Posted by:
DraconisAntiquus
at Wed Sep 3 00:17:45 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by DraconisAntiquus ]
With all of the bad advice that Rafferty's vet seems to be handing out, I thought I'd tell everybody about the one we have now, and see what you think.
As I've said before, I've kept reptiles for quite a long time now. More than 30 years, off and on. I've had turtles, lizards, frogs, and have even managed to tame the local fence lizard population we have here, just a bit. Also have a black racer running around out in my yard that I occasionally have to threaten people over, just to keep it alive.
My last "in-house" reptiles were a common green iguana, and a spiny tailed iguana. A ctenosaur. That was maybe 6 years ago.
When my wife and I decided to start keeping bearded dragons, we knew we'd be needing a vet. We had no idea how soon we'd be needing that vet, however.
We did quite a bit of research before hand, and given that I already had quite a bit of experience with lizards, and the fact that my wife and I had pretty much turned the tiny little fence lizards on our back porch into pets, we felt that the dragons were right for us, and that we could do a proper job of keeping them healthy. ( My wife was reluctant to keep a reptile as a pet, at first. She hates snakes, but the fence lizards, and the first dragon we saw at the pet shop running up to her and scratching at the tank changed her mind. )
Not long after we started looking for dragons, we found a pair we liked. The only problem was, the smaller of the two wasn't doing very well. Within a couple of days of getting them home, it was obvious that a vet was needed.
A quick call to the vet I used to take my dog to provided me with the name of a vet close by that handled reptiles. Dr. Burkhart. It seems he used to do some work for the local zoo as well. We couldn't belive our luck. ( The vet that I'd taken my iguanas to had left the area. )
Another call to the vet's office, and we had an appointment for that day.
Upon arriving, the vet took us back to the exam room and started looking the dragon over, and asking us questions about it's enclosure, temps, food, etc. He seemed pleased that we had set the tank up a couple of days before, and made sure that everything was okay before we put the lizards in it.
I had also brought along our copy of "The Bearded Dragon Manual" by Vosjoli, to ask the vet what he thought of it. It met with his approval.
To make a long story at least a bit shorter, Dr. Burkhart did what he could, but the weak little dragon was just too far gone.
Despite the doctor's best efforts, and ours, it died a few days later from the stress and coccidia.
We did get a replacement from the pet store. We weren't going to at first, but since we had told our little girl about them on the phone, ( She was away on a visitation with her biological father ) and she was expecting TWO dragons when she got home, we figured we'd better.
Shortly after she got home a few days later, we not only ended up getting a third dragon, but also made an appointment with Dr. Burkhart for all three of them, to get them checked out ang get fecals done.
Dr. Burkhart examined all three, and got the fecal exams started. They all seemed to be healthy, but once he looked at the fecals under the microscope, it was obvious that two had coccidia. Not a big surprise. The two that had it were from the same place as the one that had died.
He let myself, my wife, and our 7 year old have a look through the 'scope, so we could see exactly what the problem was. Then he asked "Did you bring that book with you?"
Um, no... Why?
"Well, there's a couple of things I can treat them with, but I want to know what the book says will be easiest on them."
Um... The book says coccidia is best treated with Albon, in bearded dragons....
"Then Albon it is. Like I said, there's several things that I can use to treat 'em, but I'd like to use the one that'll be easiest on them."
The doctor went on to explain that sulfer based drugs are hard on the kidneys, and to be sure they got enough water. He was adamant enough on this point that he told us not to medicate them at all if they hadn't drank that day.
Also, the doctor only charged us for one animal, and one fecal, even though there was three of each. A little over 55 dollars for the whole works.
Well, here we are about a month later, and our three little monsters are fine, and eating like pigs. We'll be taking another fecal in shortly, just to make sure though.
So, that's my story on our vet.
What do you think? Should we find another one? Or should we stick with one that admits he doesn't know it all, but is willing and able to learn?
D.A.
P.S. Here's a pic of one of the fence lizards that helped convince my wife that all reptiles weren't created equal. lol
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Our veterinarian... ( long ) - DraconisAntiquus, Wed Sep 3 00:17:45 2003 