Sulcata Bladder Stone Surgery

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DozerCooley

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This is Dozer this morning before I left for work. She seemed pretty comfy sunning herself under her lamp. She seems to be doing okay - no better but not any worse either. She spends most of her time just laying in the heat but will get up and walk around the house a bit when I pick her up and set her somewhere other than her room. She will also eat about once a day if I put food right in front of her or if I hand feed her. Still no pooping so if this continues she'll be heading back to Cornell on Friday to get some kind of enema. Please keep sending her all of your extra positive vibes.. We've gotten her this far I think she's almost over the hump. Thanks everyone!! It means so much to us!
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DozerCooley

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She's looking great.

Just a suggestion. Don't feed her on carpet. She could ingest some carpet fuzzies. A flat stone or tile makes a great feeding plate.

Yes, she has a couple feeding stones but at this point she is not eating very well and refuses any food off of her stones. She'll only randomly eat if we sneak something right in front of her as she's walking or if we hand feed her. Thanks for the advice though - I definitely agree but desperate times call for any means necessary to get our girl to eat. Thanks and have a good day!!
 

DozerCooley

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Also quick question for everyone: We obviously don't know Dozer's full history as she is a rescue and was clearly not properly cared for so we don't know what parts of what we've been told are truthful and what aren't but.. when we first got Dozer exactly a month ago now (and before she had her stone removed) she weighed 4 pounds 10 ounces and was about 12 inches long. We were told they had had her for 3 years.. does this seem like the size and weight of a 3 year old sulcata? The vet mentioned that she seemed younger than 3 to them based on her size. Thanks!
 

DozerCooley

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ALSO..last question..i hope ..we've been told like 4 different times by 4 different people/vet/previous owner/pet store manager that Dozer is a boy, then no Dozer is a girl then no definitely a boy and on and on... any guesses guys?? Is our little fighter a boy or girl??
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Big Charlie

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Do you have an enclosure for Dozer? One that keeps humidity and heat inside? I'm afraid Dozer isn't warm enough with the setup I'm seeing.
 

Yvonne G

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I agree. Because he's recovering from som pretty major surgery, I feel
Do you have an enclosure for Dozer? One that keeps humidity and heat inside? I'm afraid Dozer isn't warm enough with the setup I'm seeing.
I agree. Because he's recovering from some pretty major surgery, I feel he should be in a smaller, hospital area where you can monitor and keep the temperature at a steady 85F degrees.
 

DozerCooley

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We have an enclosure yes but she currently can't be in it because her incisions need to be kept super sterile (meaning no dirt, no mulch, no anything that is in her enclose) so our best option was to give her our spare bathroom. There is baseboard heating in there, also a small space heater and a humidifier. The temperature in both corners of the bathroom farthest from her 3 heating lamps is between 80-85 all day and directly under her 3 heating lamps it varies from 95-115 depending on if the baseboard heating is kicked on at that moment or not. There is also another heating lamp on the other side of the bathroom that is about 90 directly under it. She has lots of options where she can move around to find a temperature she likes the best and spends a lot of her time right now either under her 3 lamps or in her little house. The humidity is right around 35% most of the day. Does this sound appropriate??
 

Djkitten76

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I just saw this from the newsletter but did you figure the composition of the stone or have you just looked after Dozer? (Probably the latter)
 

Big Charlie

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We have an enclosure yes but she currently can't be in it because her incisions need to be kept super sterile (meaning no dirt, no mulch, no anything that is in her enclose) so our best option was to give her our spare bathroom. There is baseboard heating in there, also a small space heater and a humidifier. The temperature in both corners of the bathroom farthest from her 3 heating lamps is between 80-85 all day and directly under her 3 heating lamps it varies from 95-115 depending on if the baseboard heating is kicked on at that moment or not. There is also another heating lamp on the other side of the bathroom that is about 90 directly under it. She has lots of options where she can move around to find a temperature she likes the best and spends a lot of her time right now either under her 3 lamps or in her little house. The humidity is right around 35% most of the day. Does this sound appropriate??
It sounds good. The only other thing I would consider is covering the floor with something other than carpet.
 

DozerCooley

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It sounds good. The only other thing I would consider is covering the floor with something other than carpet.

Any suggesting? It needs to be soft and clean as she has incisions that are healing and also 4 metal plates holding her shell together that are probably not all that comfortable to lay on so we want something nice and soft. We have towels down for her but she always ends up flipping them up onto her like she's trying to bury herself. Thanks!
 
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