HELP! I need treatment advice! (tokay gecko mouth injury)

[billewicz]

On the subject of retail marketed products for reptiles, I think there are levels of what is the best you can get, in the time frame you need it in, and what you can afford.

After working with several folks on various forums with respect to helping a sick Tokay, these factors always come into play.

Yes, and by all means, please go 'the qualified Vet' route first. They have the knowledge and medical grade products to help in your reptile's recover.

This is not always an option:

First, qualified reptile vets are few and far between. And can you afford one right now, is always a factor?

Second, not everyone has access to natural, holistic or homeopathic stores in which to get high quality supplements, and in what doses to administer them in.

So what's left. If you, or your sick animal can't wait days or a week to get something online, or get to the vet, then "something now is better than nothing" may be of value.

Oh, I can take the moral high ground as well as anyone else and say the vet is your only option and the store bought stuff is crap. And I can 'put my money were my mouth is' because I do spend 3, 5, even 10 times an animals' worth on a single vet bill fairly regularly.

I'm also lucky to have one of the top experts in reptile medicine right up the street. He just spent several hours in surgery to set a nasty broken jaw in a recent Tokay import of ours.

I would not expect everyone to pony-up to such an expense. So, even though store bought products are not my first choice, they could still help turn an animal around. These products might be the only thing available right now or the only affordable option available.

So, the short version is, I will not say no to these products over doing nothing.

Good luck and all the best,

Michael's Tokay Hoard @ www.billewicz.com

 

[Riverside Reptiles]

I'm certainly not implying that all veterinarians are great with herps. Having worked in the industry most of my adult life, I know quite well the variables involved. Sometimes even the best of veterinarians can be the worst as well (that goes for human MDs as well). Doctors are FAR from perfect.

As for over the counter products, they may well at times save an animals life. They may well do the opposite also. So I caution people to be aware of what "medicine" they're giving to their pet. Pet stores are happy to push products which are or can be detrimental to animals, and people can often be gullible enough to purchase them. Many people believe that if a pet store sells it, or if it says "great for reptiles", then it must be ok. This is often not the case. A fine example is simple products that have been on the market for many years like heat rocks and calci-sand which continue to sell like hot cakes and continue to kill many people's pets.

I don't think it really has anything to do with a "moral high ground" as much as properly educating people to be aware of what they're doing before they do it. There are many people who will come on to a forum, read one thing, and run with it without question. What some of us take for simple common knowledge might not be so common sense to a less experienced keeper. I've been running these forums for many years and seen many people unwitting kill or injure their animals sometimes due to poor judgement or lack of knowledge on their part and sometimes due to poor advice which can come from a veterinarian as well as from another forum member. I want only for people to think things through, gather as much information as possible, and make thebest decision they can based on the facts. Because, at the end of the day, everyone has to decide for themselves what is the best thing for their own pets and be accountable for the decisions they make.

 

[billewicz]

Agreed.

 

[aquamentus_11]

I'm certainly not implying that all veterinarians are great with herps.

That's a definite fact. Even the ones that are good with them may have gaps in their knowledge base. I took my tokay to the vet for a check up when I first got him and no one there even knew which species he was. They sent me home with leopard gecko care sheets for crying out loud. I was the greenest of noobs at that point (as Ethan will attest), but even I knew more than them about caring for tokays. On the flip-side, I take my cat to them and have had many in-depth conversations with one of the vets re: the herps that I do know about and she is very competent. It's all variable.

 

[YoursTruly]

Sorry for not getting back sooner, I just now noticed that their were multiple pages of replies on my form post... (forgive me I'm a new member) anyways the Vet did not recommend Reptiboost, I just have some around and figured it would help... but I am new to this and am seeking/researching as much as I can. As for my vet, it was the first time I'v had to take a reptile in, and this one is the one that has been most recommended in the area so that is where I went, he did not seem to be the most knowledgeable, and defiantly did not know specific care requirements for a tokay, although we had a discussion of weather Tokay's needed UVB, and also he liked that I was dusting in Calcium with D3. but he seemed to have decent general reptile knowledge when he talked about their circulatory system, and why he recommended me inject the antibiotic into the front legs.

 

[aquamentus_11]

why the front legs?

 

[daggekko]

Hows your Tokay doing? Sorry to hear the experience at the vet. For future reference, I know Reptiles Magazine typically has some vet info in their magazines(maybe just the annual issue) and I think kingsnake.com or the Reptiles Magazine website also has some. These will point you to some vets that have experience with reptiles.

I have not looked, but just wondered if GU has some vet listings?

Hope all is getting well for you

 

[YoursTruly]

thanks, she seems to be doing a little better... has not furthered her injury at least, although I'm pretty sure the only thing she is eating is what I have dropped into her mouth... he said the front legs because the blood hits the kidneys before going to the front of the body or something like that... I have talked to some other people and their is a vet that would probably be alot better about 2 hours away if needed but for now I'll finish the antibiotic treatment and only take her for a second opinion if she seems to get worse