Azul, another rescue tegu.

[SnakeCharmr728]

Meet Azul! This old man arrived today all the way from MA to CA. He has some swelling issues in his front feet, his previous owner says that they have been that way for a few years and he was given antibiotic injections with no change. I am suspecting its scar tissue as I have a monitor with very similar looking feet. A little bit of blood from the area under a microscope should tell us if theres scar tissue cells or not. His toes are very deformed, going all different directions and hes missing toenails. He has a burn scar that reopens from time to time on his back and a pretty noticable hump in his back too. Hes an older guy at 10 years old and is a mere 3lbs so hes very undersized from irregular, poor quality meals.Hes not fond of humans at all, but can you blame him? I'm hoping with a full tummy that he will learn to to trust humans a bit more.

Left front foot:


Right front foot:

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

Well after connecting the dots of who this tegu belonged to and reading through some old posts, I have discovered that he was diagnosed with osteomyetitis and that info was not disclosed to me. Apparently, in easy to understand terms its a bone eating infection caused by a bacteria. Hence why his toes are so mangled and feet swelled. After tracking previous owners posts, it seems the feet have only got worse throughout the year so Im suspecting the infection is still there but goes dormant from time to time. He'll be visiting our vet for updated xrays and blood work to see what we can do to ease any discomfort as that may very well be contributing to his grumpiness.

 

[TeguBuzz]

Hope this one pulls through, real nice looking. He's in damn great hands and I hope his infection is treatable. Do keep us posted on this guy, you always know what's best!

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

Talked to our vet about this guy, he said that xrays would tell us what things looked like but not if the infection was still there, the infection would be in the bone marrow and in order to see if thats still around, we'd need to take a bone marrow sample from the foot. but we don't want to go that far yet if we dont have to. So for now we are going to do a 10 day cycle of Metacam for pain and anti inflammatory, then if theres a change after the metacam we know something is still reactive and can decide where to go from there whether it be baytril or something else, but its a start! He'll be seeing him on saturday for an exam as well.

 

[laurarfl]

Best wishes for this guy! I remember seeing him years ago.

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

Azul REALLY liked hornworms that were donated by Rainbow Mealworms and I learned the hard way that its best not to sit so close because then you may get squirted in the face with hornworm guts. Hes coming around nicely too! He wandered out of his enclosure and into my lap and chilled with me for a few minutes before getting up and going back into his enclosure, all on his own. His way of saying hes appreciative all of the yummies or maybe that his anti-inflammatory meds are making him less grouchy relieving any pain in his feet. --- or maybe he just didn't like his owner. I swear tegus pick and chose who they like and don't like!

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

update: hes still a naughty boy and I dont see that changing but it adds character! He has loads of personality. He definitely is easier around me vs my husband so it shows hes learning to trust. He has gained a good amount of weight and his open scar on his back is now closed. His feet stay swollen and some days they are more swollen than others but he has no problem using them to build tunnels and forage for bugs in the dirt!