Sweet Spike

Spike became another beardie angel for me today. His systemic infection returned last week with a vengeance and I didn't want him to suffer any more than he had to. 

My fabulous vet, Dr Echols, has been conducting research studies at the University of Utah on exotic animal respiration & circulation. His team had just started a new project and Spike became the first lizard they were able to study. I trust Dr Echols and know that Spike was treated with kindness & care as he was put down. His body will then be used to expand reptile knowledge that will be used in the future to treat other bearded dragons and lizards.

Spike, for all the crumminess in his early life, is leaving a mark on this world in my heart and in science. It's a bittersweet moment for me.

My Dog Kip

I went to pick up Minnie's body at the vet this afternoon and they told me my dog's box of ashes had come in. So I got to take home two bodies. :( 

Minnie will be buried in our herb garden with the other beardies who have lost their lives. Kip's box will stay on our mantle with his toy puppy on top of it. 

Sweet Minnie

Minnie has not been well the past two weeks. She won't eat and she's been very lethargic. I've ended force feeding her twice. Today I took her with me to teach in my youth detention class and she stayed tucked in my shirt with her eyes closed most of the time.

When I got home, I put her in the sunshine in an open window so she could warm up and get some UVB. I sat at the table and did my homework. After about two hours, I noticed she had moved to a small shady spot so I decided to put her in the living room window where there is more shade. The second I picked her up, I could tell something was wrong. Her entire belly was bloated. It felt like someone had blown up a balloon.

I got on the phone right away with my vet's office and took her over there. As I drove her breathing became more strained and her beard turned black. Her eyes started to appear sunk-in-- all signs of dying. The vet was able to drain a lot of blood & stinky fluid from her belly which surprised all of us. Because her history is so unknown and her health has been so poor, it was pretty easy to choose to put her out of her misery quickly through euthanasia. :(

Minnie and her siblings were underfed as babies and they ate each other to survive. She and her brother were abandoned in a house in Salt Lake. She has had a crappy life from the beginning due to lazy and negligent owners. At least in the end, she was loved and cared for. I held her in her blankie every night and let her bask in sunny windows.

And she also got to be the Easter beardie too. :)

Update on Spike

Last fall, I learned that Spike had yet another major infection in his body in less than a year. Because each of the infections we treated before were in different extremities of his body, it was obvious that his infection was systemic (or widespread) and there was nothing to be done. Instead of opting for a major surgery (removing his foot), I chose to bring him home and let him enjoy his life with all his limbs.

Within the past few days, Spike's infection has returned again to his throat. He has stopped eating well and is beginning to gasp like he did last October. Based on the progression last fall, I know it's only a matter of a few weeks before he is gravely ill. I don't want him to suffer again like that.

Dr Echols, one of my amazing vets at Parrish Creek, is conducting two incredible research projects on reptile circulation and respiration at the University of Utah. I had discussed donating Spike to the project a few weeks ago. So, if all goes well, Spike will become part of this amazing study and will be humanely put to sleep this week. If, due to his illness, he is no longer a good candidate for the study, then I will pay for Dr Folland to put Spike humanely to sleep. He has had a super good life here for the last 5 months and I hope that makes up for the fact that his life beforehand stunk.

Poor Spike. He's been bounced many, many times in his 6 years of life, but here he has been loved and cherished. I am sad that there is nothing to be done to remove the infection from him, but happy that he can (as my beardie friends say) "cross the rainbow bridge into beardie heaven."

Fun Costumes I made Today

Today I made three flower costumes for beardies-- pansy, rose, and sunflower. And a ladybug costume too. Then I made some more devil wings to fill an order I got on Etsy. I've been sewing & sewing. It's way fun to do and the costumes are selling well on Etsy. They've become a great way to earn money for rescue. 

The 2nd Pansy costume I made (I didn't like the first one)

The 1st ladybug costume (the 2nd one is better)

The rose/pink flower costume. 

The sunflower costume. I will adjust the pattern a bit when I make it again.

Sven, rescue number 50

50! Woo hoo! 

Sven is a baby leopard gecko with a broken leg. It will heal fine, but it will take some time. He came from a friend of mine who works at a pet store. I'll keep him and feed him until he's all better. He eats like a champ and is pretty healthy. His leg looks sad, but he still gets around fine.

