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Tegu with possible cancer in his elbow bone

Jennifer Frossard

New Member
Messages
19
Hello, I have a 3 1/2 year old blue tegu. For background he has been sick his whole life. He had a wavy tail when I got him, developed sepsis in his tail and required amputation of the tail. He survived thanks to a village of healers and his wonderful vet. He gets blood work in house and sent off to a lab every 6 months to make sure everything is ok.

Present day, I noticed he was limping with front right limb. Got him to the vet right away. The vet took X-rays and noticed deterioration of both elbow bones. The vet recommended at CT scan, the film would be sent out to a radiologist for review. I got a call two weeks later with the radiologist thinking it’s cancer. The vet game several options. I could amputate the limb, may give him 4-6 more months, leave him be and keep him comfortable on daily pain meds, or they could do a biopsy of the bone, which may break the bone.

I’m at a loss, this is my baby and I’ve fought so hard to give him a good quality of life.

He lives in an 8 foot long 6 feet wide enclosure. His temps are 97, 117, and 88. I measure UV with the solar pro every couple of weeks. His substrate is garden soul, organic, play sand, peat moss. I bake his substrate in the oven to kill any bacteria.

We go back to the vet on April 10 for X-rays to see if the bone has deteriorated any more than the last scan.

Has anyone gone through something like this? What did choose in treatment for best quality of life? I love him so much but I will not let him suffer just to keep him around for me. I’m at such a loss of what to do for him.

Thank you,
Jennifer
 

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