Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yesterday it was sunny so i put TREX and THOR in their outdoors cages and i went downtown for shopping.When i went back around 4:00 PM i found THOR ok but TREX was covered with blood! The cage's walls, the cages bottom, all over his body! I found out he had lost 5 nails and the fingers didnt stop bleeding! I took him indoors,i put him in his indoor cage and since then, for almost 20 hours im trying to stop the bleeding without result! I put cold towels around his hands, i pressed it but as soon as i release the hand one or 2 fingers started bleeding again! At 10: 00 PM i thought the bleeding had stopped and i went to bed.I woke up at 1AM to check him and when i went to his room i saw there was a lake of blood on the bottom of his cage! He had already lost a lot of blood, his mouth and tongue are VERY pale, i dont know how to make him stop bleeding! Im afraid he will die of shock!The problem is each time i try to put ice or cold towels around his hands/fingers he panicks and the fingers that had stopped bleeding start to bleed again! What can i do?

Where i live the vets dont even know what is an iguana!Im living in New Delhi(India) now and the local vets only knows about dogs and cats.And cows, for sure!

I just had a incident with Ozzy where the dog nipped the tip of his toe off. The emergency vet clinic told me to use baking soda, or baking powder if you dont have the soda, to stop bleeding. Ozzys quit bleeding right away so i didnt have to try this. But thought i would pass that along to you. Vet did say it might sting a bit just so your prepared. Hope that helps. Tami

also you can use stypic powder. i think thats what it is called if you have it. the vets may not know anything about igs but im sure they know how to stop it from bleeding. cant be much different then most animals. have you tried to call and see if they would take him anyway? it sounds pretty bad. i really hope you can stop the bleeding. you and your ig are in my thoughts and prayers. let us know how he is doing. good luck.
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brandy

I called a local vet. He prescribed me Tinture Benzoin (??).He said that this product stops bleeding. I bought the baking powder too.I went home for lunch and TREX is not bleeding anymore. But his mouth and tongue are still white. If he survives, it will be a miracle because his fingers dropped blood for almost 20 hours without stoping!He is not eating because i put the temperature in his terrarium mid 70.The vet said that heat increases bleeding and that i should not expose him to hot temp.

Do you think TREX was bleeding so much beacuse he needs some vitamins? Why his body was not able to coagulate the blood?

The product you suggested does not exist in New Delhi.

Im REALLY afraid he will die!His mouth/tongue are white and Melissa Kaplan's site says iguanas cannot loose too much blood!
I wonder what could have happened?He lost 5 claws at the same time!!

Hi Flavia.. you and TREX are really in my thoughts! I can imagine what you´re going trough. I was going to tell you to put some sugar on his fingers.. The sugar makes the blood coagulate faster. Usually humans use it, I don´t think it´s a problem to use it with igs. Well, since you´ve said he stoped bleeding, all you can do now is to give him lots of vitamins and calcium. You can soak him too.. it will help the healing process of his fingers. I think that what happened was he kept scratching the walls of his enclouser, trying to get out. That´s probably what happened, especially if the walls of the enclouser are made of wire nesh (screen).
I´m really sorry, and you both are in my thoughts and prayers.
Good luck
Later,
Dan

You can soak him in warm water with betadine (or the version of it you are familiar with) it will keep his fingers from getting infected and help with the healing... put antibiotic cream on them and keep him warm!!!!!!!! I dont understand why the vet said not to keep him warm being that he cannot produce his own body heat? I assume this vet isnot familiar with exotics?
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1.0.1 Green Iguana Andy and Vernie
0.2.0 Cats April and Sugar
1.0.0 German Shepard Dog Router
0.0.50 Fish
And lots of rescues waiting to find homes...

No, the local vets are not used to exotics! We are living now in India (New Delhi) and the local vets are used only to cats, dogs and cows.There are cows everywhere!

But i think he is right in the sense that heat can make the bleeding start again.Dont you think so?

Yesterday i increased the temperature to low 80F and i force fed him some greens.His tongue is not that pale anymore, it starts to look a little pink again.

Thanks a lot for your message!

If you are force feeding him and his temps ar eonly in thr 80s then the food isnt going to be digested... after the toes have scabbed up (which is why they stopped bleeding because they finally clotted) I would boost his basking temps back up.. you dont want him cold.. and if you do still keep him cool dont feed... that way hes not having food "rot" in his tummy...

