Weird mouth shutter behavior

[colbertf]

Was he diagnosed with ADV ? I don't remember that in the posts. At any rate, the small mouth movements are totally normal, I've seen dragons do this many times. The fact that he's had a URI and then on nebulizers might add to it just a bit but that's not a big deal at all. If your dragon is ADV positive it might contribute to a URI but would still not make this particular mouth movement as a side effect. With a URI there can be much worse breathing problems. Rowan seems to look pretty good ! But if you haven't had him tested for ADV, do that. Tracie works with the lab that is studying ADV and can get Rowan tested for a very low price by the experts.

Thank you. I had him tested for ADV shortly after I got him back in January at 5 months from seemingly a reputable breeder and my guy tested positive for ADV then. I informed the breeder who got very defensive saying all dragons can show positive readings of ADV (kind of like saying all dogs have rabies) - I just left it at that. Sorry I failed to mention the ADV+ in this post. We don't feel like he's in any pain or anything with regards to the mouth spasms (not the video posted in a previous comment but the 4 videos posted in the initial post) , but they have gotten somewhat worse at times and I'd say about 80% of times he opens his mouth to bask his mouth will spasm closed.

I work from home and sit beside him all day, in close contact. He asperates very very easily, I've primarily bene able to avoid asperating with him by giving hydration - slurry and/or omnivore or Reptoboost via side of gums and let him swallow that way, but just a drop or two from the nose to his tongue and he will asperate easily. I've found other owners in another Facebook group for ADV+ dragons that have similar issues where there dragon will asperate just on a few drops (I'm not giving a few drops at a time, I drop on the nose, wait let him lick, then one or two additional drops to as his tongue licks (1 drop at a time), let him swallow but he will asperate....just after a few drops of liquid , He's not been eating on his own for about 10-12 weeks now since before the URI, or I should say he eats very little on his own, I have cut back the Omnicare syringe feeding and was giving about 5ML a week the past few weeks and he still ignores protein. He will go down to his veg bowl, eat one or 2 leaf's of arugula, but that's it for the day.

 

[AHBD]

Poor guy, at least he's holding good weight and getting nutrition. One day at a time I guess, I wish you both the best.

 

[colbertf]

@AHBD Thank you. The one thing I'm confused or not clear on is when I was talking to the doctor initially over the phone after she mentioned the fat pads, I told her I thought she was referring to the fat pads on the head, but she said they also have fat pads underneath and saying that you can feel them, she also mentioned it in the email report ("..very large fat pads in the coelom (abdomen) which are pushing the rest of the organs forward.." ) but when I tried to google that and searched online looking for bearded dragon anatomy images & diagrams I'm not entirely sure I see or understand, or how fat pads are pushing the organs/lungs. Might you have something I can reference to better understand that comment?

 

[AHBD]

Ask for copies of the xray and ask the vet to point out specifically what area they are referring to.

 

[xp29]

I just read this thread for the first time.
I am sorry to hear rowan has adv. That would be tough to go through. I am glad he is at least in a home willing to put in the effort to take care of him. Far to many beardies end up in bad homes. He is one of the fortunate ones!
Please keep posting about how he is doing, we will all be pulling for him.
He is a beautiful dragon btw

 

[colbertf]

Ask for copies of the xray and ask the vet to point out specifically what area they are referring to.

I will do that, it may be 10 days or so, the doctor who did the ct-scan and ultrasound is away, and I'm away next week, I'll follow up and get copies of everything and report back here, some of the details might be helpful to others in the future

 

[colbertf]

I just read this thread for the first time.
I am sorry to hear rowan has adv. That would be tough to go through. I am glad he is at least in a home willing to put in the effort to take care of him. Far to many beardies end up in bad homes. He is one of the fortunate ones!
Please keep posting about how he is doing, we will all be pulling for him.
He is a beautiful dragon btw

@xp29 Thank you for the caring words of support towards Rowan. After being treated for the URI back in March things really haven't gotten much better, URI was cleared but he hasn't really gotten any want to eat on his own and had a small interest in protein/insects at minimal times when I tried to hand feed, that has faded, I've cut back a lot on the critical care Omnivore / Repti-boost, trying to get him to eat on his own, he will go to his veg bowl and eat 1 to 2 small leaf's of baby-arugula, picked out of a variety of items offered. I've left him 5 days now to see if he will eat but I can see him getting much more lethargic, the ct-scan doctor and my vet believe its associated with the Atdenovirus, we were hoping after doing the CT-scan and ultrasound that it might show something that we could treat but it did not, what the doctor did say was that he has very large fat pads that seem to be pushing the organs, his lungs are very small, and being pushed/squeezed. It's been tough.

 

[xp29]

Man thats tough, the poor little
Adv scares me worse than any other thing.