What I learned from having a sick/injured frog.

[UncleChester]

Almost 6 weeks ago my adult gray treefrog, Fatty, had a prolapse (details here http://www.frogforum.net/tree-frogs/...-prolapse.html she's still doing fine and still on a soft worm diet for the time being). This was my first froggy related disaster, so thought I would share what I learned from the ordeal:

1) Have a vet lined up before you have problems. There are a few vets capable of handling frogs about 1.5 hour drive from me. I found out none of them are willing to take on new clients making the nearest willing to take me about a 3 hour drive. I was ready to go before I mustered the courage for a home repair. It has made me rethink my frog aqusition plan though, the more you have the more likely you'll end up with one needing emergency care.

2) Have your quarantine container sterilized and ready to go at all times. I had the container, but needed to bleech and clean it first. In the event of an physical wound, moving to something sterile asap is a good idea. It's a good idea to have a long term care container ready, mine was about 6 gallons and had easy to clean PVC pipes for perches- it was sufficient for a month stay.

3) You can never be too careful about what goes into your tanks. A piece of perlite on a new plant is almost surely what caused Fatty's prolapse (I saw it come out her back end). I do repot and wash off any new plants, but they now get triple checked for perlite or other hard bits.

4) This is probably sad- but Be prepared to euthanize. In the event of an unrecoverable disaster, I picked up some Orajel (benzocaine). Sad though it may be, it would be better than uneccessary suffering. Happily I didn't need to use it, but better to be prepared especially when pharmacies are far away.

5) The tong part is probably optional, but in my case it was good-A frog on a varied diet and/or tong fed is a good thing. A varied diet is good in any case, but specifically I needed Fatty to take in soft food like earthworms and waxworms. She was used to them and it was no issue. She will also eat anything I dangle in front of her with tongs, so bonus. I've read (from John I think) about the possiblity of injecting waxworms with medication as a way to get it into your frog. Probably not easy to do with crickets.

6) A well fed plump frog is a good thing. In the event something puts them off food, or you need to fast them as in my case, the fuller they are the better (obesity is still to be avoided). I was being extra generous with the food in the weeks leading up to Fattys prolapse as I was planning to be on vacation for a week and a half (so her caretaker could have a lighter feeding schedule). I didn't feel at all bad going 9 days without feeding her to give the prolapse time to heal, and would have gone longer except I was leaving in a few days and didn't want her first poo post accident to be when I was gone.

7) Bad stuff can happen no matter how careful you are. So don't feel too bad. It can happen despite your best efforts. I debated swallowing a couple rocks so I could get Fatty even with me, but beating myself up about it won't help anything. Learn from mistakes and move on.

8) B​e capable of taking clear photos to get help diagnosing a problem. We'll often see blurry photos (or worse no photos) posted with requests for help on what's wrong. So practice before you need to. It's worth it for nice pics of your healthy pet even if you never have a problem. I have a hard time photographing injured or sick animals (cuz it's time I could be spending trying to help them) and it wasn't needed for the diagnosis so I didn't bother- shame on me. It could have been helpful for others to have as a reference for what a prolapse can look like, so I'm kicking myself now.


Just a few things to think about, I'd love to hear any other 'accident preparedness measures' or experiences folk have had with sick/injured frogs.

[Kisa]

Brian this is an awesome thread. Not only do I agree with everything you've put, but it has made me realize a few things that I may be missing in my froggie care check list. Thanks for putting this together, we can only hope that everyone learns these things from having and/or caring for a sick animal (frog or otherwise) and that we can all glean more valuable information from the successful (or sadly, unsuccessful) pet treatments.

Thanks so much, and glad to hear little Fatty is doing well.

[tgampper]

Really good stuff. Thanks, Brian

[Heatheranne]

Great post!

[frogluver]

I agree....awesome post! It was very informative and got me thinking about how prepared I would be in case one of my frogs got injured or sick. Thank you so much for posting this; I really appreciate this Brian!!!

[UncleChester]

Thanks all! I'll add another that I was just reminded of:

9) You should be comfortable handling your frog. I know, I know, they are look but don't touch critters, but in the event that you have to handle it for care purposes it's better that you've had practice. I usually handle mine every 3 or 4 weeks when it is mealworm or waxworm plus photo time, so I've had some practice that I don't think is unduly stressful. I also have tons of experience handling wild ones (mostly to move away from the lawn mower), so that's bonus.

[LilyPad]

Absolutely wonderful thread!! The first day that I had my first frog, I did a search and found a vet that was comfortable working with amphibians. To me, that is a necessity, you never know when a problem could arise.