Sunny - My Bearded Dragon - Had Life Saving Surgery

The Masked Shadow

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Long story short, my Bearded Dragon had life saving surgery on his jaw from a bone infection. If you want to read about specifics, go to this thread https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/tough-decision.742900/page-1.

This is a very extreme surgery for a predatory lizard. One has to go into the jaw, and pick away at the bone or get rid of the Bone Infection. Then, put in an artificial bone or metal plate to replicate the jaw once again. There are lots of ways this surgery could go wrong. Thankfully, Sunny did well! He needed a little help to get through the anesthesia, but he did well. However, the vet did find problems. He found infection on both the top and lower jaw. He needed to make many cuts to get all the bone infection out There. However, he only charged me an extra $300 for this. The surgery lasted over 2 hours, and took a toll on Sunny. In total, the surgery costed $1300. The exploratory surgery costed $200. The pain meds are based on what kind of bone infection he had, which is tested in a laboratory (it’s part of the surgery expenses). The screwing in of metal plates was only in the major parts of the infection. Others, the vet spread a new kind of steroid that is used on humans that increases bone growth. His mouth is swollen. We need to give him liquid food for 2 weeks, as well as 2 pain meds talked about above, and a shot of pain meds in his upper legs.

He has his 75g tank inside with bricks stacked on top of each other and a soft towel. I’ll let you know day-to-day about his recovery. He has a long road ahead of him, and Im hoping he stays as the gentle giant he is.

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The Masked Shadow

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Where’s the part where they cut him open to remove the bone infection? Just wondering
Valid question. It’s the inside of his mouth, not the outside. The doctor saw the break without even using sedation, so he needed to do the surgery inside the mouth. its hard to explain. But he did everything inside the mouth, not outside.
 

deeda

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Thanks for the update and glad he made it through surgery and I hope he continues to do well.
 

The Masked Shadow

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So, I would lie to clarifry this:
The get said to feed him the liquified food until he eats, which is usually 1-2 weeks. Well, he ate today! I found a tomato worm, and he ate it! He doesnt likee the liquified food. But the doc said it’s a sure sign that he is recovery immensely faster than he imagined!
 
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Deadeye

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So glad to hear he’s doing well!
Hope he stays well for years to come!
 

The Masked Shadow

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He’s doing great. Got diagnosed with an Injectable antibiotics for 3 days. He is eating micro greens. I just sold my Drumset for $500. It’s super nice. Originally worth over 1k. I’m selling my basketball hoop, and some other stuff I used to use. He’s making a phenomenal recovery.
 

krichardson

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Who was the surgeon...Dr. Pol?
 

The Masked Shadow

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Who was the surgeon...Dr. Pol?
Not sure If this is a joke. He was not on tv, tho I wouldn’t mind that. A prestige vet. I forget his name, but he is really good. He worked on an elephant that had breast cancer. He has done new revolutionary things. He’s an exotic animal surgeon To be precise. Ahh! His name is something like Bryan bower.
 
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