Emergency - Cyrus aspirating

[lele]

Cyrus was under his dripper and apparently had fallen a bit backwards and was resting on a branch - looked cute just hanging out. I helped him up. seemed ok until he bent sideways and thrashed. I got him out and hung him upside down afraid he was aspirating. he gurgled, etc. and did spit (pill) out some water. he thrashed a bit more. I kept him upside down for about 15 or 20 minutes. Of course no vets are available right now, but I am waiting on a call from a specialist in Maine (next state over). I think he is OK for the immediate moment but I am quite worried about aspiration pneumonia. Right now he is wrapped in my shirt on my lap where he is warm and resting. I know he needs to stay warm and wonder if I should set him up in a small enclosure for the night. , Experienced advice appreciated.

thanks,
lele

 

[kinyonga]

I hope Cyrus will be okay lele.
Is he acting normally now?

 

[lele]

hi k - he is now, in fact he bugged me for more water a few minutes ago so I gingerly put his dripper back on and watched him the whole time! after he was done and moved away he came back to my hand and I brought him out and hung him upside down! poor guy! Actually, he is very sweet and patient.

but i am worried about the residual aspiration pneumonia that can develop. do you have any experience with it? I had given him his monthly does of calcium (liquid) a little while before so I hope none of that went into his lungs he only gets a tiny bit. Not sure if you got my email yet, but I had just written about the longevity of chams not an hour before this happened. Scared the **** out of me. He has been problem free, but when he has one he has it big - eye surgery, aspirating - makes for one worried mom. With Luna it was just constant...

lele

 

[MdngtRain]

lele,
i hope cyrus pulls thru w/o any residual effects. I'm glad he is doing ok for the moment.
~c

 

[kinyonga]

lele said..."i am worried about the residual aspiration pneumonia that can develop. do you have any experience with it?"...no, I haven't...and I don't know what to do to prevent it either unfortunately.
Perhaps your vet could offer some suggestions?

I've been searching the net, etc. since I read your post but have come up with nothing.

I dids get your email and will try to answer it later.

Still hoping things will be okay with him.

 

[MWheelock]

Hey Lele,

As far as aspiration of straight water, this is not usually a bid deal. Body will absorb the water, especially if it is a small amount. ( When vets do transtracheal washes, we inject sterile saline/water and some of it is not pulled out.)

If this was regular tap water (not sterile), there might be some bacteria, but a normal immune system will take care of it. If Cyrus starts to gape in a few days, this might be a sign of aspiration pneumonia (maybe some food material went down the right way.) Starting him on some antibiotics might be a good preventative measure

If there was mineral supplement in it, the answer is not as cut and dry. Some of the calcium might be absorbed, but some might remain in the lungs. There is not really much you can do if he did as other treatments for calcium kelating agents(EDTA) probably wont remove this from the lungs and would steal reserves from bone and blood. If it was diluted into a solution, I'm pretty sure Cyrus will be okay.

Hope this was helpful.
Matthew

 

[kinyonga]

Ho's Cyrus now?

 

[lele]

Hi Matthew - thanks for your reply. I actually tried to call you Sunday night but of course you were not there - figured it was worth a shot. I did hear back from the specialist vet promptly and he assured me, as did you, that the water alone probably would not be a problem and said it probably happens naturally more often than we know. He also said that the calcium was probably diluted enough, too.

He seems fine so far and we are on day 3. He has been basking, cruising and drinking. I do not use tap water because we have a 20' dug well with very hard water. we have softeners and filters, but I do not trust it. All the animals (and me!) get bottled spring water (for what that is worth ) for misting, dripper and humidifiers. My regular vet is in Thursday and Friday and I left a message for him to call to see if he thinks we should do antibiotics as you suggested. He is only in at this location 2 days a week so maybe he can have something set up to go just in case he develops problems. What is the usual antibiotic that is used?
I am hopeful he will be OK.

thanks
lele

 

[lele]

Ho's Cyrus now?

Ho's Cyrus? Was that a Santa slip? lol!!

So far so good!

 

[kinyonga]

Dratted new keyboard....takes a different touch than the last one!

Good to hear that he's doing okay so far!

 

[MWheelock]

Hey Lele,

Glad Cyrus is doing well. I've been in and out of town for the last week or two with only limited e-mail capacity.

There are a number of antibiotics that can be used. At Cyrus's age there are two or three that some people will use. Trimethoprim sulfa is a decent mild antibiotic for minor issues such as this. Though you will see some vets use Baytril or Ceftazidime (fortaz). The later can only be given injectably and is more expensive because it needsto be reconstituted.

My guess is that Cyrus will not need antibiotics, just som TLC.

Talk to you later,
Matthew

 

[lele]

Hi Matthew,

I spoke with my vet yesterday and his feeling, too, is that unless he shows symptoms he'd rather not use anything prophylacticly. He said that if any calcium got in, there will be scarring and nothing we can do about that. He's a trooper - heck, look at that eye issue last winter - and he is doing fine, being his usual stubborn self and not eating much but drinking and basking and still being quite sweet. Here he is the day before the "incident" sitting in his wet corner