Poor sick skinker :(

[jayeszoo]

I am so sorry you have to do this. I would be a basket case. Does she have any info back on the blood tests? Even tho tomorrow will only be 2 weeks that I have had mine, I sure hate forcing her to clean her eyes and mouth. Tonite I did get a little dried blood off the corner of the mouth.

Keep us informed,

jaye

[Katrina]

Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear this.

I really hate to say, but it sounds similar to Nemo / Joey's problems and the issues other T. gigas skinks experienced. I posted quite a bit of info on Nemo and Susann posted about Joey, so maybe you can read through old threads and see if anything is helpful. I did try the same antibiotic eye drops as you have, with no success as well as one other kind of topical antibiotic eye drops and immunosuppressant eye gels with no luck. Nemo's eyes only improved after a shed and then would slowly get worse again. He seemed to get better with antibiotics but would always regress after a while and go back to the vet.

I think I send Susann a giant PM on everything we tried for Nemo so she could show her vet, I can try to find it and forward it to you if you want.

I really don't mean to scare you and I have no way to know if what Nemo or Joey had is at all related to the problems you are seeing... It just seems like the same problem with the toes and eyes. If I can help at all, let me know.

On a happier note, injections aren't that bad at all. You just kind of tuck it under a scale and gently pierce the skin underneath (don't try to go through the scale, kind of life and go under). Your vet will show you this, but it isn't too bad, I'm sure you can handle it. I found that our skinks hardly noticed injections, so it might be less stressful than the other meds.

[Spindown]

i'd love it if you could try and find that PM for me, as i suck at finding old threads

they said they got the results back and that it was infection in the blood, which i'm taking to mean septicimia (sp?) but they didnt tell me...probably figured i wouldnt know what that meant >.<

I'm not really concerned about the injections, I mean, how can this get worse as the administrator of medicines?? Shes already biting me and peeing on me and pooping on me

I just really hope she gets better, We would be devastated if she were to die, she is technically my bf's skink, one of only 2 that are his, and he just lost his dog this past summer, and this would crush him.
I'd of course cry and be super sad too, so we are praying this doesnt happen. I know that animals get sick, but its still so hard when it happens.

[jayeszoo]

I too will be praying. I too lost a dog this summer. My beloved shepherd. He was the most awesome dog as I'm sure your BF's was.

jaye

[Iceman]

Although it may be a bit daunting at first, skinks are honestly probably the easiest of any any reptile I have ever injected. A towel definitely helps (not just for wiping the feces off of yourself, but for holding the skink as well). If you have already mentioned this please forgive me, but what medication is the new injectable? Also, which vet is it that you are seeing? I have a suspicion as to who it is, but if you wouldn't mind PMing me the name of the vet that would be greatly appreciated. We have a lot of "exotics vets" here in Washington, but unfortunately only a few of them really know reptiles. Many vets can be great vets, but just not great reptile vets.

[Spindown]

I'm not sure what the injectable is yet, i'll find out and keep y'all updated.

[Susann]

I'm sorry I haven't had time to get into posting on this thread. I'm very sad to say that it looks very similar to what Joey had. I promise to try to let you know what we did with Joey, but in the meantime, I wrote very detailed posts on what we did, and what seemed to work. If you go to my profile, and click on all posts by me, in addition to all the details on treatments, I have posted lots of pictures over the past year.
I have lots of stuff going on in my life right now, it will calm down (it HAS to!) soon, and I will be able to help you out some more, but unfortunately it may be a week or two
I went through a month of injectable Ceftazidime with Joey, and it really isn't a big deal to inject, I even found it easier than getting a suringe into a sore mouth.

Good luck. I'm sorry I don't have time right now, I will try to get to this very soon, I promise, but in the meantime, like I said, if you want info right away, look up my posts. I'm so sorry you are dealing with this, I know how extremely frustrating it is.

[Susann]

OK, so, it's in the middle of the night, I figured, what's another hour of lost sleep? Really nothing, when considering someone else's skink it hurting.
So, I looked up all the threads I wrote about Joey.
I am going to list these backwards, so if you want to read them in chronological order, start at the bottom. But I think that it's the latest threads that really hold the most relevant info.
Here:

Joey's husbandry:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=18761

Joey update:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=18593

Could it be MOLD?:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17144

We still keep fighting:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16564

Sick little guy:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16019

Don't know if any of it is usable for you guys, and I know lots of the pictures are gone.
I know my life is crazy at the moment, but please don't let that keep you from asking for further information or questions. OK? Not a problem. I'll probably see it and respond sooner if you send me a PM.

