Zeke Fatty Live Disease - Update w/ Pics

[Bwalter]

I keep reading every day on Zeke's progress, crossing my fingers he gets better. I feel so lucky right now that I have had no problems with my girl. Thinking of you and Zeke every day and check on here daily.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I just wanted to let you know I was thinking about you & Zeke. What a phenomenal job you are doing with him & I know that he appreciates it.
That is positive news he is holding food down right now. I personally think he is just very exhausted right now with all of the stress.
I hope the vet calls soon. Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

 

[Mirrorakay]

Well, Zeke threw up again this morning. He is up on his basking spot sleeping today and passed a urate (small with no stool).

My vet finally gave me a call back and the news isn't good. He told me he spent the weekend researching and talking to other reptile specialists and they could only really come up with one cause as to why Zeke isn't improving and why the whole constipation/fatty liver started in the first place-- cancer of the stomach. That's why it took him so long to get back to me. He didn't want to share his idea until he was as sure as he could be that cancer would be the target of our next set of tests. My vet is almost positive that we'll find cancer, but we're going to set up an appointment so they can put an endoscope down Zeke's throat and get a look at his stomach. Both the vet and I are praying that he's wrong, but all of his second opinions turned up the same answer.

I don't know when exactly we're going to look at his stomach, but it should be pretty soon. I'll update when I find out and let you all know if cancer turns out to be our diagnosis.

 

[Esther19]

I'm sorry the news wasn't better. Please know that we are all pulling for Zeke and that we're here to support you. Hugs, Esther

 

[Mirrorakay]

We have an appointment for first thing tomorrow morning. I'll let you all know how it goes.

 

[Irwinshealth]

I will pray the vets are incorrect and Zeke will improve. thinking of you

 

[LadyMeridius]

My thoughts are with Zeke :*( Poor guy is such a fighter!

 

[Bwalter]

Crossing my fingers its not cancer, keeping you and little Zeke in my thoughts.

 

[XtinaBeardieMom]

I'm so sorry that you're having to deal with this daunting possibility now - I'm sure you must be a wreck. I'm hoping so hard, not only for Zeke but for your sake as well. I know you're just as exhausted from all of this as he is. No matter what happens, or what you decide to do... we're here for you. I hope you and Zeke can get some rest tonight. All of the luck in the world to you both.

 

[Amy2]

I am sorry that the vet didn't have better news for you. I am hoping and praying that he is wrong and the endoscope turns up nothing. You both have been thru so much, I will be thinking of you tomorrow morning. Take care, get some rest. Give Zeke cuddles from me and Gizmo! :love5:

 

[mastatom85]

My name is Tom I have been following your post about Zeke for the past two weeks due to my lizard having some of the same symptoms. I am not sure if i am posting to get help of a similar issue, or trying to let you know your not alone.

Here is the information about my little girl Lucy
- Age = 7-8 months
- Size = 14 inches
- Size of the enclosure = 4' long 1' wide and 2' tall
- Temperatures = cool side is 85-90 basking spot is 100-105
- Type of substrate = reptile carpet
- Diet (before she got sick) was crickets leafy greens and fruit
- Diet (when i have been hand feeding her)- carnivore care(powder food), baby food (squash, apple, prunes),
-Lighting = I have a 4 foot 2 bulb florescent fixture with two reptisun 10.0 uvb

The first time I took lucy to the vet was due to the way she was playing with her own reflection in her cage. I have seen bearded dragons do this before, but what scared me and made me rush her to the vet was that she would seem to kind of tremor and "spaz" out a bit as she would move and squish her body in weird ways. The vet did a comprehensive physical exam, and during lucy took a huge poop the vet told me that she could have just been constipated and constipation can push up on to there nervs and make them do weird things. I still being worried had the vet test for parasites, this test came back clear. I watched her closely for the next day and at times felt as if things were getting better.
Two days later though I turned on her light in the morning and had quite the traumatic experience. She stuck her head and tail straight up into the air and puffed out flat as a piece of paper and began running around her cage, she even flipped her self all the way over. I helped her back up to a normal position as quick as I could only to have her continue to tremor. she continued to keep her head (with mouth open) and tail straight back through out this whole experience. I had never seen anything like this before. I rushed her to the vet immediately. The vet told me that she seemed defensive during the exam so she thought that she could be in pain. the vet game me METACAM a pain medication, and ENROFLOXACIN an antibiotic to give her two times a day. I did as the vet told me and gave her these meds for three days till i saw the same symptoms as before. during this time she also began to ignore her normal food so i brought her back to the vet again. This time the vet gave lucy a calcium glucose injection, a mineral admin, and a powder food to mix with water and feed her twice a day. The vet also told me to stop giving the meds that she had prescribed three days before. I began to feed lucy by hand twice a day and felt like i was almost getting there. she had two big poops of really hard black matter come out after i began to hand feed her by hand. her overall color seemed to come back (except the beard) i kept a really close eye on her but as of sunday things began to go down hill again she started to have the same spaz attack from before again. I just took her to the vet today due to this symptom coming back. This time getting an xray. the results were not good the vet told us that it looked like a cancer growth that was blocking up her lungs. the vet said this was why she was having her spaz attacks. she said she didnt even think surgery was an option. she basically just told me how much it was to Euthanasia her and that she would want to perform an autopsy due to the way that lucy has baffeled her mind, yet they wouldn't tell us the results from this unless we paid another 50 dollars for the phone call.

I am at a loss, I am broken down and i don't really know what to do. The only thing i have thought of was when my uncles dog was diagnosed with cancer they were told by the vet that he may live 6 days to 6 months. they herd from a friend to mix flax seed oil in with his food, they took her advice and began to do this six months later they returned to the vet and had a cancer free dog. after my news from the vet I took her home and decided to give it one last shot and began mixing flax seed oil in with her powder formula.

Does anyone else have any ideas?
Please keep my up to date with ZEKEs progress and what your vet recommends you do?

 

[Amy2]

Tom, I am so sorry to hear about Lucy.. How horrible for you to go through. I unfortunately don't have any advice for you, Im sorry, I just wanted to let you know that I read your story, and I hope the best for your and Lucy. I will keep you and Lucy in my thoughts and prayers.
Take care,
Amy

 

[BeardieMommy3991]

So sorry to hear about Zeke! I lost one to cancer as well. Hopefully the endscopy will show up clear- and the vets are wrong. If not, hopefully he lives a long life even with his disease. *Hugs*

 

[Mirrorakay]

Unfortunately the vet's suspicions were right. There were two clusters of tumors in his stomach and the vet said there were likely more throughout his body. There would have been no way to remove all the tumors and he told me this cancer is particularly aggressive, so I opted to put Zeke to sleep. I know that Zeke would have fought longer, but no food was making it through his stomach so I figured it was best to end his suffering now. My boy's suffering is finally over.

 

[AHBD]

I'm so, so sorry about your boy Zeke, I can't tell you. I know that anyone following this thread hoped so much for a different outcome. You took the best care of him that you could, and when you knew there was not a shred of hope left, you did the right thing. All my deepest sympathies to you !