An Update on Kiwi the Chameleon

One of my chameleon rescues, Kiwi, came back to me a couple months ago and I put her immediately into a new foster home. After a month or two, Kiwi stopped eating and I had a vet tech friend take her. The 2nd move stressed her out and she ended up at my Utah vets’ office today where they found her belly and throat filled with fluid. It’s not looking good for her. 

Right now I’m waiting on the blood work results to come back. 

Kiwi was a spontaneous pet store purchase. She didn’t have a good cage or a good UVB light and had severe Metabolic Bone Disease when I got her. Her bones were so fragile that the moment she started crawling along her new screen tank, her arm & leg bones broke. She spent several months in a flat 10 gallon sick tank while we strengthened her bones. MBD has long lasting consequences on bones and internal organs (like the kidneys & liver). 

Lil Spike, Rescue 200

This little buddy came to me in very, very bad shape yesterday. :( He's not eating, he's not moving, he's not healthy. He's been force fed for the last week without any improvement.

One look at Spike's picture told me the problem-- he has SEVERE Metabolic Bone Disease. I can feel at least one broken rib on him.

The biggest impact of MBD is brittle bones (which this guy has). A secondary, less known, symptom is poor gut motility. Without calcium, a reptile's digestive system stops working properly and they easily become impacted. Another MBD symptom is muscle loss which prevents the beardie from completely emptiness put their bellies. I can still feel sand in this baby's belly, even though he's been off sand for months. 

I gave him a saline injection to rehydrate his tissues and some calcium. He's already been in the sunshine today for an hour and is now I under a brand new UVB light. Now we just wait and see how he does. Direct sunlight is the BEST treatment for MBD (and it's FREE!!!) 

He looked pretty poor last night and I didn't know if he'd still be with me this morning. 

Hooray! He was! I gave him another saline injection, some calcium, and then I got him to lick some watered down baby food squash off a syringe too. All good signs! The experience exhausted him and I'll leave him alone for the rest of the day. 

Now we just keep doing Baby Steps forward to hope he can pull through. 

Praying for Junior & my Vets

Junior is headed back to the vet tomorrow. His bowels are still blocked. 😞  He's getting stronger and his bones are becoming firmer, but if we can't get his digestion to work, there's not much hope for his ultimate survival.

 😫Please join me in praying tonight that my two awesome vets will be inspired to know how to best help Junior now. Thank you! I believe in miracles and I believe God cares about all His critters and can help heal Junior through Dr Folland and Dr Echols.

Sweet Baby Fry, rescue 176

Last night, some Idiot Owners showed up at the pet store where my friend works with their very sickly leopard gecko. They threatened to dump the sad lizard in the parking lot if the pet store employees didn't take him.

(um, yeah, don't get me started on that little manipulation....)

My friend took him and brought him to me.

Fry now is the WORST case of Metabolic Bone Disease I have ever seen in a leopard gecko.

Gaping mouth, dried out tongue, dislocated jaw, three layers of shed on his tail, a rubber skull, bent & blackened feet, a kinked spine.... Oh, and this baby is supposedly two years old.

I gave him 1 cc of saline and put him in a warm box for the night.

He did make it through the night, but this morning he looked worse than before. I felt 99.5% sure that euthanasia was the kindest thing to do. I took him to my favorite vet (who happened to be working today) for a quick check right after they opened. At first, he hesitated. Yes, Fry was bad, but there was some hope---- until he saw the jaw fracture.

There's ZERO hope for a lizard with a broken jaw and MBD. :(

I held Fry as he died. He will be buried in my flower garden.

Good News for Junior

Junior woke up and moved around his sick tank a lot this morning. He was very alert too.

Then I noticed that he was able to poop out the hard urate plug that had been stuck in his belly. Yay!

It's about time for him to have his daily saline injection and then his calcium shot. Then he'll get some food and a chance to bask in the direct sunshine.

He's still very wobbly and uncoordinated, but it's a relief to see him have the strength to move around. For the first 10 hours I had him, he barely moved at all and couldn't even open his eyes.

Junior's Sunshine Therapy

Junior got his saline injections and calcium injection today and I had him out in the sunshine at 1 pm for maximum UVB exposure. 

There have been studies about how powerful and effective direct sunshine is for treating/preventing Metabolic Bone Disease. Reptiles thrive on direct UVB-- even those with the most expensive Mercury Vapor bulb you can buy!

Window glass is treated to filter out the sun's natural UVB rays and so direct sun is the best. Plus, it's free.

The sunshine and its warmth really helped perk up Junior. He was much more alert and active in the sunshine. After he got about 30 minutes of sunshine (I didn't want to stress him too much), I gave him his first tube feeding of Critical Care. It's going to take me some time to get the hang of this new tube and system. Dr Echols didn't give me a small one to minimize the risk of accidentally puncturing a delicate organ. I ended up overfeeding Junior and he had formula coming out of his mouth.

I think tomorrow's tube feeding will be better.

Wilson, rescue number 64

Today I picked up this little cutie Wilson, a 6 month old beardie. 

Immediately I did a wellness check on him and was saddened to find his bones were flexible! Uh oh! The dreaded Metabolic Bone Disease. Blast! 

He had a UVB light, but it was a cool bulb and not strong enough to help him metabolize calcium. Coil bulbs are NOT worth the money!! Invest in a straight UVB bulb always!! 

Luckily the people taking him were willing to treat his MBD and take good care of him. I think we caught it soon enough that he should be fine.