Lots of love,
//Suz//

[Coomassie]

I had to inject one of my leopard geckos with antibiotics. It isn't fun but Psycho was very good about it. According to my vet, injected antibiotics are much more effective (probably because they can't be spit out). Psycho didn't like me for the few months he was under the vet's treatment but he made a full recovery and we are best buds again.

[Spindown]

thanks susann for sharing those links, i read all of them. Poor Joey, I will take inspiration from you both and try my best to heal my poor baby. The only downside, is that if she doesnt get better, I just dont have the resources to go to the vet over and over again. But I will do my very best to do all that is in my power to help her overcome this, whatever it may be. I cant believe how upset I am about her illness. I guess its because there is such a lack of research into reptile illnesses and its so up in the air; if my cat was this sick, i'd be more confident he'd survive, since there is so much more knowledge of their illnesses.

[Spindown]

so they want to prescribe injectible Baytril. I dont understand why they would prescribe baytril again if its not working orally...
I'm trying to get them to fill the medication at a closer vet, as i have no way to drive up there until Tuesday. I'm too scared to take the long trip on the bus because shes so sick, and i dont want her to get too cold...i've even been leaving her lights on all night so she stays warm.

[Karen]

El Lobo gave me a warning about injected Baytril back when I posted about my skink's vet visit. Something about it potentially causing necrosis around the inject site if it is too concentrated. You might want to PM him and ask about it if he doesn't post here. I hope you and the vet find something that works.

[Spindown]

ok they changed the injectable, its Ceftazidime, 10 shots, 1 every two days. I will start this tomorrow. *crossing fingers*

[Susann]

Good luck to both of you!
When you go in to see the vet again, if you haven't seen significant improvement, ask the vet about the vitamin A and calcium with D3 shots. Like you read in my posts about Joey, those two shots along with an antibiotic was the only thing that resulted in a significant improvement. Antibiotic alone (in ANY form or ANY kind) was minimal improvement at best.
Your vet may be worried about the possibility of a vitamin A overdose. The hard thing about that is, that the symptoms of an overdose are the exact same as the symptoms that she has now. And, yes, there are risks involved, vitamins and calcium seem like such harmless substances, but everything is a risk; you and your vet will have to weigh those risks against how sick your little skinker still is at that point. Compared to a lot of other medicines though, the vitamin A and calcium really are on the lower end of risk-factors.

I'm sorry if I'm asking questions you've already written answers to (still at a bit of a time-crunch here), but have you removed her substrate? Instead of keeping her lights on 24/7, I know they are kind of expensive but they last forever, get a ceramic heat emitter (CHE). That way Baneling (are you still calling her that now that you think she's a girl?) can still get plenty of rest with nighttime and daytime lights.
I also put Joey in a much smaller tank when I needed to keep temperatures up, made it easier for me to keep heat at a constant when I heated a much smaller area. I got a cheapo Walmart 10 gal aquarium (like $15), and just had him with a water bowl and towels for him to hide in. I had him near a window, so all I used for heat was a CHE, light was natural so I didn't worry about that. I also had him in my room, so I could pay close attention to him, and a 10 gal tank was much easier to find a spot for than his usual big one.

You probably already knew all that, having read my posts.....
Let me know if there's anything I can do for you. The two of you for sure have my prayers and well-wishes.

[Spindown]

I have removed her substrate and she is on paper towels, I've removed everything she was rubbing her eyes on except for her hide. I like the towel idea, i think i will take out her half log just in case.
I cant seem to get CHE's to work, ever, i've tried them in the past and had NO luck
She will be Baneling no matter what her sex, shes stuck with it!

Also, she is going into shed, so we will see what effect that has on everything too...

