Pyxie Swollen/Bloated Trauma - Pictures

[tiffers]

So, this is going to sound crazy...but hear me out.

Sometime during Thursday night, my pyxie, who has been appropriately named Eureka (5mth old female), escaped her cage. (The screen has been taped onto the lid until we could fix it over the weekend.) Friday morning, I realized the screen on top had fallen again, so I taped it back up and went to work. She's usually hidden in the mornings; I didn't think anything of it.

Friday evening, I started vacuuming. It wasn't working...like, no sucking power whatsoever. I think you can see where this is going. After a good 10 minutes of what I assume was absolute horror while I tried to clear the clog in the tube, as I did not know I had a frog in my vacuum...I realized that there is a frog jammed in the tube.

Once she was freed, we rushed her off to an exotics vet that I know on emergency. She had to have already been in the tube, as the vacuum was picked up and carried and she never fell out, nor was she hiding under it. She must have escaped and climbed inside for shelter.

Once at the vet, we got her on heat support and saline fluid soaks (for shock therapy). She has no wounds, but is SEVERELY swollen. For instance, she floats to the top of her water dish when you set her in for the saline soaks.

As her body temperature returned to normal, some of the swelling/bloating dissipated. It is definitely air in her body, but we are unsure if we should aspirate it or not to release the pressure. She did not eat last night, and usually she eats anything that doesn't eat her first, being a pyxie and all. She did have a pretty traumatic day yesterday, so I don't necessarily blame her.

I've also attached some pictures.

Picture 1, minutes after being freed. She couldn't move any limbs, and when we rinsed her to free her from the vacuum cleaner debris, I felt that she was already dead.


Picture 2, getting 'heat support' at the vet. She has blood in her left eye, but it has been absorbing back into her body. It's almost gone now.


Picture 3, this morning. The air inside is not as 'hard', but she is definitely still VERY puffy.


Does anyone have experience with this sort of stress response? She is calm. Breathes fine. Nothing is broken. She walks around like normal; she just isn't eating. We were going to start her on pain meds if she wasn't eating, but those can be risky, so we're trying to exhaust all our efforts.

Ideas?

Her normal size, appearance -
A week ago: https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.n...24350936_n.jpg
The day she was purchased, about two-three weeks ago: https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...68789811_n.jpg

[GrifTheGreat]

There is a possibility that the vaccume caused damage to the air sacs within the frog. Forcing fhe frog to suck air inside and the frog is having trouble releasing it. I have no idea how to make it go away. Just continue anti-stress treatments. I don't think any kind of pain killer is a good idea. Too risky. Maybe some mild steroides could help, but no guarantees.

[tiffers]

Thanks, Grif. We went back to the exotic vet on Saturday afternoon and aspirated about 4mls of air. A few hours later, she started eating crickets again. She still has some puffy air inside, but she's able to catch food (with assistance) and eat it, as well as jumping around her area. How could it take for the air to completely absorb back or release, do you think? We're not going to decompress her again, because there's maybe about 2mls of air left, and we're worried of poking important structures inside.

[LilyPad]

Glad to hear she's doing better. I've never seen that trauma before. I hope she continues to improve. Good luck!

[AlanLynch]

"Hey doc, so my frog got stuck in a vacuum cleaner today, and I as wondering if you could help me..."
Vet's reaction:

[tiffers]

Glad to hear she's doing better. I've never seen that trauma before.

Precisely what the exotics vet said. She posted to a few of the known vet forums and emailed every possible colleague she could. Hahaha. Still puffy, but she's been hanging out in her water all day...which isn't unusual for her.

"Hey doc, so my frog got stuck in a vacuum cleaner today, and I as wondering if you could help me..."
Vet's reaction:

You don't know how accurate that face is. Hahaha. When she walked in the room she was like, 'Now, tell me again what happened...?'

[GrifTheGreat]

Thanks, Grif. We went back to the exotic vet on Saturday afternoon and aspirated about 4mls of air. A few hours later, she started eating crickets again. She still has some puffy air inside, but she's able to catch food (with assistance) and eat it, as well as jumping around her area. How could it take for the air to completely absorb back or release, do you think? We're not going to decompress her again, because there's maybe about 2mls of air left, and we're worried of poking important structures inside.

Well they release the air through their mouth or nostrils so I'm uncertain how long it will take if there is indeed damage. You'll have to wait it out.

[tiffers]

Well they release the air through their mouth or nostrils so I'm uncertain how long it will take if there is indeed damage. You'll have to wait it out.

Thanks. She looks...a LOT better. Slowly, we are getting there. I've been advised to keep her off food for a week in an effort to get the air to expel. Here's her as of last night: