Boo

[Chris1]

Just wanted to share my very scary story incase anyone has a similar situation and is searching for information.

At 5.15 this morning my boyfriend came rushing upstairs saying Boo, my 6 year old generally very placid female bearded dragon was in the middle of the loungeroom floor and something was wrong.
i raced downstairs to see her all flared up in the middle of the floor, she was acting all aggressive towards any movement. picked her up and she was trembling badly, i took her upstairs and supported her in a warm bath for a couple of minutes till she pooed, once she'd pooed the trembling was a bit better, but she was still extremely agressive towards anything that moved, eyes were open, just didnt have their usual sparkle. Very out of character for her. At 5.30 i called the vet and booked the earliest appointment i could with David Vella, i was in luck, i could see him at 8.30! i jumped in the car at 7.15 expecting peak hour traffic to be horrendous, but yay, school holidays and i got there at 7.50, AND he was happy to see us straight away,.....

we had a chat while he felt around, fecal exam was fine, husbandry/diet was good etc

While Boo has the same diet and conditions (at least 30 mins of sun every day, generally more like an hour or 2) as my other 6 beardies he said the calcium levels could still have dropped to a point where seizures set in so he suggested i leave her there for the day so he can run a blood test too check her calcium levels and take blood to send off to test kidney function since poor kidney function apparently affects calcium absorption.
but the lack of calcium wasnt a satisfactory explanation for the sudden aggression, so he wanted to start her on fortum as well and monitor her condition throughout the day.

around 11 he called to say her calcium levels were low (1.24 when they should be 1.4) but wasnt sure they were low enough to cause seizures, so it was lucky he'd already started her on fortum.

anyway, i picked Boo up this afternoon and shes looking heaps better, not her normal self yet, but the aggresssion has stopped and so has the shaking. She'll be on fortum for a month, and get liquid calcium daily for 3 weeks, then i cut back to twice a week

ill post her kidney function tests when i get them tommorrow.

 

[Renenet]

I must be tired... I thought you'd taken your beardie to see Darth Vader for one crazy vertiginous moment...

I really hope it's nothing serious and your beardie gets better.

 

[snakeluvver]

Hope he gets better, but why wasn't he in his tank?

 

[Chris1]

thanks Renenet, incredibly shes totally back to normal this morning, perky as and was stuffing her face when i left,...so glad i got her to the vet when i did!!

Snakeluvver, in winter my beardies have daytime enclosures so they have good temps, (the rest of the year they freerange) but they still sleep on a beanbag filled with heated wheat bags and covered in towels,....theyre very fond of their beanbag!

 

[Renenet]

Great news. How did the kidney function tests go?

How do you find life with 7 beardies? I'll get one or more, one day.

 

[snakeluvver]

Free range lizards, I like it
May have to get some beardies, dont really have anything friendly at the moment. Well the Pink Tongues are okay but not as good as beardies.

But great to hear he's recovering!

 

[Chris1]

life with 7 beardies is great, but probably only half as good as life would be with 14!!!!

i just got home and shes still looking awesome,, so alert, and i think she wants more food, lol!!
...i was getting nervous the closer i got to home incase she'd regressed,...but shes fine!!

just called the vets, David is in surgery and will call me back when hes finished,....i cant imagine she'd have kidney trouble since shes always been on a low protien diet and well hydrated,....worth doing the tests just incase but i have a feeling im in for more GOOD NEWS!!

what? pink tounges arent friendly? shame cos theyre awfully cute!

but i definately recommend beardys to anyone, theyre such lovely pets!


...stay tuned for test results!

Results are in!

there is NOTHING wrong with her kidneys! yippee!

the blood test does show that she is fighting quite a servere infection tho,.....so the fortum is what has saved her,...

i dont think she'd be here today if i hadnt gotten her there so fast,...

i cant believe how quickly it hit, she was perfect the day before, i had last checked on her at 1.30am when i went to bed and she was fine then (i give all the lizzies a kiss and pat goodnight, lol,..)
so in the space of less than 4 hours a life threatening infection had set in.
(theyre conditions are spotless, they dont even poo in their tanks, so hygene has nothing to do with it)

Im so happy i could cry! (lol, if that makes any sense at all)

anyway, like i said at the start, i hope getting this info out there helps someone else one day.

Happy me!!

 

[Renenet]

There is NOTHING wrong with her kidneys! yippee!

the blood test does show that she is fighting quite a servere infection tho,.....so the fortum is what has saved her,...

Wow, that's one crazy infection. So pleased the fortum is working and Boo is on the mend. Thanks for sharing.

 

[snakeluvver]

Good to see thee fortum is working, things sound good so I'm sure she'll make a full recovery!

