monitorlizard
New Member
- Messages
- 67
- Location
- New york
After a 9 month battle with an unknown illness, my vet and I have may have finally healed Squiggy.
About 9 months ago my 4yr old leopard gecko Squiggy, who was in excellent condition, had a little "cloudy spot" in his eye. A I thought it would go away in a couple of sheds but it didn’t. The "cloudy spot" in his eye began to get bigger, so I asked my parents if they too, had also saw it and it was not just me. They said no to my surprise, I looked again and they were right! It wasn't there! So again I ignored thinking it was a one time thing. Several weeks later it appeared again, but this time it was in both eyes, and it seemed to be weakening his ability to see. I looked online to find out what I should do and I found something that said it was shed and it must be removed by a vet (http://azeah.com/Care-Sheets.asp?id=117). I did some more research on this with many people telling me to do different things (use tape to get it out, flush it with saline, etc) I tried several time times to remove it with a sterile q-tip. Each time with varying degrees of success or failure. Eventually it stopped looking cloudy and looked like a mucus-like substance. It then soon caused a secondary infection (Mouth Rot). I then took him to a vet knowing that mouth rot can be serious. The vet put him on Baytril and Benodine(?). He also said that the stuff in Squiggy's eye is shed and to increase the humidity to help it come out. I did as I was told. The mouth rot went away but the eye problem didn't. I then started to flush his eyes and use q-tips again, to no avail. I was wondering if my poor gecko would ever see again. Soon the substance covered his whole eye and he was unable to see at all. He was unable to catch food, and when hand feed he didn't want to eat. His rapidly lost weight. He was originally 82 grams when last checked he was 54 grams(he was thinner at one point). I took him to the vet several more times the only thing he was able to cure was the mouth rot that kept coming back. Abscesses started to form on the side of his face. Most of them were under his eyes. One abscess was huge!!!(bigger than his eye). I then purchased this years Reptiles USA magazine. In it I saw an article on leopard gecko health problems. The cellular debris was exactly what was in his eyes, he also had the waxy cast from his hemipenes too which I though was just shed! Several months later I decided I would try to feed him live prey items again. It worked! So I kept feeding him waxworms to help his weight and I supplemented with Vitamin A to help the eye problem. I then started to feed mealworms and crickets too. He wouldn’t take pinkies. I tried once again to remove the stuff in his eyes I was able to remove a lot of it. I took him to the vet again. The vet lanced the abscess. It ended up not even being an abscess it was muscle. So why the heck was so swollen!?!? He did find some abscess above the muscle but it wasn’t much. Several days later I got a call on the phone from the vet saying he had parasites, unfortunately my mom didn’t remember what kind he said. Squiggy was put on a different medicine, this medicine help ALOT. He gained weight very fast. On the most recent vet appointment, the vet noticed that he looked much bigger. So he weighed him, and he had gained over 20grams. The vet looked at the strange abscess some more and decide to pull on it. After about 20 seconds of pulling the bump started to come out of Squiggy. He eventually pulled out the abscess, which was much bigger than expected! There was a ton more, and it ended up being about 1/6th the size of his head! He tried to pull the smaller one out, but he couldn’t so he decided to leave it be. He is on the same medicine again. And I can’t wait to see his progress.
It has now been about 5 days since the last vet appointment and the whole in his head where the abscess was still hasn’t healed over. Will it go away?
I have a shortened school day tomorrow so I will use that time to take pics.
About 9 months ago my 4yr old leopard gecko Squiggy, who was in excellent condition, had a little "cloudy spot" in his eye. A I thought it would go away in a couple of sheds but it didn’t. The "cloudy spot" in his eye began to get bigger, so I asked my parents if they too, had also saw it and it was not just me. They said no to my surprise, I looked again and they were right! It wasn't there! So again I ignored thinking it was a one time thing. Several weeks later it appeared again, but this time it was in both eyes, and it seemed to be weakening his ability to see. I looked online to find out what I should do and I found something that said it was shed and it must be removed by a vet (http://azeah.com/Care-Sheets.asp?id=117). I did some more research on this with many people telling me to do different things (use tape to get it out, flush it with saline, etc) I tried several time times to remove it with a sterile q-tip. Each time with varying degrees of success or failure. Eventually it stopped looking cloudy and looked like a mucus-like substance. It then soon caused a secondary infection (Mouth Rot). I then took him to a vet knowing that mouth rot can be serious. The vet put him on Baytril and Benodine(?). He also said that the stuff in Squiggy's eye is shed and to increase the humidity to help it come out. I did as I was told. The mouth rot went away but the eye problem didn't. I then started to flush his eyes and use q-tips again, to no avail. I was wondering if my poor gecko would ever see again. Soon the substance covered his whole eye and he was unable to see at all. He was unable to catch food, and when hand feed he didn't want to eat. His rapidly lost weight. He was originally 82 grams when last checked he was 54 grams(he was thinner at one point). I took him to the vet several more times the only thing he was able to cure was the mouth rot that kept coming back. Abscesses started to form on the side of his face. Most of them were under his eyes. One abscess was huge!!!(bigger than his eye). I then purchased this years Reptiles USA magazine. In it I saw an article on leopard gecko health problems. The cellular debris was exactly what was in his eyes, he also had the waxy cast from his hemipenes too which I though was just shed! Several months later I decided I would try to feed him live prey items again. It worked! So I kept feeding him waxworms to help his weight and I supplemented with Vitamin A to help the eye problem. I then started to feed mealworms and crickets too. He wouldn’t take pinkies. I tried once again to remove the stuff in his eyes I was able to remove a lot of it. I took him to the vet again. The vet lanced the abscess. It ended up not even being an abscess it was muscle. So why the heck was so swollen!?!? He did find some abscess above the muscle but it wasn’t much. Several days later I got a call on the phone from the vet saying he had parasites, unfortunately my mom didn’t remember what kind he said. Squiggy was put on a different medicine, this medicine help ALOT. He gained weight very fast. On the most recent vet appointment, the vet noticed that he looked much bigger. So he weighed him, and he had gained over 20grams. The vet looked at the strange abscess some more and decide to pull on it. After about 20 seconds of pulling the bump started to come out of Squiggy. He eventually pulled out the abscess, which was much bigger than expected! There was a ton more, and it ended up being about 1/6th the size of his head! He tried to pull the smaller one out, but he couldn’t so he decided to leave it be. He is on the same medicine again. And I can’t wait to see his progress.
It has now been about 5 days since the last vet appointment and the whole in his head where the abscess was still hasn’t healed over. Will it go away?
I have a shortened school day tomorrow so I will use that time to take pics.
