Swollen Leg

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Nero Egernia

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I noticed today that my adult Frill Neck has a swollen front leg. He stays off it and keeps it raised. He appears to be having trouble climbing. I've booked a vet appointment for tomorrow morning. Anyone have any thoughts on what ails him? I don't think it's metabolic bone disease as he's got a mercury vapor globe and he gets calcium dusting every other feed.
 
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Might seem a bit obvious, but does he appear to have any cuts or bruises on his food? Perhaps a wood splinter that's lodged in deep? If you can keep him still . shine a light on the underside of his foot (or where the swelling is) to see if you can make out any small cuts or splinters.

Hopefully nothing to serious- best of luck
 
Thanks for the suggestion Buggster.

For anyone who's interested, the vet was feeling around his joint and deduced that it was inflamed. They took a blood sample and showed it to a reptile specialist in Perth and were told that it's likely to be some kind of infection, perhaps from an injury a while back, but they're not a hundred percent sure. It may be bacteria or a foreign body that has not worked itself out yet. For now I am to give him meloxicam for his inflammation and enrotril as an antibiotic. We'll see how he goes for a couple of days and then check up on it again. Hopefully he makes a full recovery.
 
So it seems that the medication wasn't quite working the way the vet thought it would. The swelling has gone slightly down. A couple of days back I took him back in for an x-ray and another blood test. The x-ray revealed that he had dislocated a bone in his leg. The inflammation itself seems to be healing and he seems to be using his leg more everyday. Despite all this he's still eating well, just has been a bit grumpier than usual. He'll be going back to the vet today where his leg will get a splint and he will be prescribed a longer course of antibiotics. I'll update this post later after the appointment. I'll also try and get the vet to send me the photos of the x-ray, as I think they're worth sharing.

EDIT: Sess, the Frill Neck, in his splint. He looks a little silly in it. X-rays should be coming soon.

Sess'sSplintAPS.jpg

- - - Updated - - -

Here's the x-rays.

XraySess1.JPEG
XraySess2.JPEG
 
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