Munch in the Morning

Mr Munch made it through the night. He had to keep his body propped up because the fluid in his body presses on his lungs when he lays down. I may run him back to the vet to see if we can remove some of the fluid in him.

It's always a relief to check on beardies in the middle of the night and find them breathing. It makes it much, much easier for me to go back to sleep. 

Update on Noel (sorry it's overdue!)

First, let me apologize for the gap in posting. My family and I went on a quick vacation this week and the new iOS update on my phone will not work with my Blogger app. So no posting. :(

I left all my critters in the care of one of the techs who works at my vet's office. He did a great job taking care of my little zoo and especially caring for Noel. Everyday he let me know what Noel was doing and what his energy level was, etc., and everyday I told him what he should do next.

On Wednesday, Noel ate a couple pellets by himself. On Thursday, he had a lot more energy when he got his syringe feeding (which we bumped up to 2 cc's) and ate more pellets. On Friday, he ate a single super worm! This afternoon when I got home, I got him to eat 4 roaches. He, obviously, does not like worms but does like roaches.

Eating still exhausts him and he ends up napping after he eats. But he is so much more alert and aware than he was a week ago. He doesn't have a lot of muscle tone in his arms and legs and doesn't use them much. His eyes are still half closed most of the time-- I did get a nasty glob of junk out of one of them. He's definitely better now than he was a week ago! I think by next week he'll be ready for a check up at the vet.

Noel's Stinkeye

This afternoon, I gave Noel his second saline shot. Oh boy! He fought me! I was so excited to see that. I didn't even get it all in because he was not having it. His eyes were open for the first time today when I got him out.

Here he is after I put him back, giving me the big old stink eye. Plus he was interested in watching my dog Belle who was walking around the front of his tank.

He's still pretty sedate and sleeps most of the time. But he's showing good signs of progress. It is just slow and steady.

Noel's Progress So Far

Noel pooped! That's good. There were distinct urates in his first poop; the second one was gross and mostly undigested crickets. You can see his first little poop and then how he held his head up. 

When I came back to check on him, he had pooped out the undigested part.

He was able to move off the hammock and away from the heat which is also a great sign!

I felt bad he was laying on the ground so I gave him a little bed.

Definitely some good signs from him today. Depending on how alert he is tomorrow, I might offer him a Pedialyte bath again. I don't want to stress him too much. It appears his kidneys are still working, but the stress might kill him.

More updates tomorrow! Thanks to all for your prayers and well wishes.

Update on Spyro

It's a hard day for Spyro. Her belly is very bloated and her eyes are really sunk in. She's only passing urates and blood when she tries to poop. 

I'm about to give her the afternoon doses of pain meds and dewormer. I hope she's able to pull through.

Update on Nova

With all the emergencies this week, I haven't stopped long enough to post on update on Nova. 

He ended up with about an inch of his tail being amputated on Monday. 

He's had a hard time adjusting. I can get him to eat, but he won't open his eyes all the way and is lethargic. It's possible the infection in his tail spread into his bloodstream. I'm going to start him on antibiotics to see if that helps. 

I may give him Critical Care too when I tube feed Raydan to see if I can help him get extra nutrition. 

Happy Dance for Mooshy

Look what I found Mooshy doing this morning! 

He drank for several minutes. 

And he looked much better. 

Slimming Down and a New Sick Area

12 bearded dragons, 6 tortoises, 3 iguanas, 2 snakes, and 2 dogs was a bit too much. Fat Lucy, Moose, MuShu, Squirt, Voldetort, and Turtle Boy all went home (either to their new home or their regular home).

Now we have 8 beardies, 4 tortoises, 3 iguanas, 2 snakes, and 2 dogs. Much more manageable. 

The sick ward is now in my front room instead of my bedroom. :) 

There's Teddy photo-bombing my pic. 

I saw Daisey yesterday

Remember Daisey, the sulcata last year with the prolapse? I saw her yesterday at her adoptive home. She's doing great!

Daisey last year-- 

Daisey yesterday--

With her turtle & tortoise family-- 

Turbo is Hanging in There

Turbo is still doing well. The swelling in his arm stopped growing and he's fairly active overall. He has good days and bad days. He still loves to be pet & scratched like a kitty cat. I have to be careful giving him mangoes or bananas because he'll take my fingers off in his zeal to eat them. 

For now there's no plan to put him down. When he stops eating or his spine/arm start swelling again or he shows that he's in a lot of pain, then I'll do what's necessary. 

Turbo is the sweetest one-eyes iguana ever. 

Lucy is on her Way to the Vet

Lucy is on her way to the vet for her surgery today. She's a LOT less bloated and she's more alert. I look forward to her being healthy and active. 

I'm so sad that I can't be there to watch the surgery and take pics. I had foot surgery (again) on Monday and have to stay off my foot. I sent a list of instructions for the vet techs and am hoping they'll take pics of how many eggs they take out of her.

She will look SO much better when she sheds too. She was on sand and it has made her scales look dirty and gross. Surgery, a healthy diet, some sunshine, and a good shed will turn this girl into a beautiful lizard!

Update on "Fatty Lucy"

Lucy pooped today on her own which is good. At least she's no longer impacted.

Her surgery is tomorrow morning. She hardly moves or does anything all day. I'm guessing it's just because she's so uncomfortable being so full of eggs. 

I look forward to seeing how she is when she's not carrying around so much weight and is able to move & eat on her own. 

