looking for post-operation tips

[cookreptiles]

i have an egg bound crested that is having surgery tomorrow in order to remove the eggs that are inside her. my vet and i have tried all kinds of things to get her to lay on her own to no avail and today he was going to give her a shot (oxytocin or something else he mentioned that i can't remember the name of) to attempt to induce her but the egg that is first in line to be laid is now too large to pass through her pelvis.

anyhow, he told me that he isn't as worried about the surgery as he is the healing period afterwards. does anyone have any tips or suggestions (other than the obvious stuff) of what i can do to aid her in a successful recovery?

[IndyCrestie]

No advice, but good luck with your girl. Sounds like she's in for a rough ride.

[ColleenT]

Anesthesia is the worst part for reptiles. i hope she does ok. Good luck. once she wakes up, she should be ready to heal. maybe neosporin on any wounds, but other than that, Clean, Sterile cage, lots of hides, turn down the lights, so she can relax, lots of clean water, and offer food, but don't expect her to have much of an appetite. Good luck.

[Dr Alan]

Geckos and other reptiles heal slower than mammals, but surgery is surgery whether you're talkig about a dog, a rat, an elephant or a gecko.

Calcium glubionate orallly somethimes will induse passage of the egg. Oxytocin is generally ineffective. Virtually all eggbinding situations in irds and reptiles are a function of low serum calcium levels.

What s your feedig program?

[DPBragg]

Gosh emily, your just having all sorts of problems aern't you?

I hope it all works out and she heals perfectly

-DPBragg


PS>
Where do you take them, what vet, The Animal Hospital?

[cookreptiles]

Geckos and other reptiles heal slower than mammals, but surgery is surgery whether you're talkig about a dog, a rat, an elephant or a gecko.

Calcium glubionate orallly somethimes will induse passage of the egg. Oxytocin is generally ineffective. Virtually all eggbinding situations in irds and reptiles are a function of low serum calcium levels.

What s your feedig program?

i feed cgd every 2-3 days and crickets dusted with rep-cal herptivite and calcium once or twice per week. sometimes i feed phoenix worms, lateralis roaches and fresh fruit/cgd smoothies.

this is the first female i've ever had an egg binding issue with and i wonder if maybe the first egg always was too big for her to pass or something? her calcium sacks haven't appeared depleted or smaller than normal any of the times i've checked them and my vet agreed that she doesn't seem to be lacking in calcium.

[cookreptiles]

just an update on this: kiwi is home and settling in. she is a lot more alert and active than i thought she would be, especially considering that most of her belly had to be opened up and then stitched back together. she lost 12 grams as a result of the surgery (which was all eggs as the vet said she didn't lose any blood) and she looks pretty thin but much better.

what the vet actually found during the surgery was a bit surprising. prior to surgery i could feel 5 eggs inside of her but i suspected there were 6 but the 6th was just too high and between her ribs where i couldn't really feel it well enough to be sure. the vet removed 2 eggs that had dried and fused together, blocking kiwi's pelvis and not allowing any other eggs to pass. he removed 6 eggs that were not dried up and still moist and somewhat viable looking. then he removed about 12 tiny dried eggs that were about the size of BBs. he said it looked like she had gone through several breeding seasons producing small, infertile eggs and that they had just dried up and stayed in her, however kiwi is only a year and a half old and this was her first breeding season so we aren't really sure why so many of them were in her or how she even managed to ovulate that many times.

i asked the vet to remove her uterus and ovaries during the surgery if possible in order to avoid further complication and he agreed that that would likely be best (this was successful). the eggs that were saved don't look like crested eggs at all. two are very round instead of oval and others are odd roundish, but not symmetrical, shapes. they are yellow and don't really have a shell but they are solid feeling. i candled them and could see a vein in one of them, but none look like anything i've really ever seen. i have them incubating but unless they change dramatically in the next few days i'm not expecting anything to hatch out of them.

[ColleenT]

i'm so glad she's home and doing well. Good luck. i think you made the right decision to spay her. she probably was prone to complications. Good luck with the eggs.

[CrestedLove27]

I am very happy to hear that Kiwi made it home safely and the operation seems to have been a success. It gives me a little hope for my current situation.

[geickoJR.]

Wow that sounds like such a pain. good thing you caught it. thats so much stuff. lol i cant get over it. 6 eggs! well im glad she made it out OK