Been to the vet, now what????

**replover** · #1 09-11-2006, 04:53 AM

Most of you know I live in China and there are not many exotics vets here. In fact, there is only one exotics clinic in all of Hong Kong and I believe there are two vets there trained in exotics, not 100% sure. But there are no other clinics.

So when my argentine black and white tegu came home 2 and a half weeks ago, it had a little crook in the tail tip. I was told it was nicked before and was regenerated, which I now doubt. It was fine.

Then the tegu shed,and the skin was a little stuck there, and with a warm soak and a little nudging, the skin came off. It was obviously that that area (about 2 mm) was necrotic tissue. Later in the week, the part just fell off due to a whipping episode he had.

The tail looked fine. There was no open wound visible and no bleeding so I kept my eye on it. A few days later, about 2 - 3 mm of the remaining tail became necrotic and sunken in. I don't mind that the tail tip is missing but was concerned about it spreading and dry gangrene. So I pulled out the last bag in the bag of tricks, VET VISIT, which I had, fortunately, never had to do before with my other pets.

So I go to the vet, and insisted on the best vet available. They were very nice people and I could sense that they were genuinely trying to help me. In fact, they got BOTH vets to look at my tegu even though I only paid for one, which was very nice of them.

But they seem to be of the opinion that I should not do anything! They say its minor, there is no visible infection, no open wound. They said that I should observe it and if nothing happens, then great. And if and ONLY if it spreads further, I should call them back they would give me anti-biotics which I should inject into the mice I feed it so it would take the whole dosage. Then, if and ONLY if it still spreads very quickly, then they would do an amputation. They keep stating to not do it if it isn't necessary to avoid stress to the animal as they there are of the philosophy that stress is the number one cause for things to get worse. All the while I was thinking "lop the darn thing off already! Please!"

The main vet said that there is plenty of tail to work with and it would not become life threatening to the animal. I said I didn't want it to get to the point where I have a tegu with a little tail stump before operating and she tells me to trust her and that from looking at it she is 95% sure that it will not spread further and that it is not gangrene, just the last bit becoming necrotic from the injury when the tip was knocked off. She was very confident that I should not amputate the tip just yet to avoid unecessary stress to the animal and said she was almost completely sure it won't spread, that usually when they do spread there would be an infectious lump slightly further up the tail. I do think she meant it well and cared for the well being as if she cut it off I would be paying her more money. I am concerned that this is a mistake. At the same time she IS a vet and I am just a pet keeper (albeit more knowledgeable than most, which she said as well), and maybe I should just take a chill pill and trust her already. But I am VERY WORRIED! My pets are like my children. In the back of my mind I have disturbing thoughts like cut it off myself or something.

There are NO other exotics vet that I can get to without leaving here, and the animal cannot be legally taken out of here through passport stands.

Please advise!

**Merlin** · #2 09-11-2006, 12:20 PM

Can you post some pictures close up of the area?
Anthony for the time being lets give the vet the benefit of the doubt. Its possible that what you are seeing is the scabbing from the wound healing over. Do you know how the wound occured?
Mark the end of the area where you beleive it is necrotic with a permanent marker, dab of fingernail polish etc so you will KNOW if it starts to progress past that point. And make sure to keep the enclosure clean. I am not that familiar with Tegu's but don't recall them being that susceptable to dry gangreen the way that the more slender tailed lizards are.

**replover** · #3 09-11-2006, 02:45 PM

I'll mark the thing tommorow. Is it ok to use tippex/whiteout? Because no marker is going to show up on the black skin. Or is that toxic?

Like I said, the tail had a crook on the tip from a previous injury. It was healed and fine. I chose him/her anyway because out of all the tegus there with no imperfections, I just connected with this one right away. It was the first one I took out of the cage and I looked at all the others and I just wanted this one. The others bit, whipped clawed the clerk and me, and this one too, but as soon as I held this particular one it just sat in my hand and looked at me, almost cuddling my hand. I had some experienced herp friends look at it and they said it was probably a tail tip that had regenerated. No biggie.

So after it got home, a week later it whipped its tail around when I was taking it for a bath, and I guess the necrotic tissue (the crooked end) came off so that there was no necrotic tissue. Now there seems to be again about 3 mm.

I have researched and it seems that tegus CAN get dry gangrene, but it must be very uncommon unlike iguanas or others with slimmer tails, as in all tegu texts I have found it was just mentioned in passing and most of the time not mentioned at all. I don't know.

I don't know if it is (and hope its not) dry gangrene, and don't know if it will spread. The vet may be right. But I do know its not just scabbing at the end. It just doens't look like that.

**Merlin** · #4 09-11-2006, 07:00 PM

Do not use whiteout! It is toxic.
Use light colored fingernail polish.

**petsareusrescue** · #5 09-11-2006, 08:54 PM

Please post pictures so we can see the tail.

**replover** · #6 09-12-2006, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merlin

Do not use whiteout! It is toxic.
Use light colored fingernail polish.

OK I just painted the tail tip up to the necrotic line with some light yellow nail polish. Since its only about 2 - 3 mm basically I dabbed it with the brush so the entire tail tip is painted up to that line. It is such a small area I can't "outline" it so basically now the entire end is enveloped in nail polish, and only up to the necrotic line. I hope this is ok and it won't dry to constrict blood or anything or that nail polish would eat into its skin or something. It is just normal nail polish at the discount bin at a cosmetic shop.

How would I get it off after all is well? I don't suppose nail polish REMOVER is safe...

**Merlin** · #7 09-12-2006, 09:30 AM

It will just come off with the next shed.

**replover** · #8 09-12-2006, 09:35 AM

It won't shed in the necrotic are though right?

And it is positively sure that the paint won't act as a glove and cause more blood constriction?

**Merlin** · #9 09-12-2006, 10:07 AM

Whatever sheds will shed no matter what area it is in. Reptiles scales are very similar in makeup to our fingernails. The polish should not cause a problem.
Can you not get us a picture of the damaged area? That would tell us a lot more than words can.

**replover** · #10 09-14-2006, 09:51 AM

Ok well its been about 48 hours after marked the nail polish and to my delight, the necrotic tissue has NOT spread at all during that time. No sign of spreading AT ALL, so its probably not dry gangrene. HOWEVER, just 5 mins ago, he tried to whip me with his tail, and again, knocked the necrotic tissue right off........

So now what... is it gonna be necrotic again on the tip, knock off again, until I have 1mm of tegu left?

I soaked the tip in betadine and put cream (like neosporin but Hong Kong brand name) on it. He probably will wipe off all that cream in 2 mins since he drags his tail around.

So that's not something that's spreading like wildfire. That's great. But if that's only slight scabbing at the tip, but it scabs every time he knocks it off, and he knocks it off again, over and over... how do I stop this viscous cycle from happening again and again???


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