What should I do about my bearded dragon and antibiotics?

[TackoFallForPres]

Hello everyone, my male 3 year old bearded dragon got a bruise quite a while ago which I feel really bad about. While I was bringing him out of his enclosure to give him a bath he banged his mouth on the top ( fyi he is way more skittish when he has poop on him). I used raw honey for a while but somehow it got infected, I think that I didn't do it at the same time everyday. So I went to the vet, they told me to use silver sulfadiazine which I did. It still was not healing so they did a culture and it turns out that he has/had 2 different types of bacteria growing under his mouth (they also told me to use pain medication until it looks much better, which now it does so I have stopped). Now me and my wife have done the injection together 7 times, they told us to do it 10 times. Recently I have gotten so much more nervous while doing it and I think that he has too. He has started to squirm a ton and I am worried that I will do something wrong and or hit a vein. Recently it has been kind of hard to get it fully in there, and when I do, it seems to go pretty far in pretty fast (unlike times before this when it went smoothly in, slowly). Today he squirmed a ton and he actually bent the needle a little bit. I just feel so bad for him. I either got a little bit in or none. I don't know if I have already mentioned this but the vet told us to use the antibiotics (amikacin injection) 10 times and me and my wife have only done 7. I am really concerned that I will mess up on the shot and that something will go horribly wrong. Is it bad to stop 3 injections early? The vet is closed and the weekend is coming up (they don't do business during the weekends) so I decided to make a post here. Btw I no longer use the silver sulfadiazine because it ran out so I use raw unpasteurized honey 2 or 3 times a day, which I hope is not overkill. I will post some pictures, right now it looks as if it isn't infected. It is mostly healed but just a little spot appears to be unhealed. I just really hope that my bearded dragon will live a long, happy, and healthy life despite the injury. Also he has a tiny bit of loose stuck shed on one of his nostrils however I am giving him a bath and it should come out soon (if you see any red under it that is not blood it is just some organic prune baby food from about 2 weeks ago). Please let me know if you need any more info and or pictures https://imgur.com/a/Im76OV4. Any responses are much appreciated. Also sorry for posting so much about the same topic lol

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Health

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Are you planning on giving the rest of the Amikacin injections or not? What was the
antibiotic prescribed for, the area on his chin? It doesn't look infected though. Has it
improved any at all with using the raw honey?
Giving shots are not my favorite thing to do, either!
Using it a few times a day is fine, I don't think that it overkill. Just do your best with keeping
it clean daily, to discourage bacterial growth.
Are the temperatures in the tank within range? Has he been rubbing his nose on his tank sides
too? That is often what causes the bruises, etc on their snouts.
How is his appetite doing?

Tracie

 

[TackoFallForPres]

Hello,

Are you planning on giving the rest of the Amikacin injections or not? What was the
antibiotic prescribed for, the area on his chin? It doesn't look infected though. Has it
improved any at all with using the raw honey?
Giving shots are not my favorite thing to do, either!
Using it a few times a day is fine, I don't think that it overkill. Just do your best with keeping
it clean daily, to discourage bacterial growth.
Are the temperatures in the tank within range? Has he been rubbing his nose on his tank sides
too? That is often what causes the bruises, etc on their snouts.
How is his appetite doing?

Tracie

Thank you so much for responding. If it is safe for my bearded dragon I would rather not do the injections anymore because I can tell that he doesn't like it. I am trying to figure out if it would be bad for his health to stop the medication early, which is why I made this post. I think it has improved with the raw honey, the little red area still on his chin has definitely decreased in size since I have started using the honey. The temperatures are fine. I have 2 thermometers in there, I also took it with a probe thermometer. It is 95f. Probably a little warmer since the thermometer was lower on the log. I would say that he basks about 80% of the time or a little less. He went through a 3 day period where he was glass surfing a lot which the vet said would stop the healing. I found out it was due to a new bulb I got which made the temp 103f. I don't think that it delayed the healing too much since it was only 3 days, a while ago. So to sum that part up, currently the temperatures are fine and he never glass surfs (well, only for about half an hour every 3 or 4 days before he poops. I tried to put something soft in there like a baby blanket but he climbed up it). His appetite seems 100% fine. He has greens and veggies daily, and crickets with calcium everytime about every 2 or 3 days. I give him calcium about 3 times a week with his greens however the vet said to do it every single meal with greens with no d3? I do use d3 because I did some research and due to the UVB light that I have (t5 or t8 tube with nothing blocking it) I should be using d3. Online it also said to do it only 2 or 3 times a week. The vet also said to give him daily baths which I have been doing although I skipped it twice because it was after the failed injection so I thought that he should just relax for a bit. Sorry if this message was poorly written and or poorly organized lol. Again thank you for responding I really appreciate it. Also yes it was prescribed for the chin.

 

[TackoFallForPres]

Is it safe to stop giving him them early?