Zeke Fatty Live Disease - Update w/ Pics

[Mirrorakay]

Zeke only gets fed once a day, first thing in the day.

Zeke's beard is looking pretty good, aside from a very faint black tint. However, after he throws up, it darkens for the remainder of the day. Again he threw up around 6:45 this evening. I am going to give my vet a call again tomorrow to ask about any solutions to this problem for my little man.

 

[diamc]

Oh poor Zeke, let us know what the vet says. Thinking about him & you.

 

[Mirrorakay]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Zeke was up on his basking spot again today. That is two days in a row! It really seems like the food is giving him some energy at least, though he still dozes off for a lot of the day. However, with the way he sits on the basking spot, his head tilts down slightly when he is REALLY relaxed. That seems to be part of his vomiting problem. The vet said that part of the regurgitation has been because when his body is angled down, if only a little, it just pours out of him.

At the start of the day he sits farther back on the basking spot, awake and all. As the day goes on, he loses energy and starts trying to relax. He inches forward on his spot, which sort of arches his head forward. By evening he has scooted up quite a bit and has his head angled down. So far I've found that once I clean up his mouth and nose, making sure nothing else is coming up, I can move him to the floor of his tank and rest his head facing up ever so slightly; doing that gets a majority of the bubbling to stop.

 

[diamc]

That makes sense. Is there any way that you can prop him up so that his head stays pointing up, perhaps put a small pillow or a towel snuggled around him.

Great that he is basking at least part of the day now.

 

[Mirrorakay]

There's no real way to prop his head up on the basking spot. It is a branch type structure and doesn't really have the room to get his head up. I have to move him to the floor of the tank to get him the best support possible. He isn't happy to be moved, but it's the only real way to help him.

 

[Mirrorakay]

Third day in a row basking! It really seems that the food is giving him energy he didn't have. Unfortunately he was struggling with his tummy again this morning, which made force feeding him harder than usual. I propped him up to he was basically standing on his back legs, upright like a person. After holding him like that for a few minutes his stomach calmed enough that I was able to feed him.

I called and left a message for the vet, but he is out of the office until Monday. I suspect he will call me first thing Monday morning. My vet also recently opened up their 24 hour exotics emergency room so I have somewhere to go if Zeke suddenly goes downhill over the weekend. I don't think that will happen though.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Poor Zeke, he sure has a hard time right now. If you can move him to help, that should work for awhile until he starts feeling better.
At least he is basking more than he was now! That is some improvement for him.
Poor guy, at least you are able to find a few ways to help his tummy right now. Did you get some food into him?
Keep us posted on him.

Tracie

 

[Mirrorakay]

Zeke actually tolerates the tube feedings really well. He doesn't struggle much at all. Once I get his mouth open enough, slipping the tube in and feeding him is easy. As the tube goes in he tries to bite down a bit, but once it is in place he just slowly tries to use his tongue to push it out. Otherwise there isn't any thrashing or hard biting going on. So even today we got all of the food into him. After tomorrow's feeding the vet wanted me to make the food thicker (he made it with extra water for the first few feeding to go easy on Zeke's tummy) and push about 1ml more into him. However, with how often Zeke has been regurtitating his food, I may stick with the watered down Carnivore Care until I can talk to the vet Monday. It is just two feedings so that should be fine.

 

[AHBD]

I'm glad to hear the progress that your Zeke is making. I know you are looking forward to any and all improvements, and hopefully the day will come when the food is tolerated, not coming back up through his nose. But it sounds like some of it is being absorbed. I wonder if veggie slurries would be tolerated better than the carnivore care ? Just a thought....it may be lighter on his system.

 

[Mirrorakay]

It's a small amount, just a drop or two, coming out of his nose when he gets sick. So a lot of it is actually staying down. I just wish that ALL of it was staying down. The vet is pretty adamant about the Carnivore Care because of the signs his body is showing of malnutrition. I may ask about veggie slurries when I talk to the vet though.

 

[beardie parents]

yes, I believe he should have the carnivore care as it has protein in it. We have some we got from the vet in June of 2011 and I'm giving it to Goldie now because I believe she's not getting enough protein. It will help him, eventually I believe. a veggie slurry might be a good idea but he still needs protein.

 

[AHBD]

Yes, I'm sure he needs protein, but for the first few feedings I wondered if his upset tummy would tolerate something lighter that might cause less queasiness after his ordeal. But if he is getting used to it, it sounds like the way to go.

 

[beardie parents]

When I eat food that's not really healthy, like potato chips, my stomach gets to feeling bad so I get some yoghurt (plain because it has not sugar) and my stomach gets to feeling better. My point of this is I think that's what he needs, something healthy in his stomach and protein because all of us needs protein to be able to function. However, it might be good to get some veggies into him.

 

[AHBD]

Well, I most certainly do not condone potato chip slurries for bearded dragons under any circumstances ..!! Just kidding, couldn't help myself ! I'm sure Zeke's vet is doing a great job.

 

[beardie parents]

yes, I understand. Our girls wouldn't look at them. I've heard of others that will eat anything, even if it's 'junk food' for humans.