Bentley, rescue number 49

A reptile friend gave me his ornate box turtle to take care of. The turtle, who I call "Bentley," has had poor health for years and recently had his beak split by an inexperienced vet who was trying to trim it. I took Bentley to see my awesome vet today and got good and bad news.

The good news is that Bentley is healthy, active, has an amazing appetite, and is pretty fiesty.

The bad news is that his bottom beak is split into the growth plate and won't ever heal. His top beak has sorta grown out in a weird way and won't ever close properly over his broken bottom. He eats just fine regardless (thankfully).

Bentley was NOT happy to have his beak shaved down or to have his nails trimmed or to be poked and prodded. He spent the rest of the afternoon trying to snap at my fingers. I let him walk around the puppy pen while Daisy free-roamed this afternoon. He enjoyed snapping at the grass. When I brought all my tortoises in, Hermy put herself right to bed in her corner in the laundry room. Daisy wandered over to the area under my desk where she slept last week. Bentley followed Daisy around and tried to nip her toes.

While we were eating dinner, I was chatting with my family and all of the sudden, Bentley found one of my toes. OY VAI! It didn't hurt, but it sure did surprise me. He finally got his chomp in. Once the weather is plenty warm, I'll put him in my fenced in garden area and let him dig and chomp to his little heart's content.

Update on Sancho & Daisy

Sancho is doing great and is super sweet. As long as he is out of his tank and in the sun, he is a happy iggy. He let my daughter hold him and snuggle with him last week. It was so sweet to watch. Last week, he wouldn't go to sleep and was freaking out in his tank. I took him out, wrapped him in his blankie, and rocked him in the rocking chair. He went right to sleep. Yes, he is spoiled. He's quite worth it though. He's finally shedding again because he is finally growing. 

Daisy has been spending every day outside in a little doggie pen. When I can watch her in the afternoon, I let her roam around the yard. She's been staying pretty close to the back porch and to Hermy, my desert tortoise. She loves to eat dandelions and "sample" the other leaves and flowers she finds in the backyard.

Our Old Man Dog

We put our poor sweet 14 year old dog to sleep today. Heartbreak all around. We've had Kip for almost 9 years and he was a big part of our lives. But his health was failing quickly.

He's our angel poochie now 

He was old & tired

Kip & his stuffed puppy

Saying a tearful goodbye

My sad little boy 

He wouldn't let me put him down at the end. 

Lizzie, rescue number 48

Lizzie is a gorgeous & sweet female bearded dragon. She's missing the tip of her tail and the back toes on her left foot, but she is a great dragon. I think it will be easier to place her in a good home. 

Plus, she's happy to model my new clothes for me-- like this beautiful wedding dress.

Daisy's Progress

Daisy spent another hour outside today and ate 4 or 5 dandelion flowers. It's the first time she has eaten since I got her. Phew! She seems to be "peeing" out her urates without any problem. Another big PHEW!

She doesn't have a lot of stamina yet. She'll walk around for 5 minutes and then have to stop to rest.  I have pain meds for her, but there's not really a way to give them to her. And I don't really know if she needs them. For now, she is in a 55 gallon tank with a long UVB light, two heat lamps, and a heat pad. Her "Sick" tank has to stay between 85 and 90 all the time.

Next week the forecast is for 70 degrees and I plan to let her spend a lot of time outside on the grass in my puppy kennel. The sunlight is one of the bets medicines I can give her. :)

So far so good.

THANK YOU!!! to all the many amazing people who don't even know Daisy, but have donated to her fund. I am overwhelmed with love & joy. What a blessing it is to have an international reptile community to draw on when we need help.

Stubs & Minnie, rescues number 46 & 47

This brother & sister pair were abandoned in a house a month or so ago. As babies they were severely underfed and had no choice but to eat their clutch mates (and each other). They were also kept on sawdust. ugh. 

Stubs is missing the tip of his tail, all his fingers on one hand, and a couple fingers on each foot. He is really a sweet beardie and quickly learned that he likes to snuggle at  night. He is a sweetie. And he was adopted out tonight. Yay! 

Minnie is the sicker of the two beardies. Her eyes are massively swollen and she's very lethargic. I did manage to get her to drink yesterday, but she will not eat. :(  She loves being swaddled, but I discovered if I wrap her up in a towel, she will never, ever get out. I had to unwrap her today to make her eat. She is very docile and calm-- that could be her temperament or it could be that she is so sickly.

