dragon meds

Lrptls · 04-13-04, 08:03 PM

i finally got to take my water dragon to the vets today. he has a pretty bad URI. i had raised the temps and humidity but now i have him in a cage a bit smaller to raise them even higher. the vet gave me 3 weeks worth of baytril to give him. he also said my dragon is really skinny even though i feed him alot. he gave him a calcium steroid shot to help and told me to feed him even more. my dragon also had something wrong with his lip, you can see his top fangs. my vet told me the meds will probably help that, also put neosporin on it, i was hoping he'd give me meds just for that but i guess its not very bad. he also told me to go to petsmart and get Emeraide (sp) its for baby or sick birds. he sais he's used it alot on sick lizards and it should help alot. when i get it how much and how often do you think i should give it to him? (that question totaly slipped my mind to ask my vet) and has any one else used it before? my vet sais hes really worried because my dragon seems so sick and sais if he doesn't get better in a few days from the baytril he think i'll have to leave him there over night for a treatment where they put him in a cage and have him breathe a medicine. he seemd alot worse at the vets, acted like he was half dead, but at home hes really perky and jumpy as ususal.

Lrptls · 04-17-04, 07:07 PM

does any one have any thing to say about the bird food? i'd really like an opinion about it, i dont want to feed him too much of it

lissag · 04-20-04, 03:53 PM

What does it do exactly?? Is it a food suppliment? is it to rehydrate, like gatorade or pedilyte? Does it contain Probiotics??? what exactly is it supposed to do??

Alissa

Lrptls · 04-20-04, 06:24 PM

all my vet said is it will help him get a littler stronger cause he's weak so i dont know exactly what it does

V.hb · 04-20-04, 08:36 PM

is it a paste? alot of vets recommend A/D to fatten up reptiles. It fattens them up FAST, so its not nessecarily that good for them in large doses.. I would just feed him extra bugs, the hell with bird food, ive never heard of that idea before.

Lrptls · 04-21-04, 04:47 AM

he said you have to mix it up with something and its milky, so i would then have to put it in a seringe and force him to drink it kind of like the baytril hes taking for the RI. I feed him every day, but i think the infection is geting worse, i dont know, hes been on the meds for a week but hes starting to seem even weaker and still breathing really heavy, i'm calling the vets today to see what they can do.

V.hb · 04-21-04, 11:01 AM

if hes on baytril and the infection is getting worse thats not good.... what do you have him kept in?

Lrptls · 04-21-04, 03:02 PM

260 gallon reptarium. the top basking spots are over 100 degrees (but he can't get close enough to the bulbs to get burnd) the middle basking spots are around 95 and the bottom of the cage is 85. the humidity is about 80-90% on the bottom, about 70% in the middle and about 50% at the top.

V.hb · 04-21-04, 03:59 PM

Ok, il give you a few tips.. With CWD's alot of the time its not a URI, or once thats cleared up its simply a shedding problem. Their nostrals are easily closed due to a bad shed. They get lots of skin stuck in there and it makes it nearly impossible for them to breathe through the nose, so thats most likely why the baytril doesnt appear to be working (although it likely has) baytril wont cure that.

Get a rubbermaid with some air holes poked in it. (something dark is good) put the lid on, and put lots of moist paper towel inside, heavily moisten it. Leave the guy inside over night. Make sure its humid/warm, not damp/cold or you'll run into the same problem all over again.

Best of luck.

Lrptls · 04-21-04, 04:05 PM

hes had this before though (i'm not disagreeing i'm only saying what has happend) and the baytril cured it, it was exactly like this but this is a bit worse cause hes breathing even heavier.

should i not call the vet and see if puting him in a rubbermaid for a while will work? how long should i keep him in there? also should i stop giving him the baytril?

last but not least-what should the temps and humidity be for the rubbermaid?

thank you alot for your help

V.hb · 04-21-04, 04:37 PM

nono, keep the baytril going. but if hes had it 10 days now the infection should be gone. its good stuff. finish off the dosage.

The nostral thing is normal, it happens with alot of dragons kept too dry, and it sounds like you ran into problems not long ago with the RI etc.. Put him in the rubbermaid at night, and take him out in the mornings. Make sure its around 80 degrees.

Most vets don't know what they're doing when it comes to reptiles. My advice is from my own expierience, and its always worked.

Does he have any mouth rot? is he eating? is he skinny? can you get me a photo of the head/body?

Lrptls · 04-21-04, 05:35 PM

he does have something wrong with his mouth but i dont know if its mouth rot, neither does my vet. a tiny bit of his top lip is open, but enough that you can see his tiny front fangs. my vet told me to put neosporin on it and i have been every day, its looking alot better than before.

he eats good, hes never stopd eating, i'v been feeding him just about every day. he eats meal worms, super worms crickets and fuzzies/hoppers. almost every time i give him insects i put vitamins on them to try and help him.

hes very skinny, hes always been, last year almost all year i fed him every other day. the first half of the year i only fed him one rodent a month, but i upd it, now he gets one rodent a week.

i'll get pictures in a bit.

V.hb · 04-21-04, 05:42 PM

is he gaining weight?

the mouth thing, try using a q-tip to apply peroxide, then use some betadine (not iodine) it works well. it stains the sore, so it wont rinse off. neosporin works too, but its probably getting it from the screen on your reptarium....

theres a possibility he may have parasites if he doesnt gain weight, have you had a fecal done?

Lrptls · 04-21-04, 05:51 PM

no i have not had a fecal done, he doesn't seem like hes gaining weight at all, if not looking a bit skinnier, i bet he does have parasites =( i dont know how he would have gotten them except from insects with parasites though. i will get a fecal test done though, i didn't think of that at all.

V.hb · 04-21-04, 06:57 PM

its an older animal, you purchased WC iam sure? its possible.... get the mouth cleaned up first. I dont know to many people that have wormed their CWD's including myself, so iam not really sure if thats the case, or maybe he never got enough heat to gain weight? lotta things here.. if you can get some photos of the animals head/body i can give you some more tips..