And pink tongues are friendly, just not as good as beardies (theyre like hyper blueys when handled) and mine have an annoying habit of jumping off me when I least expect it. And when my big girls huffs and puffs it scares me cos I really dont want to cop a bite off her!

 

[ShaneBlack]

Good ol Fortum.......it is to vets what holy water is to priests......fixes everything.

 

[Chris1]

couple of weeks on and my darling is still well and truely alive!

Shes the big grey one, Faa is her best mate who is as grateful to still have her as i am!

 

[mysnakesau]

what was she doing in the middle of the loungeroom floor? She escape from her "room"

 

[Chris1]

she was meant to be sleeping, in the sleeping beanbag, lol,....

 

[mysnakesau]

What? Do they have free run of the house? that photo looks really cute. Is that her ready to nick off there?

 

[Chris1]

lol, no thats Sabrina waiting patiently for her turn of lounge and cuddle time, Boo is the grey one under her tail. They take turns in poking their heads out from under the towel, (i removed the towel for the pic) as soon as 1 is returned to the pile another head pops out.


they normally have run of the house, but one of my males started getting an RI towards the end of last winter so now they all get tanked from mid may thru to september. (tanked = in enclosures, not drunk, hehehe)

 

[Bluetongue1]

…. the blood test does show that she is fighting quite a servere infection ….
…. i cant believe how quickly it hit, she was perfect the day before, i had last checked on her at 1.30am when i went to bed and she was fine then (i give all the lizzies a kiss and pat goodnight, lol,..)
so in the space of less than 4 hours a life threatening infection had set in. ….

A big part of the problem with many internal reptilian infections is that the animals often don’t show signs of it until it has a major effect on their body functions. Effectively, your beardie would have been incubating it for a week or more. You have only seen the changes when it is getting near critical. Your wisdom in whizzing it off to the vet ASAP no doubt made the difference between a quick recovery and a touch go survival situation. Well done!

Is that the animal in your avatar?

Blue

PS Love the sleeping arrangements. Sooo cute and amazing! [and I’m jealous of the pat and the kiss goodnight. Lol]

 

[Chris1]

thanks Blue, i really really enjoy my lizards!!

i lost a girl (Daisy) a few years ago,...she was basking more than usual, and passed 3 urates in 1 day (no poo) rather than her normal bath time poo/urate in one, but that was all, booked her in for the next morning for xrays to see if she was impacted, but she didnt make it. The necropsy revealed an infected looking follicle,...the day before she was still eating, active, eyes seemed bright, so yes, they do a fantastic job of hiding things.

I wasnt missing my chance this time!!

do you think it could have come from cutting her nails? i did that about a week earlier and one bled slightly,...but nothing dirty got near her, so i cant really imagine,...

 

[Bluetongue1]

That is possible but without a pathology report on the type of bacterium responsible…. who knows? It is worth bearing in mind that when a wound bleeds it means you are down to the capillaries and past the body’s defensive layer of skin and other coverings.

There are potentially thousands of bacteria present where the lizards are kept, unless you disinfect all surfaces thoroughly and regularly. Many of these come from the gastro-intestinal tract, being passed out with wastes. Even though most will be cleaned up by you the potential for some to be carried on feet to other parts of the substrate is ever present. The claws come in direct contact with the substrate and the substrate is likely to carry bacteria - so it is a possibility.

Whenever you get a small cut or wound, bath it with some metho or disinfectant. Then wait till the wound dries before putting the lizard down. Alternatively, apply a little Betadine, a small ball of cotton wool (the end of a cotton bud will do) and a bit of micropore tape to hold it in place.

FYI
The blood test that confirmed the presence of infection is relatively simple. It is based on counting the number of white blood cells compared to the number of red blood cells. In healthy individuals there is a fairly constant ratio. Where the body is infected, it produces a variety of white blood cells to try and overcome the infective agent. So an increase in WBC:RBC indicates infection and the degree of increase indicates the severity of that infection.

Blue

 

[Chris1]

im pretty careful when the skin is broken, if someone gets bitten i use betadine for a few days, regardless of whether or not the skin is actually visibly broken (i think ive read more than that causes more harm than good? is that right?)
Toe nails ive only ever dunked in cornflour, but this one barely bled, didnt even show blood on the toilet paper when i dabbed it, just appeared to show a bit pinky thru the nail,..
but either way she was on a spotlessly clean towel for the night after that, as normal she clung to my hand hand while she pooed in teh bath the next morning, got lifted straight out before it could spread, few mins in the rinsing tub then into an enclosure thats never been pooed in,...so i guess the toe nail isnt the cause,..

main thing is shes alive!
thanks for the info Blue!