I'm taking her to see Dr Folland on Monday. I've flushed out her eyes multiple times but they are still huge. She loves to sit in the sun in the window and immediately goes to sleep-- actually everything makes her go to sleep. That's part of the problem. It may be awhile before she is healthy enough to adopt out.

The green is just from the mercury vapor bulb on her cage.
She's not actually green. :)  

NOTE: I changed her name from "Mimi" to "Minnie." Mimi just didn't seem to fit her. :)

"Daisy's Blankies" a fundraiser

Here is my latest fundraiser: fleece blankies. $3 & $5 (includes shipping). $1 is for postage, all the rest goes to pay off the rest of Daisy's surgery and then will be used for future rescues. These are super nice fleece squares that were donated to me. They make great blankies because you can toss them in the wash when they get dirty and there are no seams for nails to catch on.

Every beardie needs a blankie! Buy yours a blankie at the same time you are helping pay for necessary vet costs for sickly reptiles. Thanks!

Deluxe blankies, $5 total

Unisex Fleece $3 total

Boy Fleece $3 total

Girl Fleece $3 total 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/185107853/daisys-blankies-fundraiser-to-pay-for

Daisy's Recovery

Because the best reptile treatment is sunshine, Daisy is outside in her sun box. It's a bit nippy so I have a heat lamp on one end in case she wants to warm up.

Sancho is jealous that Daisy is outside! 

Daisy's Surgery

I took Daisy in this morning for her big day. Surgery started just after 12 and stopped just before 3. Dr Folland, my amazing vet -- Click HERE for more information-- only charged me for an hour of surgery. He made a small incision in her leg opening and went up laproscopically into her bladder where he started hammering the golfball sized stone into pieces. It was a very long, tedious process.

A urate stone is basically like really hard chalk. Here are some pieces they saved for me. Daisy has had urate stones her whole life and I'm going to have to do some research to figure out how to prevent them.

Once the stone was removed and the bladder was flushed out and stitched back up, Dr Folland had to repair her prolapse. He cleaned off the exposed tissue and then tucked it back inside her. He stitched up her bum to make sure it doesn't fall out again.

Reptiles have a hard time with anesthesia-- going under and coming out. This was Daisy in the vet incubator. I have pain meds for her (though NO idea how I'll actually get them in her) and antibiotic shots for the next month. She'll go back next week for a recheck (hopefully by then she's pooped) and then the stitches come out in a month.

It will take her a day or two to start feeling more perky. Then the goal is to get her to eat & drink. And we will be waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting for her to poop. I think tomorrow will be sunny enough that I can get her outside in direct sunshine. Dr Folland and Dr Echols swear by sunshine therapy. Direct UVB can cure a lot of problems with reptiles. So I'll try that as much as I can. The forecast for next week is predicting temps back in the 70's and I'll stick Miss Daisy outside for several hours a day.

Thanks to all who have donated to the GoFundMe campaign. I stuck the charges on my credit card, but I'm hoping to raise enough money to pay it off. So please feel free to keep donating. Any extra money will go to help other beardies & reptiles.

Click HERE to Donate.  And please feel free to share the donation info with your reptile friends! :)

Daisy, rescue number 45

I took Daisy, a 3 year old sulcata tortoise, in last night thinking she'd be an easier than normal fix. $404 later at the vet today, I learned she is not. Daisy has a prolapsed rectum-- meaning, her intestines are now falling out of her body. :( We thought, at first, it would be simple to just push her insides back inside, but an X-ray showed something different.

Poor Daisy does NOT feel good!  

Daisy has a MASSIVE kidney stone inside of her. It's the size of a golf ball (far larger than her head) and is only removable if the vets cut open her shell and physically cut it out of her body. The surgery is very tedious and long, but it has a great success rate. Without the surgery, she will die.

Here's a picture of her prolapse.

I've been blessed to have been able to pay for most of my vet bills on my own over the last 18 months (thankfully, I have a really good husband who doesn't care that our van isn't paid off and that we didn't have thousands of dollars to go on a cruise or something), but I cannot afford a surgery bill over $1,000.  Several friends recommended creating a "GoFundMe" site so I did.

Please consider helping pay for Daisy's surgery. Thanks! Click HERE for the info!