Bearded Dragon Stops Breathing

[Sturner007]

Hi all,

I have a beardie that’s five years old. She came to us sick, but we didn’t know until she stopped breathing one day and we had to rush her to the emergency vet. Due to this, She’s always been a hard keeper.

She’s gotten sick to the point where she stops eating and drinking on her own and I have to start feeding her by hand via a syringe. Almost every time that I have hand fed her she has an “episode” in which she stops breathing altogether and we have to rush her to the vet. She’s constantly in and out of the vet and is always up to date on her check-ins.

I just took her in a few weeks ago and the vet said she seemed fine, but there could be something going on internally. She just had blood work done about 4 months ago and everything came back normal. Since she hasn’t been herself lately the vet decided to put her on Ceftazidime (an injectable anti-biotic) to see if that would help her snap out of her funk. She’s been on this anti biotic for almost 10 days so she should’ve been feeling better by now.

Fast forward to tonight I was hand feeding her and she had another episode and stopped breathing. I had to rush her to the emergency vet again and by the time we handed her off to the vet, she was breathing normally. She was gasping for air in the car the entire drive. She almost didn’t make it.

The emergency vet did an examine on her and found absolutely nothing wrong with her. I am at a loss. Something is going on internally that not even her regular vet can figure out.

Does anybody know what this could be? Has this happened to anyone else’s beardie?

Please help me trouble shoot this! My poor girl is suffering and no one knows why.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice,
Samantha

 

[Sadie]

Hi all,

I have a beardie that’s five years old. She came to us sick, but we didn’t know until she stopped breathing one day and we had to rush her to the emergency vet. Due to this, She’s always been a hard keeper.

She’s gotten sick to the point where she stops eating and drinking on her own and I have to start feeding her by hand via a syringe. Almost every time that I have hand fed her she has an “episode” in which she stops breathing altogether and we have to rush her to the vet. She’s constantly in and out of the vet and is always up to date on her check-ins.

I just took her in a few weeks ago and the vet said she seemed fine, but there could be something going on internally. She just had blood work done about 4 months ago and everything came back normal. Since she hasn’t been herself lately the vet decided to put her on Ceftazidime (an injectable anti-biotic) to see if that would help her snap out of her funk. She’s been on this anti biotic for almost 10 days so she should’ve been feeling better by now.

Fast forward to tonight I was hand feeding her and she had another episode and stopped breathing. I had to rush her to the emergency vet again and by the time we handed her off to the vet, she was breathing normally. She was gasping for air in the car the entire drive. She almost didn’t make it.

The emergency vet did an examine on her and found absolutely nothing wrong with her. I am at a loss. Something is going on internally that not even her regular vet can figure out.

Does anybody know what this could be? Has this happened to anyone else’s beardie?

Please help me trouble shoot this! My poor girl is suffering and no one knows why.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice,
Samantha

Poor baby I am sorry to hear this so I am going to send this to a vet tech I know that maybe able to give some insight to whats going on -- in the mean time please go over your basking temps how your taking them they should be surface basking temps and your UVB is it a coil or tube ? I need the brand and the bulb please --- where in the tank is it ? These two things I have asked about are the lifeline to your dragon --- they are what keeps the dragon healthy --- I would stop the anti biotic if its not doing any good and blood work should of been done to see if there was an infection and not just given to be given --- is the dragon eating? Is she pooping? What are you feeding her? Can you please post pics of the tank and her lighting? Any colored bulbs your using?

 

[Sadie]

Poor baby I am sorry to hear this so I am going to send this to a vet tech I know that maybe able to give some insight to whats going on -- in the mean time please go over your basking temps how your taking them they should be surface basking temps and your UVB is it a coil or tube ? I need the brand and the bulb please --- where in the tank is it ? These two things I have asked about are the lifeline to your dragon --- they are what keeps the dragon healthy --- I would stop the anti biotic if its not doing any good and blood work should of been done to see if there was an infection and not just given to be given --- is the dragon eating? Is she pooping? What are you feeding her? Can you please post pics of the tank and her lighting? Any colored bulbs your using?

I heard back from another person I reached out to and this is what she had to say

It sounds like she's just holding her breath during the feedings. She will start on her own again as well but you may need to quit the syringe feedings. Too bad the Dr. on a wild guess gave her unnecessary antibiotics though.

Post a pic of her to show her size.

 

[Sadie]

The vet tech has asked this
Hello,

How is your girl doing today, any improvements? Have you been able to get any
food into her? It is very frustrating when they aren't able to eat on their own. How
is her body weight doing?

 

[Sturner007]

Poor baby I am sorry to hear this so I am going to send this to a vet tech I know that maybe able to give some insight to whats going on -- in the mean time please go over your basking temps how your taking them they should be surface basking temps and your UVB is it a coil or tube ? I need the brand and the bulb please --- where in the tank is it ? These two things I have asked about are the lifeline to your dragon --- they are what keeps the dragon healthy --- I would stop the anti biotic if its not doing any good and blood work should of been done to see if there was an infection and not just given to be given --- is the dragon eating? Is she pooping? What are you feeding her? Can you please post pics of the tank and her lighting? Any colored bulbs your using?

Hi Sadie,

Sorry for the late response.

The coolest side of her tank is between 85-90 degrees. We use a Repti-Sun 17 watt T8 10.0 uvb bulb mounted inside of her tank so it’s as close to her as possible. No colored bulbs are used. Her tank is near perfect as far as temps/humidity go. I am constantly checking to make sure everything’s up to part. I just replaced her bulbs 3 months ago and will replace them again as soon as I get my basking bulbs delivered. I end up replacing her bulbs around the 4-5 month range just to be on the safe side. I don’t mess around with that stuff.

She is not eating much on her own. She will eat some freeze-dried mealworms occasionally, and some kale and apples, but this is seldom right now. Normally she devours her food and eats and drinks on her own. This is why I have been syringe feeding her.

She is pooping, but it’s not a lot of poop because she’s not eating much.

She eats T-Rex bearded dragon pebbles. She likes the small pebbles because it’s easier for her to eat.

We inherited her from a co-worker who passed away suddenly, and when she came to us she was very sick. She used to be able to use her tongue, but because she was so sick for so long before we got her, it ended up doing damage to her tongue. She can’t eat like normal beardies. The vet thinks she has some scar tissue built up in her tongue and that’s causing her not to be able to extend her tongue. She can’t eat crickets anymore because of it. She’s also really hard to keep weight on. She’s lost weight for sure within the last 6 months. I’m not sure what the exact amount is though. She’s always been significantly smaller than the average female beardie due to her illness as a baby.

She is still not her normal self today. Not wanting to eat much. I don’t want her to go without food or water this weekend, but I’m not sure what I can do for her other than syringe feeding her - which I do not want to do anymore. I’m not having a repeat of Thursday again! Scariest thing I’ve been through.

The vet was supposed to call me yesterday to talk about her emergency visit, but he never did. They’re closed on the weekends so unfortunately I don’t have any answers/suggestions to get me through this weekend.

I will attach pictures of her tank setup so you can see what I’m working with, I’ll also post some pictures of her!

Thank you so so much for your help and advice! I don’t know anyone that’s familiar with beardies, so I’m grateful to have found someone who is familiar!

I appreciate you.

Samantha