I'll post updates tomorrow. 

. 

A Bit of Brightness about Ada

Ada (who is a girl and not a boy which is what we thought when we named her Popeye) will be donated to a study being conducted by my second favorite vet, Dr Echols. He will humanely euthanize her and then use her body to better learn about circulation and respiration in monitor lizards.

So even if her past year is tragic, she will help pass on knowledge to the world through the scientific study that Dr Echols and his team will publish. 

A bittersweet blessing for this sweet girl. 

Finally Some Poop!

MuShu has not been pooping normally and started throwing up when I force fed her. So she was headed back to the vet tomorrow. She's only given me tiny poops that are mostly water. See?

Tonight I found her like this: 

As I tucked her leg under the paper towel, I noticed a big & normal looking poop on her hide. 

Yippee!!! 

Finally, her guts are working. 

Now I need another couple poops and then I'll test her for worms. She had a really bad prolapse which is normally caused by an infestation of parasites. Her poop doesn't look like she has pinworms or coccidia. I wonder if the sand she was on made her prolapse. 

Anyways, she's getting a pass for the vet trip and can stay home. It'll just be Bugsy for his X-ray and Roscoe for his tail treatment (an amputation).  

Some times poop is really good news! 

Bugsy Update

Mr Bugsy continues to baffle my vet and I with his behavior. He acts very sick; he's not eating or drinking on his own; he sleeps all day and is still pooping blood.

Yesterday he went to the vet for a checkup. He's had 8 antibiotic shots for a respiratory infection, but still has coughing spells. His breathing was clear and easy for my vet. So we got a blood sample. 

His blood test results were "unremarkable" and don't do much (anything) to explain what's wrong. Or why he poops blood. His fecal tests are clear. 

Tomorrow I will take in all my sicklies and Bugsy will get an X-ray. Maybe that will show something. 

There's no other obvious reason for him to be so lethargic and not eating. Just like there's no obvious reason for MuShu to not be pooping. She'll probably get an X-Ray too. Roscoe has to get the tip of his tail amputated too. It's going to be an expensive visit. 

Roscoe Update

Roscoe is doing pretty good. He's still pooping on his own and has a little pudgy belly. :) 

He gets calcium and Critical Care twice a day along with frequent water drips to keep his mouth moist (since it doesn't shut tight). 

He's so sad looking. But he gets himself around by dragging his body with his elbows. I'll take a video of it soon. 

The tip of his tail is crispy dead. When he gets a bit stronger and more comfortable, I will have the vet amputate it so the infection stops spreading into the healthy tissue. 

Here's another pic to show how small he is. 

The Sick Room

My bedroom has become the "Hospital Ward" for my rescue. 

Here's an Update on my Sicklies: 

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Turbo is doing okay. He has good days and bad days. The swelling in his arm & spine has slowed. On good days, he eats and is active. On bad days, he doesn't want to be pet and he sleeps all day. This pic shows how he sleeps. It's adorable!! 

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Bugsy is not doing well. He's on antibiotic shots but he still sounds like a whoopee cushion sometimes when he breathes. He stopped eating too so I started force feeding him today. He just mostly sleeps a lot. 

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MuShu is still having a hard time with her guts. I'm waiting to make sure she can poop normally after such a major prolapse. Some days she's really lethargic and hardly moves; other days she's very alert. It's just a slow recovery process. And she still won't eat on her own so I'm force feeding her too. 

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Roscoe is now the newest member in the ward. His tank is where Ginny's tank used to be. He's got a long hard road ahead, but I expect him to eventually recover. His whole cage is covered with polar fleece so he can't get his nails stuck and everything is low so he can't fall off. 

MuShu went back to the Vet

In the past two days, MuShu has been bleeding less, but she also stopped pooping. Instead of taking her stitches out myself, I took her back to my vet today. 

Dr Folland was able to probe her vent and see that the prolapsed tissue looks great. The swelling has gone down and it looks healthy. With a prolapse, you always worry that the tissue has decreased blood flow for too long and it will just die once it is pushed back in. 

While he was probing her, MuShu was able to push out a blood covered urate plug. I think the stitches were too tight to allow her to push the urate out. 

When Dr Folland tried to pry her mouth open, MuShu tried to take a bite out of his finger. Her mouth & tongue are pale meaning she is low in iron from all the blood loss and trauma. 

At least for the next week, I'll be force feeding her Critical Care to get her nutrition levels up and to get some weight back on her (she lost 14 grams).  I'll keep doing the antibiotic shots for her and she'll have another follow up next week. 

Within an hour of being home, MuShu pooped a little bit. Slowly but surely, we should be able to get her back to being healthy. And once she really poops, I'll be able to test her for parasites to see if that's why she prolapsed. 

MuShu Update

So far today I have only found a little bit of blood in MuShu's tank. She's been eating well and still active. 

Tonight I let her run around for awhile on the floor before bed. 

My vet thinks the bleeding will decrease over time and she'll be able to poop normally. I hope so. 

Junie B

Someone was not happy on Saturday when I cut her nails. 

But I had to do it because her scratching was making me bleed. 

Luckily yesterday, she let me love on her. 

And we made progress because she let me love on her. 

Progress!! 

I expect that she'll hate me again today. :) 

Junie B has a pretty severe overbite. Her lower lip folds over her stunted lower jaw. It's pretty funny looking.