Vet Triage

I have a vet follow up appointment at 9 am for Smaug and his swollen toe and Pudge and her feet. Right now it feels like I have more sick animals than healthy ones and I'm trying to decide who else to take in. 

Tuga has a cough/hack. 

Otis is still noisy breathing. 

Derp is still blowing snot bubbles. 

Skye is huge-- does she have eggs? 

Stormy has the same infected toe Smaug has. 

Lucy the snake hasn't pooped for 4+ months. 

Belle the dog can't chew her heart worm pill and needs the shot instead. 

Hermy is just a mess. 

I don't even know where to start-- especially since I haven't paid off this past month's vet bills on my credit card. Plus, I have a dentist appointment at 10 to get two cavities filled. :( 

Tally ho!! (That's my catch phrase for this day is crummy but I'm off to tackle it anyways. ;). ) 

Saving Simba

About a year and a half ago, I ran an ad on our local classifieds saying I'd take in sick or unwanted beardies or answer questions. I ended up getting a text from Maria, a lady who lives in my same state but 4 hours away. I helped her as she tried desperately to save the life of a tiny baby beardie. We got to talking frequently.

Eventually the little baby had a severe hemorrhage and started bleeding out of his nose and mouth. He died shortly after that. It was so tragic. Maria and I mourned together. 

Two weeks ago Maria texted me again (I love doing "text" support!) because she was concerned her boy Simba hadn't pooped. I gave her some suggestions and told not to worry too much. He looked okay and was probably just trying to bruminate. Unfortunately, her local vets are not good with reptiles. 

Two nights ago, she found blood on his reptile carpet. Last night, she sent me this picture: 

I could tell immediately Simba was in distress-- the black beard and flat eyebrows. Through texting, I walked her the process of giving him an enema. The result was what I expected-- more blood. 

And then Simba's beard got really black and he was really lethargic. At that point, I was in tears. I told Maria I had lost two that day and was heartbroken to think she might lose her's too. I recommended she put him to bed in a warm tank and asked her to let me know how he was doing in the morning. 

I was SO relieved when I got this pic this morning-- 

He made it through the night! I was almost in tears again. I had her give him some Pedialyte to hydrate him. Now the goal was to find a reptile vet. It seemed very likely he was constipated and that the blockage was causing a bowel perforation. Beardies can develop such large urate plugs (they look like pieces of chalk) that it's hard for them to pass them out through their vents without ripping the tissues & bleeding. Bowel perforations can cause internal bleeding which leads to death within a matter of days. :( 

Maria found a reptile vet just over an hour away and off they went. 

The vet was able to give Simba medicine to help him poop and calm his tummy down. If he's not able to poop soon, they'll follow up with an x-Ray and possibly bloodwork. But overall, Simba is doing better than we thought. 

I was SO SO happy to hear that. He's not totally out of the woods yet, but he's got the help he needs now. 

Plus it helped me realize I need to be a little bit more serious about helping my big boy Max poop soon. He hadn't pooped when he decide to bruminate a few weeks ago. I don't want to risk him causing bowel perforations himself. His belly is soft but I can feel the urate stone with my fingers. That's tomorrow's goal-- to get Max to poop. :) 

This is Max. He ate two raspberries today and was quite happy with them. 

Regular pooping is important for bearded dragons and "regular" is different for each beardie. I have every day poopers and every other day poopers and once a week poopers. I've had poop painters which are the worst!! You just need to know what's normal for your guys. 

Also remember that in the winter, most beardies eat and poop less. That's totally normal. But if you know your beardie and know what he's like, then like Maria you will know when he is not normal and you can intervene. 

Dory & Mooshy at the Vet

Dory had her one week post-operation check up and I needed advice on Mooshy because he's not tolerating the Critical Care. So both of them went with me to the vet.

Dory looks great and Mooshy may have some decreased liver function that we'll have to keep watching. But overall it was a good visit. 

Here's both of them in their blankies, tucked into my shirt. They both slept most of the time. 

Delilah, rescue 102

Delilah was given away because the owners couldn't afford to take her to the vet to get her tail fixed. 