Just my .02 tho... When my guys lost parts of tails and were bleeding my vet always told me to keep him warm and his injuries clean so they wont get infected...
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1.0.1 Green Iguana Andy and Vernie
0.2.0 Cats April and Sugar
1.0.0 German Shepard Dog Router
0.0.50 Fish
And lots of rescues waiting to find homes...

Thanks for your message

I think you are right!He probably pulled out 5 of his claws because he wanted to escape from the cage.His outdoors cage is made of coated wire, because we live in a very hot country( India).I think he wanted to go out probably because he is the mating season.The temp outdoors was ok, around 90 F, he is accustomed to the cage, its huge and it is the same he uses since he was a baby, so there was anything wrong that could make him feel unconfortable.

He is still alive, tired and weak but alive. Yesterday i forced fed him 2 leaves of mustard greens but i didnt move him. Im afraid he starts bleeding again.Im afraid to take him out to soak him in warm water because if he panics the fingers will bleed again.They look awful! I think ill put some betadine ointment on the fingers and wait a few more days before soaking him.What do you think?

i would put a large cat litter pan filled with water in his cage and see if he gives himself a soak. this way he wont get stressed form you moving him. he can do it him self. not sure if it will work but worth a try. have they stoped bleeding alltogether? i hope so. i would try to limit the climing he can do if it is possible so he does not rip open the cuts again. good luck!
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brandy

That´s a good idea, but I´m not sure he will do that... Actually.. I really doubt it. But I would try.
One thing you have to be carefull is that since he lost 5 claws, he won´t be able to climb that good anymore.. Be carefull, cuz he can fall from the branches and get hurt again...
You can put some human towels on the branches, to add more contact to it. I don´t know... you should try it if you want to.
Well, let us know what´s going on there.
Good luck
Later,
Dan

You helped me a lot! I think last sunday was the worst day since i started raising reptiles!Trying to keep TREX still while i tryed to stop the bleeding was a dramatic experience!
Well, he is still alive and eating a little bit.Yesterday afternoon i turned on his basking lights for 2 hours . He loved it but he immediately started to become agitated to move (too much in my opinion) and to "claw" (!!) the hot bulbs. He loves to do that! Although he cannot burn himself because the hot bulbs are protected by wire (he cannot touch them)his clawless fingers were too close to the heat bulbs so i was afraid they started to bleed again and i turned off the basking lights.The temp in his terrarium was back to 81F. Do you think i shouldnt have turned off the basking lights?

I put Betadine ointment on all his 5 fingers. Apparently they are not infected but only to be sure ill do that every day.

Today when i was observing him before going to work he headbobed at me!Thats a good sign isnt it?) But his mouth and tongue are still very pale.Perhaps if i keep the basking lights on his condition will improve.What do you think?

I dont know how to prevent him from climbing! He loves to lay on the highest platform of his 7+ cage but ill put some extra platforms to help him during his way up and down. Its too early to think about that because he is not moving now (too cold?)but IF he gets better ill do that.Thanks for the advice!

Wonderful to hear that hes better

I really think he is too cold and that if you warm him up the blood flow will return to the fingers but since they are healed over I do not think he will re open them ... I would add more shelving so its not as steep of a climb for him to climb on and kinda cuddle him over the next few days... and the warmer he is the hungrier he is and the more he eats the stronger he gets keep putting your antibiotic ointment on him and im sure he will make a full recovery
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1.0.1 Green Iguana Andy and Vernie
0.2.0 Cats April and Sugar
1.0.0 German Shepard Dog Router
0.0.50 Fish
And lots of rescues waiting to find homes...

Thanks!!))

Flavia

2 five years old male and crancky iguanas
2 sweet uromastyx from Mali
2 nocturnal monkey tails
1 very fat leo gecko
1 very cute crocodile skink
1 bearded dragon (rescue with MBD)

You are very welcome hun Good to know hes feeling better
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1.0.1 Green Iguana Andy and Vernie
0.2.0 Cats April and Sugar
1.0.0 German Shepard Dog Router
0.0.50 Fish
And lots of rescues waiting to find homes...