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His symptoms are getting worse yet. Hes been off Flagyl since Friday, but still is showing neurological symptoms such as head jerking, and favoring of the right (he circles to the right). He is beginning to "stargaze" and show less perceptiveness towards his surroundings. I believe that hs is shutting down. He has retained his body weight weight(and has only had food once in three weeks) and completely stopped shedding(while being in mid-shed). A friend of mine pulled up a piecs of skin that wasnt ready to come up, and its scabbed, but is virtually the same as it was 4 days ago, with no healing taking place.

My vet suggests that I get a second opinion, so I will be taking him to UC Davis tomorrow. The next step to take is an ultrasound, and regular daily tube feeding. I can tell that hes painful, because he is tense ALL over. He winces when I stroke him. Part of me wants to put him down and order a necropsy. Why would I want to keep him in pain?

Oh yeah, the Cryptosporidia came up NEG.

-Michelle

I wish you the best of luck with him.

Billy

I will stick with what I thought to begin with. That being he has all the symptoms pointing to a. cantonensis leading to menengitis and brain damage. Now that your seeing more of the brain shut down I am certain of it. That being said even if you tube feed him etc. to keep him going if the brain is damaged what life will he have now? thats the question you need to ask yourself at somepoint.

I wish you had better news.

Good luck and sorry,
Jody

Sorry as well, Michelle. I know its tough to put him down, but you dont want to see him suffering. Seeing them suffer is never pretty. Maybe UC Davis can shed some light on this, hopefully . Thanks for sharing this tough experience with your monitor. Some call it a hinderance, I think its a sharing of information to learn as much as we can.
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______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ " If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullsh1t"

Even though Ive never met alot of you guys, it still helps to know that theres people who understand. I guess thats why I come here...so many people in my life that I know personally just dont understand why I would fuss so much over a lizard.

Tonight after soaking him for a while, as I was prepareing to inject him with fluids, I noticed numerous boils erupting on his sides, at and around the injection sites. This is something new, and very disturbing. He is the least coherent hes ever been, showing strong head tremors, totally limp limbs, and mouth hanging partially open. I decided to skip the fluid treatment tonight, and unless UCDavis discovers a cure for whatever hes got tomorrow, he will not go through another day of torment, and I will put him to rest at that time. I called a couple vet offices to see about putting him to sleep tonight, but none of them could offer necropsy.

Where water has been injected under the skin? or where he has had antibiotic injections?

When you do the necropsy make sure they check the cerebral spinal fluid. Also check the liver and the muscle tissue. My guess is you'll find abcess's or lesions on the liver, bacteria in the cerebral spinal fluid, and discolored muscles very light pink.

Hope he makes it through the night but it sounds like he is at the breaking point. I am very sorry I couldn't of helped you more.

Youve been alot of help, and I think you for that. You, Mark and Sara, have all been of help. I think were all kind of helping eachother in finding answers to this "malady".

All the best,
Michelle

It is common to see boils/burn blisters from injections of antibiotics especially batryl.

From injecting water under the skin you typically get of course the initial bubble under the skin but unless they do not absorb the water you don't typically get a water blister. But then again his immune system by now is shot so he can get all sorts of lesions starting on him.

I think we all atleast have it narrowed down to one common ailment next step would be how to prevent it, where they got it, and maybe a cure to get rid of it or atleast a way to diagnose it ahead of time. waiting until they die to take cerebral spinal fluid to find it just does not cut it for me. That is the end result and a place I do not want to go again.

I wish you would have e mailed me.
I have a two page necropsy report from an animal that had very similar symptoms. I ended up putting it to sleep.
It might have saved you a lot of heartache and the monitor a lot of pain.

I still wouldnt mind seeing that necropsy. Ill send you a copy of mine as well and we can compare to see if there are simularities.

Hi michelle,

Regretfully, but I believe your albigularis has little chance of recovery at this stage - I would put him down if it were mine...

So Sorry, How sad.

Regards,
mbayless

They aren't 'just' lizards to me either. Say your goodbyes before it's too late.

--Robert

I am sorry about your bt. You have given him the best care and I know it will be hard for you to see him go. At least he had someone who cared about him for his final days. I don't care what other people think but animals have feelings too and I think they take some level of comfort from the people who love them. They are not "just lizards" to me either and I know the members of this forum feel the same. Best regards.

Pam