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- 30
So I haven't posted since losing my beloved Gojira to aggressively metastasized osteosarcoma, just 6 weeks before what would have been his 3rd Gotcha Day.
I adopted him as an adult, oh the irony, because I had read about early-adulthood cancers being a problem in some commercially bred (as in pet store supplier) bloodlines.
I am not a huge fan of irony.
My parents found the one and only rescue anywhere nearby & about 6 weeks later I was able to adopt a new companion. I'd never wanted a female because my mom's 30 years with chickens taught me terrifying things about egg-related issues. But when I told the rescue my priority was a healthy appetite because I can work with any temperament, they showed me a girl who had definitely BEEN THROUGH IT. Her tail was bent in several places & caked with filthy stuck-on multiple layers of old shed. She was terrified of being touched.
So I took a chance & took the plunge last March. Once the truth of her brave, fierce, durable nature started to show through, she got re-named Ripley. I had her tested for gut parasites (none) & ADV (not exposed).
Last May, at 2.5 years old, she laid 3 eggs. No big deal, they're like hens, they don't need a male around to start laying & it's normal for young females to lay a few eggs.
Over the next 5 weeks she laid FORTY-FOUR eggs. After consulting with several veterinarians, all of them agreeing on a diagnosis of hyper-fertility, & a nerve-shredding story involving crowdfunding, my last savings, and a 1600-mile round trip (3200 for the driver!!!) she was spayed July 6, 2022. The vet showed me what was removed. My girl would not have made it through the winter with that mess in her belly.
But it's difficult to spay a lizard, any tiny fleck of missed ovarian tissue can start producing eggs again. This is a disaster if you're in no position to have a 2nd spay done--the only vet I can get her to now charges $1500 & up, an amount that would qualify as federal disability fraud for me to save up because of the resource cap associated with the program that supplies my income & health insurance.
Ripley is showing every sign of a failed spay--belly dragging the ground, hollow flanks no matter how much she eats, and yesterday she started digging. I call the vet tomorrow to try to schedule a scan so we can be sure whether or not she's producing eggs.
The spay removed her oviducts. If she is gravid, I am going to lose my girl after barely a year. She isn't even 4 yet. I am not okay.
The photo is, as far as I know, the first time in her life she felt live grass under her feet, soon after we got her home to stay. I don't want her to die, but that may be the only merciful choice I can make for her.
I adopted him as an adult, oh the irony, because I had read about early-adulthood cancers being a problem in some commercially bred (as in pet store supplier) bloodlines.
I am not a huge fan of irony.
My parents found the one and only rescue anywhere nearby & about 6 weeks later I was able to adopt a new companion. I'd never wanted a female because my mom's 30 years with chickens taught me terrifying things about egg-related issues. But when I told the rescue my priority was a healthy appetite because I can work with any temperament, they showed me a girl who had definitely BEEN THROUGH IT. Her tail was bent in several places & caked with filthy stuck-on multiple layers of old shed. She was terrified of being touched.
So I took a chance & took the plunge last March. Once the truth of her brave, fierce, durable nature started to show through, she got re-named Ripley. I had her tested for gut parasites (none) & ADV (not exposed).
Last May, at 2.5 years old, she laid 3 eggs. No big deal, they're like hens, they don't need a male around to start laying & it's normal for young females to lay a few eggs.
Over the next 5 weeks she laid FORTY-FOUR eggs. After consulting with several veterinarians, all of them agreeing on a diagnosis of hyper-fertility, & a nerve-shredding story involving crowdfunding, my last savings, and a 1600-mile round trip (3200 for the driver!!!) she was spayed July 6, 2022. The vet showed me what was removed. My girl would not have made it through the winter with that mess in her belly.
But it's difficult to spay a lizard, any tiny fleck of missed ovarian tissue can start producing eggs again. This is a disaster if you're in no position to have a 2nd spay done--the only vet I can get her to now charges $1500 & up, an amount that would qualify as federal disability fraud for me to save up because of the resource cap associated with the program that supplies my income & health insurance.
Ripley is showing every sign of a failed spay--belly dragging the ground, hollow flanks no matter how much she eats, and yesterday she started digging. I call the vet tomorrow to try to schedule a scan so we can be sure whether or not she's producing eggs.
The spay removed her oviducts. If she is gravid, I am going to lose my girl after barely a year. She isn't even 4 yet. I am not okay.
The photo is, as far as I know, the first time in her life she felt live grass under her feet, soon after we got her home to stay. I don't want her to die, but that may be the only merciful choice I can make for her.
