday she attended at retirement party for a friend. So she is not away from her bulb for long, as I try to keep trips short.

She flips when she tries to move around. About 1/6 of the times she moves, she flips and cannot right herself.
She does spend most of her time in her tanks, and she flips here as well as out. It's a combination of how her feet and hands move her. She also employs her chin to help move where she wants to go.

Anxiously awaiting news from the vet. She has a tummy medicine to take now, too.
The pushing to poo seems to have abated this am.

Thanks!
Esther

 

[ShannyBeard]

Wow I didn't realize how hard it is for her to get around. Sounds like you're doing all you can to make her home as safe as you can for her. I guess I would be doing the same thing for her - taking her with me if there were no one to watch her. I'm not sure what else you can do.

Are you giving her liquid B vitamins? It helps the brain and muscle tissues communicate, helps build muscle mass and aids in the breakdown of food and absorption of nutrients. I think it would help her. I give it to my MBD dragon in his baby food and calcium syringe. If you aren't giving her that, then it's a thought.

 

[Esther19]

Thanks, everyone, for your interest. Here is what the doc said about her bloodwork, after calling the lab to consult about the results:

White count: normal
Liver and kidney function: normal
Uric acid: normal
Here's the kicker: Calcium level is very high-27 (The vet says to maintain her dose of calcium at 2 cc's)

According to the lab, the increased calcium indicates that her reproductive system is active. I forget the exact words he used. I asked if there was medicine to dissolve eggs, and he didn't know. We agreed that her little body could not handle the laying of eggs. I do not currently feel any eggs.

Soon after Cissy was diagnosed with MBD in January 2011, (when she was about 4-5 months old by my estimate), we started to treat as best we could. As we learned more, we made changes. The Reptisun 10 did not seem to help her. I started her on the Calci-blast, and later added serrapeptase. I switched her bulb to a Powersun 160. The Powersun is 12" from her floor, and yields a basking temp of 100-102. She gets a liquid multivitamin 3x per week.

Her very first x-ray showed that her bones were the size of dental floss, according to doc. 4-6 months later, the x-ray was so much better, and was looking normal. But she didn't act any different. Still had the mobility issues.

She has not had an appetite for live feeders for about a year. She underwent 4 rounds of meds for coccidia, and I was ignorant of probiotics. She has been on baby food pretty much since then, except for the odd superworm, dubia, or bite of greens. Rarely, she will gobble up a tummy full, when she does not get discouraged that she cannot get them in her mouth. She has always overshot her food by about 3/4 inch too high.

She currently has coccidia again, and entamoeba. The doc is trying to find the Ponzuril that Tracie suggested, but can only find it in large bottles costing $700. He will try to contact horse folks to see about getting a bit, but I'm wondering if I can find it in small doses online.

Over the past few months, Cissy has gotten as floppy as a rag doll. I try to exercise her as much as I can so the muscles don't atrophy. Even tried swimming, but she always tried to drown herself. When I would hold her in the water, she would not move. Her back legs twitch when I walk by, or when I rub her back. Sometimes they just twitch for no reason. She had pretty much reached a place where she wasn't getting any worse, and was handling her disability. Then her arms stopped minding her. She has been using her chin to move and has been flipping much more often. Then the vomiting.

The doc wonders if pheromones can trigger a female to lay eggs. We recently added 2 males to our family: Fred in Nov. 2011 and little Buster in Jan. 2012. She cannot see Fred, but she can see Buster. Buster is a slow grower. Cissy and Buster pay one another no mind. Buster waves at Fred whenever he sees him out. Fred does not pay attention to either of the others.

So my favorite vet and I are stumped. Why does she twitch when her calcium is so high? Is her body continuing to leach it out of her bones?

What are the symptoms of the "crypto?" disease?

Thanks for hanging in there and reading this.
Esther