Fred is a very special iguana. She joined my group of iguanas with her sister Ed. I got her from a high school girl named Jill. I had know Jill and her grandmother for a while. One day I got a call from Jill saying that Fred had broken her arm. I tried to get Fred from her then to take her to Winter Park Vet. Also, I told her to not allow Fred to climb. About 2 weeks later I got another call saying that Fred could not move her back legs and had a swollen place near her tail. At this point I was able to pick up Fred and her sister Ed (6/97).
I took her and her sister to the Winter Park Vet and found out that she broke her back. At this point I decided to try to give Fred a chance at life, hoping that her back legs would regain some use. She was a very good eater. The vet showed me how to give her an enema and he gave her one. I was very shaken by Fred poor outlook so I emailed Lara to get further instructions. For almost 6 weeks I gave her an enema every morning and she continued to eat like a pig. All this time I gave her full range of motion exercises for her back legs.
She has gotten a little use of one of her back legs, while the other remained unused.
Giving her an enema daily was risky. If I goofed once she would be killed. I noticed that when she ran with her front feet she would sometimes pee and poop. Also a warm bath would get her going. After a year of doing this, it was becoming increasingly difficult to get her to poop. During May, 1998 I went over a week without getting her to poop. I took her to the vet to get her pooping again. They did a variety of enemas (water, oily water, and soapy water) and they got her to go. Boy, did she go and for the next week she had severe diarrhea. Also she was prolapsing some due to weight loss. Finally she started throwing up and I thought all hope was lost. I had the mobile vet come by the house to put her to sleep, she one vet suggested that she was probably impacted. Prior to the vet arriving I brought Fred to my neighbor's house to let her run through their grass. This was always her favorite. Well. she started to look and act better. When the vet arrive, I opted not to have her put to sleep. Right decision.
This spring (1999), she went off feed and got really active. Her body size stayed about the same, while she lost body fat. All classic signs of a gravid iguana. I got her x-rayed to see if any eggs were visible. A couple of weeks later I could see lumps so I had her spayed. Yes, she was quite pregnant. She started eating good again.
In July, 1999 I noticed that her tail was dying (dry gangrene). One part of it was removed and I thought all was well. I followed the vet's instruction and removed the bandage after a week. Oh no it was dead on the end. The Winter Park Vet fit me in and they removed all but 5" of her tail. As of 8/1/99 all is healing nicely.
Here's my New Cage that my Dad Made in 1999
