Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just adopted a Mali Uromastyx who is 3 years old (female).

She seems very unhealthy. First biggest problem is her foot. It's swelled up really bad. The owner I got her from says her original owner only fed her crickets for her whole life and says that her foot has been swelled for as long as she can remember.
And the owner I just got her from only had her for 3 months and they fed her Romaine Lettuce and carrots.

She also looks a little under weight. If you look under her tail you can see the bone. And feel her ribs on her sides. I'm not sure if this is normal or not. Also she has a bad shed on her back.
I gave her a warm bath and it helped.

I'm going to make sure I give her the best care I can. But I'm wondering if the damage is irreversible?
And if she has an infection in her foot, can it spread to the rest of her body and kill her?

I know my best option is to take her to the vet, but I don't have the money right now and I don't even know how much it would cost.

What are my options? What could the swelling of the foot be?

Any opinions/suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I'm really worried about her.

Image

Hey-

PHEve's response is right on.
Your Uro is in a world of hurt. Most definitely a case of poor husbandry, and your concern of reversibility is valid.
I would venture a guess that without veterinary medical help, you will lose you uro.
Just a layman's guess on the prognosis, and I hate to be a doomsayer, but my feeling is that you have to get immediate attention for her, then hopefully you can counteract what three years+ of poor care has done to harm her.

The cricket only diet, would lead one to believe gout as a standout problem. The lack of any real substance to her tail and swollen leg are definitely indicative of a bigger problem. Romaine and carrots are not a huge factor in poor health and I would argue have been much better for her than the cricket only approach.

She could have MBD, or a systemic infection caused by a suppressed immune system, or a host of other problems, not excluding parasitic infections.

what area are you in? Maybe somebody near you from this forum can give you some area specific guidance for vet care?
Since money is tight...you can always try to walk in a vets office to see if they will take on the case?

Your other problem will be to get qualified vet care for your uro. No slight to vets everywhere, but it is not an easy task to find vets who know uros, regardless of the final bill.

here is an approx idea what a vet bill is for a uro:

Animal exam: 45
Exotic surcharge: 25
Fecal assesment(parasite check): 15-20
Subcutaneous injections: 25
Lab fees: 60-135(blood analysis)

Condition specific medicines:
40-?

You get an idea of how much and what will be billed.
This is just a rough idea. It adds up quickly.
I don't mean to scare you, just trying to give you an idea of cost and why. They're going to have to do the diagnostic work up before they can treat her.

You've got a mountain to climb to help her. So far you've done the best thing for her - You've taken initiative to improve her care.
In doing so however, you have taken the responsibility to now do what's right.
Don't delay.
Sorry to get on a soapbox, stories like this upset me.

Ed

>>I just adopted a Mali Uromastyx who is 3 years old (female).
>>
>>She seems very unhealthy. First biggest problem is her foot. It's swelled up really bad. The owner I got her from says her original owner only fed her crickets for her whole life and says that her foot has been swelled for as long as she can remember.
>>And the owner I just got her from only had her for 3 months and they fed her Romaine Lettuce and carrots.
>>
>>She also looks a little under weight. If you look under her tail you can see the bone. And feel her ribs on her sides. I'm not sure if this is normal or not. Also she has a bad shed on her back.
>>I gave her a warm bath and it helped.
>>
>>I'm going to make sure I give her the best care I can. But I'm wondering if the damage is irreversible?
>>And if she has an infection in her foot, can it spread to the rest of her body and kill her?
>>
>>I know my best option is to take her to the vet, but I don't have the money right now and I don't even know how much it would cost.
>>
>>What are my options? What could the swelling of the foot be?
>>
>>Any opinions/suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I'm really worried about her.
>>
>>
>>Image

First and foremost I would highly suggest that you treat your animal for parasites. The caving in symptoms at the base of the tail only leads me to believe that you are working with a heavily infected animal. I strongly recommend taking a fecal sample to qualified veterinarian to find out what type of parasites you are working with. But I can take a fair guess that your animal is infected with nematodes, flagellates, or pinworms, or all three. Each of which has a direct life cycle and without a compulsive attitude towards cage cleanliness will continue to reinfect your animal.

I had the same symptoms with one of my ornates, but after many weeks of working hard with a compulsive attitude towards cage cleanliness and with proper treatment, my uro had gained full weight back and the caving in disappeared. The drug that my veterinarian prescribed me was Panacur, which is an extremely safe drug to use. The only concern is that if used too much and too often, reports are beginning to show that these drugs for parasites are wiping out these small lizard’s livers.

Parasites and bacterial infections are among the top three killers in captive reptiles. I believe that your uromastyx has both. To address your uro's swollen foot issue, all I can suggest is to take it for an examination to a qualified reptilian vet. Hopefully your vet will find out what parasites you’re working with, and then diagnose the issue. It’s going to take a lot of patience and time into getting your uro healthy again.

Please keep us updated on the issue and make sure you get to a vet as soon as possible. My suggestion for now would be to get your uro into a smaller quarantine cage with a paper towel substrate. Use simple low to the ground hide spots (I used the flat pieces of terra cota and then used a hammer to make cut away a entrance under the terra cota. Use regular soap to clean all cage hide spots EVERY time your uro defecates, as well as replace the paper towels. The cage must be cleaned as well. You must think as though everything is contaminated when dealing with parasites with a direct life cycle. Even your uros tail may have fecal smears on it. Using dawn dish washing detergent with water on a paper towel, you can gently scrub away the poop off of the tail base.

Best of luck,

-Paul

I believe that the swollen foot is a symptom of a bacterial infection.