Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone! I could use some advice. I work for the devil (also known as PetCo), and this week I brought 4 sick juvenile chinese water dragons home to give them some extra TLC. About a month ago (right when I began working for the devil) they were taken to the vet for eye infections. The vet said they happened because the enclosure's humidity was too low. She prescribed Gentamiacin Sulfate eye drops to be given twice a day. I gave them the eyes drops when I worked, but when I was on days off no one took care of them so they didn't get better. That is why I brought them home with me. Anyway, 3 of the 4 seem to be clearing up, but I am very worried about the 4th. His little eye is SO swollen and SO cloudy that you can't even see his eye. It doesn't seem to be getting any better, and it looks so bad that I can't really imagine it getting any worse. This is also my first experience treating any kind of eye infection. What I need to know is, Is this the right way to be treating these eye infections? And what else can I do to help the really bad eye out? I know most of you will say "Take it to the vet!" but this isn't my animal, and if you know how PetCo operates, the chances of any more money being spent on him is very slim. Either way, any info and advice you can give me would be great.

Thanks!

PS. . . . I have been keeping their hospital enclosure right around the recommended specs, and they have been offered crickets and fresh greens daily.
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3.5.1 leopard geckos
0.1.0 leopard tortoise
0.1.0 asian leaf turtle
1.0.0 ball python
0.1.0 adopted cat
0.1.0 hamster

They don't eat greens normally, so I would stick to what they love to eat, which is live bugs, fish and worms. They probably need antibiotics in addition to the drops. What are the cage temps and humidity? Usually with sick dragons you keep them a little warmer than normal to help them fight the infection. Flushing the eyes with a saline solution may help also.
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I'm not sure which Petco you work at, but I know that a few of the things you mentioned wouldn't be tollerated. I too am a Petco employee and have been for the past three years, so I know exactly what policy is and what is supposed to be done.

First of all, even salaried employees cannot take any merchandise (which, of course, includes animals) home for any reason. If they need specific care then this needs to be taken care of expressly through the vet.

Second of all, Petco has fired people for not complying with animal policies. Those policies have been updated again this past weeke or two and EVERY animal that becomes ill must have at LEAST a phone call to the vet. That means that for every hamster that comes in with wet tail, a call needs to made to the vet to verify treat ment with Dritail.

Petco is litterally throwing money at their animals and trying to take decent care of them. If something isn't done about gettting those water dragons to the vet again then you need to notify your manager. If your manager won't listen then you need to notify your district manager. That number should be up on various posters throughout the employee only areas of the store.

If you're having problems with people not medicating you need to talk to your manager immediately. The new wellness cards MUST be filled out completely. If someone is not doing what they are supposed to be doing when checking and taking care of the animals and they're not signing off, that's a point. People are seriously getting fired over a lack of animal care. This is something that you must take action about. If you're not putting up a fight about it, then you are allowing these animals to go on in their conditions. This past year Petco has become very touchy about this subject and has a no tollerance approach to their animal care. Since you haven't been with the company very long I won't go into why that is, but it's for the benefit of the animal.

So take action and alert your manager about what's going on. If nothing gets done, like I said, call your district manager. They WILL listen to you about this. Hope this works out for you. Good luck!

Lindsay