Xray included on page 8.

[TheDragonKeepers]

I gave her a quick drink before I set off for duty, and she literally threw herself at the water for a good glug. Her eyes are filling out a little, and she is much bouncier.

I have rehydrating powder and critical care formula. I'm advised I can use both together. Hope we get out early today, I want to get some in her ASAP.

 

[MissT]

You can use both together- I like using them separately so I cansee how much CCF is actually getting into them. Then I use the reptoboost in 3 baths per day- it can also be used as a drink tho but I just let them drink it in the bath if they want to. It really helps them to 'hold on' to hydration.
Which powder did you get?
Is the critical care the vetark brand?

 

[TheDragonKeepers]

Yep, vetark critcare. Um, small animals lectade two part rehydrating powders for oral admin. Will prob syringe feed the powders once mixed. She can still have a swim, and I KNOW she's had the meds that way.

 

[TheDragonKeepers]

ILectade contains a) glycine, citric acid, potassium citrate, potassium dihydrogen phosphate, sodium chloride and b) glucose monohydrate.

I gave her the critcare first by syringe, and flushed the last few drops by giving her a couple of mils of lectade from same syringe. She's dozy 20 mins later, but finally has neither black beard or tail. Her eyes and skull shape are greatly improving, will add pic shortly.

I'm putting her to snooker under her lamp, the quick jog out of her tank and her drink has tired her out, poor babe. She currently weighs 371 grams before hydration and has had about 6 grams of fluids.

 

[AHBD]

Yes, I imagine she would be dozy, poor girl. Good to hear that she's one to take her meds. Keep up the hydration via syringe, and keep up the good work !!

 

[TheDragonKeepers]

BTW, warning: poop pic. Sorry. Both for posting poop pic, and for not being able to post it earlier. (The clear patch on the right is actually a HUGE bubble. The whole lot is about the size of a 50p wide I think.)

This is the poop she did this morning before I went to work. It's very mucousy and jellyish. She did another in the bath whilst I was out, and I understand it was much the same. The darker bit is primarily made of morio guts and a small amount of morio shell. This isn't their staple food, but she does like them a lot. I only let her have a couple now and then and try to balance with plenty of greens. You can see she's not eaten the greens, but snarfed a worm somewhere along the line - suspect it was a loose one she found in her tank - there are a couple kicking round in there (waiting to turn into crunchy tasty beetles).

She still looks drawn and a little haggard, but you can agree there's a significant visual improvement to previously.

Image from yesterday to show difference.

As you can see from above, her eyes are still a bit sunk, but her temples are looking WAY better than previously and she's not nearly as bloaty. Still barrel-shaped, but not as inflated. She's gone to kip in her tunnel (under heatlamp).

Tsam has taken charge of the situation, ensuring that she gets bathed regularly and well looked after whilst I was on duty. You were right, he has a great air of authority.

 

[AHBD]

Ha -ha -ha -ha !! Tsam is def. in charge , and I see that she is doing much better now under his care. Good thing that he has a comprehensive " to do " list since you are under such stress that it's in her best interest to have someone with a level head to dispense instructions. That's really cute, and she does look greatly improved.

 

[TheDragonKeepers]

*giggles* He's a lot of fun.

Bless him, he knows something is wrong with Kyle - he didn't even beard or pester her tank this afternoon (which is unheard of for Tsammy.) Level head? A head that square, you could balance a spirit level on it!

I'll give her a few hours before I jam more fluids in her - I don't want to over-saturate the poor lizard. She's such a strong little dragon though; I'm more confident by the minute that she'll recover fully. (I just hope she's not doing the classic beardie "Magic Faux Recovery" that they're apt to do - you know, where they're all better again and then suddenly drop.)

 

[bandit27]

Hi

I've been following this post and would like to say that Kyle is looking better. You are doing a fantastic job with her.

 

[TheDragonKeepers]

Thanks Bandit. I saw you browsing this morning I appreciate the extra agreement though - I just wondered if I was "seeing" improvement because I wanted to, but it's great to get confirmation.

I was also reading MissT's account of her dragon Kazi - it all seems very familiar. I haven't finished reading the whole 80+ pages yet, but it's seriously educational.

 

[TheDragonKeepers]

Kyle got up for a little walkabout. She's very wobbly on her legs, as you'd probably expect, with her muscle mass having rapidly reduced and the dehydration.

Popped her in the bath again where she tried to shove her head underwater trying to get a drink. I hoiked her head out, dried her nose off and let her drink sensibly.

I gave her tummy a gentle massage to see if the bloating IS going down (seems to be), and she went for another woop - a VERY watery poop. There are traces of bananamix coming through now and a lot more water. Rinsed and rebathed, so she had another glug. Dried her off and gave her a swig of hydrating fluid before putting her back in her tank. Head still dinged in.

She keeps crawling out of her tunnel, so I'm letting her be where she is - she seems... well, happier isn't the right description, but more content to be there.

 

[TheDragonKeepers]

*makes pffff noise*
I'd say she's had at least 8mls of fluid (plus whatever bathwater) today and I don't want to overdo it. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I don't want to overhydrate her, but with her having such watery poop (a LOT of liquid, as mentioned) I want to be able to counter this.

The usual rule for rehydrating lizards is 2% of bodyweight per 24 hours - she's just gone over this I think, but with the waterloss from pooping, she's probably displaced 2 or 3mls at a guess, possibly more.

Anyone have any experience with this?

 

[AHBD]

Your pictures didn't show up there. Is she making some noise while breathing now ? I hope not. I might suggest cutting the bath back to once or twice a day now, and let her drink what she wants since she IS drinking on her own. Along with the critical care + other hydrating stuff, it seems like enough hydration. Constant in and out of the water might not be so good for her now, and possibly chill her or take too much water down the wrong pipe. Just my suggestion, since she is drinking on her own I would reduce the baths. Also, after bathing dry her immediately and put her back under the heat....don't leave her out to get chilled.

 

[TheDragonKeepers]

It was ME that made the *pfff* noise, sorry for the scare. She's NEARLY got water up her nose a couple of times, but I'm very careful to keep her up and have a tissue on hand constantly in case she splashes a drop or something. Haven't put any pics on this page yet.

I always dry and bung her under the heatlamp immediately, don't worry. It does mean I have to argue with her a little to get her to STAY there for a short while. Also, EVERY time she goes in the bath, she drinks - even with the extra syringed fluids.

It's bedtime in about half an hour for lizards and everyone is winding down for the evening, (as it's about 20:43 now) so I'm not going to pester her with any more fluids - she hasn't passed any since the bath before last, so I'm happy with that for now.

I'll probably give her crit care over the day tomorrow rather than all at once, that way she'll get more stable hydration. She can have a bath in the morning and the afternoon then, and syringe drinks through the day.

She's currently settled on her towel inside the tank, a few inches right of her heatlamp. I'm content with that - close enough to be warm, but apparently far enough away to be comfy - and I can see her from our bed. Rich doesn't mind me leaning on him!

I think it's going to be a good while before she's back to normal, but every day she fights is a good thing

 

[AHBD]

Oh...O'K., all sounds well. Let her drink as much as she wants, and if you feel comfortable giving her all the baths, carry on . She'll probably be re-hydrated soon.