[Susann]

If you have an IKEA nearby, they have great, and very cheap, plain, white towels. They are great in that they are very poor quality. =They are very thin, and non-plush. Which means, they dry fast (less chance for bacteria growth) and don't have lots of the dense, terrycloth loops (less chance for toes to get caught).
I bought quite a few hand-towel sized, and a ton of their 10/packs of washcloths.
I preferred white because I washed them with bleach to make sure EVERY living thing was very dead before putting them back in with Joey.
Otherwise, I'm sure Walmart has got to have some cheapos too.

[Katrina]

I'm sorry I haven't had time to respond properly to this. Finally dug up my old vet receipts and did a search. I'll try to keep this brief...

Nemo was born November 13, 2007. Litter of 11, all healthy. Ate great and was a picture of health for the first month, but then suddenly became sick. Was isolated from siblings (some were still left) - had crusty eyes and was losing toes. Lethargic.

In early January he was taken to the vet and prescribed a course of oral baytril. There was some improvement but it didn't last. We got Nemo with sibling Jaxi in March 2008. They were free to a good home, she didn't think they would make it. They have been living together in a 20 gallon and had shed issues, lost many toes and Nemo had had both his front legs bitten and broken (they healed, but you could feel a lump where the bone mended). We picked them up on March 29 and got them to the vet on April 1st. Diagnosed with RI and septecemia, they were prescribed ChlorPalm because Nemo had already been on baytril. Jaxi has been fine since that one course of ChlorPalm.

Nemo improved and then worsened again and again. On August 2, 2008 there was a check up and fecal check, vet wasn't sure if there was an issue so no prescription. September 3, 2008 - check up and Maxitrol (antibiotic eye drops prescribed) as well as another course of ChlorPalm. November 17, 2009 - NovoTrimel antibiotics and blood screen. Blood work came back as normal, no kidney / liver damage nothing of interest. April 14, 2010 - Maxitrol eye drops again, a flourescent eye stain . May 31, 2010 - Oral Baytril, fendendazole (broad spectrum dewormer, no evidence of worms found but it seemed like it couldn't hurt), and Optimmune eye ointment (immunosuppressant eye gel - we were now thinking possible autoimmune). July 30, 2010 - Injectible ceftazidime - thought it might be a resident infection, so tried a long course of antibiotics. Nemo didn't respond and continually worsened during this. We had him euthanized on August 30th, 2010 as it was obvious he was done fighting.

Some threads:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16401&p=356045&hilit=Nemo#p356045
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15902&p=350010&hilit=Nemo#p350010
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15014&p=338746&hilit=Nemo#p338746

There are lots more if you search. Outside of the outlined meds above, we tried emu oil for dry scales and feet, had him on paper towel quite often, used tear gel liberally to help with eye issues, had 24/7 heat when he was on antibiotics etc. He did grow into a nice sized, healthy skink and had periods where he was very healthy and seemingly had no issues.

[A.VinczeBTs]

This is terrible. (The two other threads with same symptoms)
Maybe some skinks have allergies to something?

No idea, hope I never run into that issue....good luck Sapphire and I wish he gets better for you!

[Spindown]

So...new update.

She has shed, and both her eyes are totally clear. She shed her eyes yesterday, and they are still clear today. She even ate a bit more today. Her eyelids seem pretty red still when she closes them, but now that she has nothing to rub on, they should continue to get better *crosses fingers*. She was sleeping this morning when i went in, and i was like OMG noooo! and then she opened those sweet brown eyes and I was sooo happy! You would not believe how happy I got over her being able to open her eyelids

Her energy is increasing, and shes pooping fine. Yay!

I gave her the first injection of Ceftizidime (sp?) today successfully. I feel silly, as you may have read in the other thread, that we screwed it up (sometimes there could be a thing as too much help lol), but this time it was easy peasy.
So in 48 hrs I will give her the next dose. Hopefully her eyes stay clear. I still am convinced shes going to lose that other toe, but if she gets better overall, I'm fine with that.

Will update in about a week, after we've had time for this new abx to take effect.

I love you guys, your support has helped get me through this. I wont lie, I've been crying a lot because shes been sick, and coming here and reading your comments has really helped me not get even more depressed about it.

[Katrina]

Don't worry! Some of us have been through this before and everyone on here just wants her to get better. We will do everything we can to help, but know that you are doing everything possible to help her as well so always feel good knowing what a great skinky mom you are!