lizard methadone clinic
Oct. 1st, 2005 01:03 amMy lizard's tail exploded. No, really.
This is a relatively recent development. First, FIRST, he lost three toes on his right hind leg. The flesh had simply died. It took me a few days to realize that part of his foot was a blackened stump because Seiryuu (that's the lizard's name) often displays what I've dubbed "beach foot" from splashing around in his water dish and then running through his sand-like substrate. Therefore, the foot looked perfectly normal until it started to swell, at which point I rinsed it off to discover freaky dead flesh.
Naturally, I took him to the vet. I had no idea what had happened to the foot. The vet had no idea either. He just amputated Seiryuu's three middle toes while I held Squirmy McGee still and gave me antibiotics to be administered by injection into the tail daily. My first thought was, "Oh shit, give him injections? Am I going to have to search for lizard veins or something?" but, as it turns out, it's a simple "poke and inject" affair. "Call me if his tail exhibits any signs of irritation," said the vet. "Can do!" I replied.
I had been treating him with the antibiotics for only two days when I noticed that his tail was beginning to swell. The next day I skipped the injection and called the doc. The day after THAT, he was back into the vet's, but at that point the swelling was already going down and the vet decided that the shots were not causing enough irritation to warrant halting the treatment. I said "Okay" and gave Seiryuu another shot when I got home, then left for work. At nine o'clock that night, my sister called me at work (which is bizarre in and of itself) to tell me that there was flesh hanging off his tail. I got off the phone, worked at hyper-speed the next thirty minutes, and then left work a half an hour early.
His tail had, in fact, burst open at the tip. Being that he had a stub tail in the first place from an old injury as a hatchling, that was a pretty good-sized tip and a good lot of flesh. I decided to take him to the 24 hour emergency animal clinic some 11 miles away. My mother insisted that my father go with me, being that it was late. I said it wasn't necessary. He came along anyway. He also drove. Fuck.
Miraculously, we all survived the trip. We entered the clinic, and my father complained loudly about all the charges to the nurses while I filled out the paperwork, which was very helpful and ended up saving me a lot of money (this is where the sarcasm is). I finally got in to see the vet, and he suggested something that I never would have considered in a million years: the digit AND tail injuries were due to a lack of skin hydration. Seiryuu is a bearded dragon, a species that is naturally occurring in some Australian desert that I can't name right now. As long as I kept his insides hydrated (and I do, most evidently), I'd never stop to think about the outside. However, after the vet gave me the full explanation (which I won't go into here), I realized how much sense it made.
At that point, I left Seiryuu in the vet's care so he could prep him for tiny lizard surgery and amputate the, uh, exploded part of the tail. Seiryuu would stay overnight and I'd fetch him in the morning. I left the clinic, got home at one a.m., and had been sleeping for about two and a half hours when the vet called to tell me that the surgery had gone smoothly. I was so exhausted that I had slept through the phone ringing, and had to be woken up by my mother the insomniac. I tried to sound grateful to all parties, but probably wound up talking about bananas in slurred speech or something. I really can't remember.
Six hours later I regained consciousness again and went to get Seiryuu from the clinic. The poor guy was still groggy from the anesthesia and from blood loss during the surgery, so I put a soft dishcloth bed in his terrarium and he slept there the rest of the day. He seems fine now. Let's hope he stays that way. His appetite has been consistently normal throughout this whole ordeal, and that's a good sign.
In order to KEEP him in good shape, I've started giving him and his buddy Genbu (another bearded dragon, possibly from the same clutch of eggs) baths, which they enjoy immensely for the first minute and then get bored of very quickly.
I'm afraid to look at my credit card statement right now.
And those were the FUN bits of the past week, "fun" here meaning "horrible, but could be worse."
Stupid painful annoying crazy itchy shaky irritating twitchy dizzy life. I want to kick things. Conspiracies against me abound, except not, and that just makes things even more annoying.
This is a relatively recent development. First, FIRST, he lost three toes on his right hind leg. The flesh had simply died. It took me a few days to realize that part of his foot was a blackened stump because Seiryuu (that's the lizard's name) often displays what I've dubbed "beach foot" from splashing around in his water dish and then running through his sand-like substrate. Therefore, the foot looked perfectly normal until it started to swell, at which point I rinsed it off to discover freaky dead flesh.
Naturally, I took him to the vet. I had no idea what had happened to the foot. The vet had no idea either. He just amputated Seiryuu's three middle toes while I held Squirmy McGee still and gave me antibiotics to be administered by injection into the tail daily. My first thought was, "Oh shit, give him injections? Am I going to have to search for lizard veins or something?" but, as it turns out, it's a simple "poke and inject" affair. "Call me if his tail exhibits any signs of irritation," said the vet. "Can do!" I replied.
I had been treating him with the antibiotics for only two days when I noticed that his tail was beginning to swell. The next day I skipped the injection and called the doc. The day after THAT, he was back into the vet's, but at that point the swelling was already going down and the vet decided that the shots were not causing enough irritation to warrant halting the treatment. I said "Okay" and gave Seiryuu another shot when I got home, then left for work. At nine o'clock that night, my sister called me at work (which is bizarre in and of itself) to tell me that there was flesh hanging off his tail. I got off the phone, worked at hyper-speed the next thirty minutes, and then left work a half an hour early.
His tail had, in fact, burst open at the tip. Being that he had a stub tail in the first place from an old injury as a hatchling, that was a pretty good-sized tip and a good lot of flesh. I decided to take him to the 24 hour emergency animal clinic some 11 miles away. My mother insisted that my father go with me, being that it was late. I said it wasn't necessary. He came along anyway. He also drove. Fuck.
Miraculously, we all survived the trip. We entered the clinic, and my father complained loudly about all the charges to the nurses while I filled out the paperwork, which was very helpful and ended up saving me a lot of money (this is where the sarcasm is). I finally got in to see the vet, and he suggested something that I never would have considered in a million years: the digit AND tail injuries were due to a lack of skin hydration. Seiryuu is a bearded dragon, a species that is naturally occurring in some Australian desert that I can't name right now. As long as I kept his insides hydrated (and I do, most evidently), I'd never stop to think about the outside. However, after the vet gave me the full explanation (which I won't go into here), I realized how much sense it made.
At that point, I left Seiryuu in the vet's care so he could prep him for tiny lizard surgery and amputate the, uh, exploded part of the tail. Seiryuu would stay overnight and I'd fetch him in the morning. I left the clinic, got home at one a.m., and had been sleeping for about two and a half hours when the vet called to tell me that the surgery had gone smoothly. I was so exhausted that I had slept through the phone ringing, and had to be woken up by my mother the insomniac. I tried to sound grateful to all parties, but probably wound up talking about bananas in slurred speech or something. I really can't remember.
Six hours later I regained consciousness again and went to get Seiryuu from the clinic. The poor guy was still groggy from the anesthesia and from blood loss during the surgery, so I put a soft dishcloth bed in his terrarium and he slept there the rest of the day. He seems fine now. Let's hope he stays that way. His appetite has been consistently normal throughout this whole ordeal, and that's a good sign.
In order to KEEP him in good shape, I've started giving him and his buddy Genbu (another bearded dragon, possibly from the same clutch of eggs) baths, which they enjoy immensely for the first minute and then get bored of very quickly.
I'm afraid to look at my credit card statement right now.
And those were the FUN bits of the past week, "fun" here meaning "horrible, but could be worse."
Stupid painful annoying crazy itchy shaky irritating twitchy dizzy life. I want to kick things. Conspiracies against me abound, except not, and that just makes things even more annoying.
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