iguana problems

Question
QUESTION: I have a question. I have a 12 year old iguana and 10 days ago I took him to the vet as he had stopped eating for about 5 - 7 days and was lathargic. They gave him shots of vitamins and they took blood and tested his kidneys it came back Negative 2 days later so we began feeding him through a syringe. Then they tested poop sample for parasites came back Negative. He still was not eating so we were syringe feeding him twice a day 15ml of critical care food mixed with water. And they said because his kidneys seemed fine we could give him calcium so we started with that. Yesterday I started to intoroduce him to fruit through the syringe to get him to try to eat again...the dr. said it was ok....so last night kiwi and this morning strawberries. I fed him and then put him under the hot light to help it digest. Well I went in to get him to take him outside for sun as they said this is good for him too and saw he had spit up liquid. We rushed him to vet and sat for 2 hours waiting because they thought it was not an emergency. I knew he was chocking or aspirated...they still seemed to take all of their appointments first and said he was stable and not critical....finally when we got so mad we were leaving to go to another vet and he was lifeless in my arms completely we rushed him back in and they basically said they put him in incubator with oxygen. and would give him shot of fluids...then they looked at his chart and said the kidney test from 7 days ago had come back high in phosphorus and he probably just had kidney failure. Well, my baby died today and I am feeling realy unsure of what happend. With no real explanation from the vet....but "iguanas are hard to take care of" If it was kidney failure isn't it bad to give him calcium shots and if it was why did they tell me it wasn't last week and not start me on some other med protocal. If he aspirated from the food I gave him was there anything I could have done to save him and why would he do that if he had swallowed it all and it was about 2 hours later when he spit
up. The vet did say he had strawberries in the back of his mouth when he finally checked him but he said they were not choking him. I am just frustrated and looking for some answers.

ANSWER: Hello Jennifer,

Oh geez, I am sorry for your loss!  That is horrible treatment from the vets, too by the way.
Do you know if they gave him any shots of anything other than just fluids, like an antibiotic?  It sounds like they did & it may have caused sudden renal failure.
Did they determine if his calcium levels were low?  What about the potassium levels?  If his phosphorus levels were too high, that could have been from too low of calcium possibly.
Could you get a copy of the blood test for me & I will look over it.  
Yes, if he was in renal failure, high amounts of calcium in shots would not be helpful.  Too much would be hard on the kidneys, absolutely.  
I would like to know if any medications were given to him though, that is my main question.  What "vitamin shots" did they give him, do you know?
Were you providing UVB lighting?  If so, what type & brand?  Was it a flourescent tube bulb or a compact or coil light?  How old was the light?
Did you supplement calcium several times per week?

Tracie



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thanks so much for your information. It is just so hard not to blame myself and I am just devastated.  I really appreciate your thoughts, time and help.  

I am going to get Lewis's records from the doctor this weekend to try to figure some of this out myself and hope to speak to the owner of the vet clinic, who was the first Dr. I went to 2 weeks ago about the way we were treated. That is another story in itself. The clinic was referred to me and the first Dr. (owner )was very nice and helpful with the first bloodtest and stool sample that came back negative so I thought the clinic was reputable and they claim to know about iguanas.  I saw him twice.  However the last day when I returned that Dr was not there and it was a different treatment.  They made us sit in the waiting room for 3 hours waiting for a Dr. to see Lewis "IN BETWEEN" appts.  however my pet is dying in the meantime and they tell me he is stabilized in an oxygen incubator.  I thought he was in the back getting treated. Then when I asked to see him 3 hours later they brought me back and just brought him in and laid him on the table and walked out...nothing to say.  The whole time telling us he was stable and they were waiting for the Dr. whenever they got a minute to look at him.  At this time I realized they had not done anything and asked if they weren't going to see him to refer me to someone else...the receptionist brought me an address of a vet about 1 1/2 hours away with traffic here in LA.  I stormed out and then realized my baby would not live as he was barely there at this point and turned around and walked back in and finally the receptionist said " he does not look good"  and my husband screamed at them that is what we have been trying to tell you.  So now the same Dr. that said he could not look at Lewis he was waiting for the expert became the expert and told us he would give him fluids that he probably had kidney failure.  He told us to go and they would keep him do some test and if needed keep him in the incubator through the night that it was best for him.  Well they called us 1 hour later and said he died.  Probably my biggest mistake was not being prepared ahead of time and keeping him checked up regurally.  He was always so healthy I never thought to take him in.  He was such a lovable great guy...never whipped his tail once, never bit, loved everyone.  I should have been prepared and found a GOOD Clinic. I assumed they would take care of me or send me to someone who could if they did not know what to do.  So beside the loss I am dealing with the inhumane treatment from the Vets it was as if he did not matter.  And he was my everything.  SO I have guilt for this too.  I am suspicious it was kidney failure but feel there might have been something they could have done to help.  

I had a UV light, night light, and he stayed outside cage in day in sunlight and some actually sun.  Long UV light is what we had normally and then reptile bright white 100 watt day light and black night light.  Then when he got sick we had just got one of the new high watt bulbs with UV and Heat together.  Change the bulbs yearly.  I did not supplement calcium until he was sick.  
He ate mustard greens, collard greens, yellow squash was his favorite, zuccini, green beans.... not a big fruit eater...another reason I am sad his last meal was strawberries I was trying to get some liquid in him and something better than the ox critical care brown stuff.

Would the Kidney Failure make him vomit his food up?  Is that why I found him with the liquid by his mouth?  What makes them open their mouth as if gasping for air?  maybe his lungs going out too?  He was doing that on the drive to the vet.  Also, do you think he could have died because of the vomit making him aspirate and go back into his lungs.
I don't think they even did X-rays to see any of this.  I just feel like I might have fed him too much or maybe they told me to feed him too much.  

Anyway...when I get his records can I e-mail you with other questions.  I know I have the first Xray and do not see any swollen kidneys.  

Thanks Again
Jennifer

Answer
Hello Jennifer,

If you prefer to email me personally, that is fine.  My home email is:
Drache613@cfl.rr.com
I am very sorry that you got such terrible treatment from the vet.  You know, I have been through the exact same type of thing, & it is a terrible experience for sure.  It sounds like to me that they either simply did not work on him at all, or, they gave him antibiotics or something when he was in renal failure which caused early renal failure when he may have been able to have been saved.  
Can you get a copy of everything that they did to him perhaps, from the secretary?  I realize that may be difficult, but legally, you have a right to see exactly what they did give him, ect.
Well, kidney failure would make him ill & have a marked decrease in appetite for sure.  As for vomiting, I am not sure, but, if he was not able to process his food it definitely would not sit well in his tummy for sure.  I doubt that you feeding him something would have caused his death.  
What brand of UVB tube bulb were you using?  He might have had a slight calcium deficiency, but that alone, would not cause renal failure though.  How long did you not use calcium supplementation?
What causes them to take gasps of air is that is simply called "agonal" breathing which happens to all animals & mammals.  It is the body's last attempts to hang onto life & is very shallow breaths, almost comatose type of breathing.  Unfortunately, he probably was not going to make it even going to the vet.  
I think it is most likely something that they might have given him that caused his rapid decline in that manner.  
I completely understand wanting to know what happened, as it is impossible to get closure until you do.
We can go over your entire setup from the lighting, etc, & try to see if there is anything else that we missed.  
If he was having some kidney trouble early on, giving an antibiotic would not have helped matters, it would have caused renal failure.  So we need to find out exactly what was done to him at the clinic to try to determine what went wrong.  

Tracie