Thorium and his never ending infections

mgebbie

New Member
I've had Thorium now for 13 months.
He developed a burn at about 8 months and recovered with silvadene and baytril.
He then developed a bacterial and fungal infection from a stuck shed that was being fought with baytril, tinactin, silvadene, and intraconazole.
Nothing seemed to be working quite well. (It did for a while, but when I ran out of the intraconazole the vet said he could fight the rest off on his own).

He's eating and drinking well, cranky as ever, not lethargic.
He's also falling asleep atop my head as I write.

I've been talking with Dr O for a while and Camimom for advice.
I think it's time for a new vet.

Here is the convo with Dr O:
Hello Dr. O,
I've been talking to Camimom recently and she recommended I contact you with regards to an infection.

I have a male veiled 18months old who has had a burn at 8 months old (healed).
He's now developed a serious fungal/bacterial infection on his shoulder which looks to have started from a stuck shed.

I've brought him to a vet near me and they gave him baytril and intraconazole. Everything was healing well and when we ran out of the antifungal the vet said Thor looked well enough to fight the rest on his own.

However, in the last week the infection has taken a turn for the worse.

I've cultured the bacterium on a Tryptose Blood Agar Base plate (TBAB) and the colonies look to be bacterial, not fungal.

I've got a vet appt. for tomorrow morning, but I wanted to know if you had any advice for what I can do in the mean time.

He's eating well, not lethargic really, and also drinking well.

Dr O:
well, if you have cultured it and grew bacteria, you probably know that if his normal flora of bacteria and fungal elements have been disrupted from the infection and/or the treatments, he could easily re-grow an offensive bacterium. are you not able to further run the colony to identify it and discover sensitivity? that would certainly be the best of all options.

my typical reach-for skin issue is straight silver sulfadiazine (SSD) which has excellent antibacterial and antifungal properties. a more direct “version” would be to use Baytril Otic, which is a combo meant for ear infections but includes Baytril as the specific antibiotic, and SSD as the antifungal.

also, based on what you are telling me about his behavior, it sounds like topical is all that is needed, but if your vet thinks systemics are in order i would certainly do that. in general cham fungal skin infections routinely take a minimum of 4 months to clean up, depending on the severity. it’s not like antibiotics and bacteria, it’s much more slow.

o—
__________________

You should all note...stuck sheds are the worst!
 

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Good to know! I am totally picking off stuck sheds from now on... ;)

I've found that stubborn pieces of shed skin can come off pretty easily with a good long warm misting. To do this I fill the misting bottle with warm water, and hold the cham in my hand over the bathtub and have my hubby mist. We do this for 3 bottles worth, so longer than normal. The skin softens, and usually pops right off on its own during the next basking.

Good luck!
 
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