We were able to remove a lot of dead tissue ourselves, but the stump was too infected and uneven. 

At the vet, I got the rest of it off. 

Dr Folland scraped out the pus and trimmed away extra dead tissue before stitching it up. 

She was NOT happy!!! 

But her tail looks great and nothing else has to be done. 

She spent the day in a brooder while we waited for Dory. 

She's now at my house in a tank-- still trying to figure out how she got here. She's not super friendly but we'll get her there. 

Tortoise Transport

My rescue buddy's sulcata tortoise needed a trip to the vet and he's been almost bedridden with a back injury. So today I drove to get Turtle Boy and get him to the vet. It's a one hour drive each way.

He rode in style.

He explored the waiting room. His poor eyes were weepy and he kept blowing snot bubbles. 

He took a nap. Every few minutes he would cough. Poor guy. 

He hated the vet! Especially getting two injections of antibiotics to help get rid of his respiratory infection. 

He wanted to leave! As soon as the vet put him on the floor, he made for the front door. 

He came home and ate some grass and hay outside. Now it's bedtime. 

He will stay with me for a week while we see if the antibiotics are enough to get rid of his infection. 

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. 

Sickly Tortoise, rescue number 85

I have a hard enough time saying "No" to taking in sickly reptiles, but when my favorite tech at my vet's office calls to ask if I'd help with a half-dead Russian tortoise, I canNOT say "No." At all. 

This is why I have a super sickly, nameless tortoise in a sick tank in my bedroom. 

I actually saw this guy posted on our local reptiles classified last week but was feeling to overwhelmed with Turbo & Newt to take him. When the vet tech said "Russian tortoise," I knew that it was the same one. I felt terrible for the guy who bought him. 

His new owner bought the tortoise to get him out of a bad environment but didn't know how severe its illness was. He took the tort to the vet but didn't have the money to save him.

That's why the vet called me. 

I have the skills & supplies to do almost everything the vet wanted to do (minus the blood tests). I gave it a saline injection today and will give it another one tomorrow. Then I will start tube-feeding herbivore Critical Care formula. I have everything to do it so why not? 

The tortoise is severely dehydrated, severely malnourished, and has severe Metabolic Bone Disease. I can treat all three of those. 

Now we just wait and see if it's strong enough to pull through. 

And I go back to poking a sick reptile to see if it's still alive. 

Turbo at the Vet

Turbo got his gauze pack removed from his wound today.

I could tell it hurt! Poor buddy! Then the vet had to turn him upside down to drain it. 

There was still too much fluid coming out to stitch it up so the second hole is still open (his eye lid was stitched last week). Twice a day for the next week, I will flush and drain his wound. I also have to start force feeding him everyday because he's lost weight too. 

The pic below is how he wanted to stay for his appointment-- snuggled up in my hair asleep. 

We have a follow up visit in a week and perhaps then we'll be able to stitch the wound. The goal is to have the bleeding totally stopped do he doesn't develop another hematoma. 

Newt at the Vet

Newt got his second Calitonin shot today and the vet says he is looking better. He has lost weight even though he is eating on his own. So I'll be force feeding him once a day for a few weeks to get his weight back up. 

When he gets stressed, his little hand starts spazzing and he ends up grabbing his eye. 

When I hold his hand, he calms down. 

But when I needed my finger back, I decided to give him something else to hold. 

Ryuu, rescue number 80

I took in Ryuu, a 5 year old beardie, today with the worst prolapse I've ever seen. It has been out for at least 24 hours and I wasn't sure if he could be saved. Drove 45 mins one way to pick him up and rush him to my vet. 

The prolapse tissue was still alive so the vet pushed it back in & put in 2 stitches on the vent to keep it in. He'll be in antibiotics for the next three weeks. 

The next step is to see if he eats & drinks on his own. Then I will do a fecal test on him to test for parasites and treat him for that. 

He was on sand so he could have an impaction which will cause him to prolapse again. If he does prolapse, then we'll do an x-ray to see what's up. 

