Please help! Impacting leopard gecko.

[Dementor30]

Hello. My gecko appears to be compacted. He has not been eating for a week. He has started to swell in his leg. We started syringe feeding him with a slurry. Shortly after his back left leg started swelling more. He had initially been blowing his nose. I thought he might have a respiratory infection. Then I realized that he was only having diarrhea poops. Today I put him in warm water with some bath salts. After massaging showed little result, I started poking around. I found his anus surrounded in dead skin so I cleaned that off and openness his anus more and diarrhea came out. Then I realized that everytime he was blowing his nose he was pushing. If he pushed hard enough, I could see a hard lump.

As I was massaging him, a yellow goo started draining from his leg out of his pores (the ones that show whether they are a male or female.

What should I do?

 

[Embrace Calamity]

VET. IMMEDIATELY.

I'm pretty sure if he was impacted, there wouldn't be any diarrhea or pus. And why on earth would you use bath salts to soak him?

~Maggot

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Those sound like major medical issues that need vet attention - as Embrace said. No advice over a forum will be able to save your gecko.

Do you mean epsom salt when you say bath salts? If so I'm not sure what that would do to a gecko but they may not be good for him. I know they are used as a laxative in mammals and may hurt a gecko since they're so small.

 

[katie_]

Oh no!
Vet right now or you will lose him!
Id be worried that he was so backed up that his bowels burst into his abdoman and sepsis is the cause of the pus.

 

[Dementor30]

I took him to the vet today, he is infected in multiple areas. I had not been properly heating his cage and I was not cleaning it often enough. The vet said that he is indeed impacted, which may have been caused by the infections swelling parts of his body. They said it will be about a 2-4 week rehab period and he has about a 50% chance of living. And yes, I did mean Epsom salts, DrCarrotTail. When I said he was having diarrhea, I meant that it was pretty much all liquid, no poop really. It was gooey. The doctor said to not feed him again until he starts pooping and make sure his cage is 85+ degrees on one side at least. I have to give him some antibiotics everyday and soak him in some warm water with the stool softener they gave me.

Thanks for all your support, I will try to keep you guys posted.

 

[Embrace Calamity]

I took him to the vet today, he is infected in multiple areas. I had not been properly heating his cage and I was not cleaning it often enough. The vet said that he is indeed impacted, which may have been caused by the infections swelling parts of his body. They said it will be about a 2-4 week rehab period and he has about a 50% chance of living. And yes, I did mean Epsom salts, DrCarrotTail. When I said he was having diarrhea, I meant that it was pretty much all liquid, no poop really. It was gooey. The doctor said to not feed him again until he starts pooping and make sure his cage is 85+ degrees on one side at least. I have to give him some antibiotics everyday and soak him in some warm water with the stool softener they gave me.

Thanks for all your support, I will try to keep you guys posted.

You should read up on proper care of leopard geckos. Browse the forums or find some good care sheets from people who deal with them.

~Maggot

 

[katie_]

Thank you for taking him to a vet!
Good luck.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

So glad to hear you got him to the vet and are trying to save him! Best of luck and keep us posted on his recovery!

 

[sausage]

well done for the vet visit.
I hope he gets better soon.

 

[Dementor30]

He has pooped a few times now. The vet recommended that we start syringe feeding him again. Now we just have to hope his infections go away with the help of the antibiotics.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Glad to hear he's not impacted! I have my fingers crossed that the antibiotics will work! Sometimes it take reptile a few weeks to really start showing improvement so don't lose hope too fast.

 

[Kylerbassman]

Hope all goes well and you get you Leo what he needs to make it through this. Good luck. If you have any general questions, please ask. I'm so glad you took the advice to see a vet. Hope there is a happy ending to this story.

 

[ShadowSong]

Glad to hear you got him to the vet! Soak him often as that seems to help. A mild antiseptic in the water can also help them (I use silver solution) I sincerely hope this has a happy ending.

 

[Dementor30]

If anyone was wondering, he is fine now, pretty old, so he's going to need more care now, but he is doing well. He still has a small infection, but the vet says that it is fine and that it should eventually go away and if not it is because of his age. The vet also recommended that we soak him daily. He is active and looking healthy now, thank you for all of your support.

 

[Kylerbassman]

So glad to hear a good report. Hope all goes well and you continue to see improvement. You saved your Leo

 

[B&B Geckos]

If anyone was wondering, he is fine now, pretty old, so he's going to need more care now, but he is doing well. He still has a small infection, but the vet says that it is fine and that it should eventually go away and if not it is because of his age. The vet also recommended that we soak him daily. He is active and looking healthy now, thank you for all of your support.

What did the vet recommend you syringe feed him?