Lol, shes gonna keep trying to run around, reptiles are good at pretending not to be hurt Just below her knee looked like it could be hurt hah sorry! Shes a pretty collard tho, I wish you the best ofluck with her tomorrow!

Thanks a lot.
I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

-Kristi

I would say it's the femur, possibly the head but looks like it could be in the top of the shaft of the femur due to the swelling. You can see the adema (swelling) in the tissue at the femur. That's bad news, eh? Alot of the blood is made by the marrow in the femur. The femur being broken means that it cannot produce blood as well in that femur, if at all. See the problem here?

Though the splint idea is good usually, I'd say DON'T MOVE IT, even to splint. Moving the leg can displace the break, especially because it's potentially at the head of the femur. Moving it can cause internal bleeding or even worse exposing the bone to air, thereby killing the osteocytes and marrow. Either way it would be extremely painful. Normally a splint is fine for things like a hamster or something but since the leg is at a different angle at the hip (being a lizard) I'd say don't do it. Go see a vet or infection will set in or the more damage will be done AND it won't set properly. Again, I'll stress, GO TO A VET...though you might not like what you hear . Good Luck, keep us posted.

Keep us posted.

Thank you for your information. I already have an appointment for the vet tomorrow.

-Kristi

good luck kristi! I hope your little collard is ok and not as bad as paleontology says it is! (no disrespect meant)

Let us know how the little fella gets on!

After 2 hours at the vet and a bill of $110.80, Chaos is at home resting and recovering. It was in fact the femur which was broken.

My original appointment was with my normal herp vet but I was referred over to another vet office who had more experience with reptiles. The office was very nice and the workers fell in love with Chaos.

I didn't get along well with the vet herself though. She treated me quite poor and I'm assuming that it is due to my young age. She questioned me nonstop and I had to correct her a few times when she made rude and false assumptions about my care for Chaos. Oh well. As long as my little girl is healthy and alright, I'll deal with uncouth doctors.

We had an x-ray done which didn't turn out as clear as the doctor wanted so they didn't charge me for it. Can you imagine what the bill would've been then? Oh my...haha. Anywho, I was given three different meds/formulas- Critical Care, Baytril, and Calcium Gluconate. Has anyone used these before?

Yikes, sorry for typing so much. I just wanted to let you all know how things went. Thank you for your input, I really appreciate it.
-Kristi

Hey we're here for support. Care to tell us about the procedure that was done? I'm very curious about it.

"We had an x-ray done which didn't turn out as clear as the doctor wanted so they didn't charge me for it. Can you imagine what the bill would've been then?" Funny story, my friend had his Iguana Xrayed and it cost him 600 dollars...then the Ig died a few days later. Harsh eh?

Glad to hear he's okay. I always get guff from vets, vet students and prevets...meanwhile alot of them don't know a Bearded Dragon from a cat to save their lives (Note: Exaggerated for effect)..

Procedure? Or lack thereof? This doctor was not very professional in my opinion. It makes me want to become a reptile vet.

Anywho, I got into the examination room where they had a heating pad with a cloth over it for Chaos and then answered all of the initial questions by another woman(Chaos was watching very intently as she wrote which amused her). The other workers in the office came to look at Chaos because they thought she was gorgeous. It was more of an annoyance than anything.

After I was done with the questions, the vet walked in to check Chaos out. I told her about it most likely being a fracture to the femur but it didn't really phase her. She actually had the nerve to ask me if I had researched about my lizard's origin and such. Even after I stressed on what Chaos ate(and what her food eats) and how I have the proper heating and supplements, she insisted that it was just Metabolic Bone Disease. Next came the x-ray which proved that the femur was in fact broken. I was glad that I didn't have to pay for the x-ray but then the vet wanted to take another to see if there were eggs in Chaos. I had to put my foot down. If Chaos had actually produced eggs I would've noticed the swelling in the abdomen.

At first, the vet was talking about splinting the fracture. Chaos is too energetic and spazzy for that. If anything the splint would've done even more damage. The veterinarian was actually thinking about using tape to fix it on Chaos' skin. WHAT?! She was crazy. I refused to allow that madness.

In the end, Chaos was weighed(30g) and the vet decided to give an antibiotic for a possible infection, a calcium solution to help with the healing of the bone and to strengthen the others, and a formula for Chaos to eat since she felt my diet was inadequate. I'm supposed to make another appointment for Saturday but I'm weary about what the vet will try to pull again.

Oh well, that's what happened over a 2 hour period. Sorry again for such a long response.

-Kristi

This is why all herps should be sold with a "How to dropkick a vet who jocks you" guide.

Hah! It's amazing how true that is.

-Kristi