I have him 5 mL of Pedialyte and his first antibiotic shot and put him in his sick tank. Now we just wait and see. At least he's over the worst. 

Update on Buddy-- I'm so Proud!

Buddy went to the vet today for his check up and it went SOOOO much better than I thought it would. I knew he needed a final clearance, but I wasn't sure if it would be all good news or half good news & half bad news.

"Hey! Where are we going?" 

Of course, ironically, when I made the appointment on Monday, Buddy looked & acted poorly. I realize now that was just him getting ready to shed and being grumpy because of it. Last night, he completed his shedding. Today he was active and curious. He explored his travel box and the office.

He was so active! 

First of all, Dr Folland was SO impressed with how beautiful Buddy he is. He said he's rarely had such a beautiful specimen brought in and it had been a long time since he had seen such a gorgeous ball python. I was so proud!! ;)

Second, he said Buddy looks GREAT. His "bad" eye is actually not that bad and though it has some scarring around it, it still works fine.

His "good" bad eye

Third, his good eye looks great and the wrinkling on it is normal and not at all a problem.

Buddy has several healing wounds and scars on his mouth, jaw, and upper neck where he was obviously attacked by a feeder rodent. Those are all healing and look great. Buddy's mouth looks good and I was told to try to give him a frozen/thawed rat tonight. I have a nice & fat one in the freezer right now. Dr Folland even gave me some tips on how to train Buddy to take a f/t rat instead of a live one.

He'll get one last antibiotic shot tonight, a tank heating upgrade today, and a fat rat for dinner. Overall, Buddy is a healthy, beautiful, and mellow snake-- a far cry from the sickly snake who was foaming at the mouth and freezing cold that I picked up before Christmas. I'm so proud. :)

Andy made it to the Vet!

At the vet. See all that dirt on the towel? My vet spent 10 mins digging it out of Andy's ear. His ear membrane was very infected underneath all the junk. Treating that now too. 

Andy is sufficiently hydrated so now I'll start Critical Care today and we'll see how he does. The vet says Andy is in bad shape, but he's not ready to count him out yet. 

Baby steps forward.....

Sweet Crikey

I did something I don't normally do-- I held onto Crikey while the vet injected a lethal dose of anesthesia this afternoon. I pet his head & talked softly to him while he passed. He didn't want to be held, so I laid him on his soft blankie and let him rest that way.

This was him after he was "gone."

Another educational bit for you--- reptiles' hearts are notoriously slow at stopping, even long after death has occurred. When my beardies die at home, I wait until they are done breathing and then I wrap them in a blankie and put them in my freezer to finally stop their hearts. The vet gave Crikey a fatal dose of anesthesia (as normal), but even two hours later, his heart was still going. I just went back to pick up his body and found, instead, they were giving him a second dose of meds. I'll go back later to get him.

Some reptile hearts can beat sporadically for several hours after the time of death! If you have a reptile die with you, I recommend that you put them in the freezer for a few hours before burial to stop all random body processes.

Crikey, rescue number 57

This is Crikey, a 14 month beardie who, I think, is suffering from severe gout. Poor boy. He's got a vet appt first thing tomorrow morning at 8 am. A friend of mine rescued him from a bad situation in Vegas and has done a good job with him, but his condition continues to worsen.

Gout is a condition where the kidneys fail to work correctly and uric acid is released into the bloodstream where it accumulates in the joints. The acid crystals are sharp and make movement very, very painful. You can see how swollen Crikey's joints are. He's stopped moving almost completely and has very little appetite. 

Gout is very difficult to treat because it's root cause is kidney malfunction. You can often get rid of the symptoms, but you will always have a beardie with poorly functioning kidneys. So you have to have a special diet and continual treatment to keep the beardie's uric acid levels in check. 

Look at his poor feet & knees! Every joint in his body is swollen and so painful to move. Poor little buddy. We'll see if we can get him better. Dr Folland is a rock star (in case you haven't figured that out from my posts already) and offers Crikey the best chance of survival.

I will keep you posted. 

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.