Vet trip in order :(

S

Sturt

Guest
Well, I've got an appointment with the vet for this afternoon at 3pm (its half 1 here now). Woke up this morning to find him with a JET black beard, and he'd had diarrhea. Now he's been sick and been to the toilet again, so I'm taking him in for a check up since the stool and vomit contain a lot of blood. No idea whats caused this his temps and everything are as they've always been. The only other thing is myself and another family member have been unwell as well and I wondered if it was possible his salmonella levels had gotten too high? Or do they purely carry it?

Well, I guess I'll know in a couple of hours

:cry::cry:
 
S

Sturt

Guest
Ok well the vets kept him in, on a drip and is getting full bloods, fecal, and rays done, so hopefully I'll know soon!
 
JordanAng420

JordanAng420

New Member
Messages
3,280
Location
Miami, FL
Oh no....I hope everything turns out okay! Did you and your family member get sick BEFORE or AFTER your dragon did? Is your vet going to perform a fecal examination? I hope you guys didn't catch something...
How are YOU feeling?
 
S

Sturt

Guest
We're both fine now thankfully, it was last night we felt unwell and this morning I discovered him to be ill as well so it was probably unrelated. The vet called this evening, and said that it wasn't good. She had preliminary results and the red blood count was at 7%, when it should be nearer 30%! Amazingly he's still very alert for this level of anemia so that's a positive thing. However the stool sample I provided turned out to be a huge blood clot that he had passed, there was very little fecal matter in it. The amount of blood loss is immense and the prognosis at the moment is bleak, but she'll have more information tomorrow. So far he's had an IV drip put in, as well as antibiotics and an internal "plaster" to stop the intestinal bleeding. For an animal with such a bleak outlook she's really giving it her all, so if there's anything that can be done I'm sure she's doing it!

She's going in tomorrow to check up on him, even though its her day off! Can't ask for more than that!

Its just a matter of keeping our fingers crossed and hoping, the xrays turned up nothing there was no blockage of any kind, and nothing that she thought could have caused it. The possibility we're going with just now is a severe gastrointestinal infection, but I've got no idea where he would have contracted that! :main_no:
 
S

Sturt

Guest
JordanAng420 said:
Oh no....I hope everything turns out okay! Did you and your family member get sick BEFORE or AFTER your dragon did? Is your vet going to perform a fecal examination? I hope you guys didn't catch something...
How are YOU feeling?
Click to expand...

Yep, she's done a fecal, a full set of blood tests, and xrays. None of the results that have come back yet have shone any light.

At least she says he's stopped passing blood now.
 
S

Sturt

Guest
Hey,

Yeah, we called the vet this morning and he had stopped bleeding, and seemed a bit perkier and then this evening he was the same so hopefully when the reptile specialist gets back tomorrow (her day off today) she'll be able to give me a full update of exactly how he's doing. At least he survived the night, shows he's got some fight in him yet! My hopes are high for him pulling through just now anyway.
 
S

Sturt

Guest
I'm not sure, I'll ask tomorrow when I phone for an update. Is Crypto a problem in Dragons as much as it is in geckos? Where could he have caught crypto from? He's in a very closed environment i.e. the only external factor is his live food.
 
snared99

snared99

Luxurious Leopards
Messages
1,485
Location
PA
Crypto can stay dormant for a very long period of time, and It is possible to see it in beardies.
 
S

Sturt

Guest
Thanks for that link, I read through it and it doesn't seem to explain the bleeding.

The update this morning was delivered to another member of my family as I was out, but he's improved again and should be home tomorrow if he starts taking fluids orally and can come off the drip. More blood tests are being done today to check on his cell count.

Looks good to pull through at least!
 
S

Sturt

Guest
Well he didn't get home on friday, but I'm picking him up today, although the vet isn't optimistic about his survival. They haven't seen a great deal of improvement since he arrived compared to what they would expect and that's been a week. He should be a lot better by now than he is. The found a massive protius load in him as well, which isn't helping. I'm getting him home with medicine and hoping for the best, as there's nothing else they can do for him. I was given the option of a blood transfusion but its not very well tested and she's never one one in a beardie before, plus from what she's learned it could go either way. I'm not willing to take that kind of chance, especially since he is at least stable on the medicine. I'm going to try him on that for another few days, then after his blood tests on Thursday I might reconsider it if there's been no improvement. The other thing is the financial implications, which it really pains me to have to say. I'd spend any amount on him to make him better and I know people will always say that I shouldn't have got it if I couldn't afford the vet treatment. However please bear in mind I've already spend in excess of £500 GBP (700-1000 USD depending on the current exchange rate) on treatment, plus what the ongoing medicine will cost which has completely cleaned me out and set me well into my overdraft :( there just isn't any more money to spend, or trust me I'd be spending it!

Time will tell I suppose, we've everything we can apart from the transfusion so hopefully he'll respond to the medicine in time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Visit our friends

Top