Sick and swollen Oriental fire bellied toad

[BossFrog]

No idea what is going on but my recommendation is taking them to a vet immediately. That sounds miserable Especially since you have always taken good care of them.

[GP]

... my recommendation is taking them to a vet immediately. That sounds miserable Especially since you have always taken good care of them.

Thanks, I was leaning that way anyway. It certainly is miserable. I have rung round a couple of local vets trying to find one competent with amphibians and managed to get an email address for one to send off symptoms and pictures for advice - he's fully booked for the rest of today's hours. If/when he gets back to me I'll update this thread with the results. Most probably they'll want to see the patient tomorrow in any case - if I can get an appointment New Year's Eve ...

On the plus side I've added a little honey to the water (something I read on this forum or one quite like it) and a basic desk lamp above, with the tank a mite closer the radiator for helping it to metabolize in the meantime. I will hold off on feeding it until I see something come out the other end ... I just hope it's not an impacted digestive tract! Patient's condition seems stable for now.

[GP]

So after a (£60) trip to the vet the toad concerned is now on a regimen of diuretics and antibiotics. I'm to give it, orally, 0.5ml daily of both: frusol solution (50mg/5ml per ml) and metronidazole suspension (200mg/5ml per ml).

The vet reckoned there was no hard mass inside the abdomen so it's more likely an infection and/or kidney/liver trouble. He said if the diuretic doesn't stimulate it's kidney and get the swelling down in a week or so it's probably renal failure. He also said he'd rarely seen a toad so long-lived, so its habitat and diet are probably just fine. He gave the toad the diuretic; told me to do the antibiotics myself.

On the way home from the vet, having had its frusol diuretic, it managed its first bowel movement since being quarantined. In all likelihood, it's not the impacted colon I'd feared! I'll update this thread if the patient makes progress (or regress).

[GP]

I thought I had already updated this thread; I certainly wrote out a long response before now and it seems to have vanished into the aether. Here it is again, approximately.

After a conversation with and then appointment at the the vet on New Year's Eve, the patient is now on a daily oral dose of ½ml each of both:
a diuretic (frusol solution - 50mg/5ml per ml), and
antibiotics (metronidazole suspension 200mg/5ml per ml)

The vet couldn't feel any solid masses indicative of digestive impaction, but said the swelling could be an infection or a trouble with the kidneys/liver. The diuretic should stimulate the kidneys to sort out the balance of internal fluids; no improvement after a few days might mean a more serious renal failure. The eye he reckoned is infected, so antibiotics are in order.

On the way home from the veterinary surgery, having had the first dose of diuretic, the little thing managed its first bowel movement for some time. I will start feeding again after a couple of rounds of doses. The bad eye is already looking clearer, though the swelling has not much reduced.

[BossFrog]

Awesome to see some improvement!! Going to the vet was the right decision. Fingers are crossed that this toad will make a full recovery.

[GP]

Awesome to see some improvement!! Going to the vet was the right decision. Fingers are crossed that this toad will make a full recovery.

Thanks for your concern, and yes, I hope there is good improvement. Alas I think a full recovery is a little unlikely. I've had these three toads since 2005 and I think they'll never be their younger selves again, but I just hope they can live out their days pain free and able to swim.

Hopefully, the struggle to force open the creature's mouth to syringe these two drugs down the frog's throat every day for a week will be less stressful overall than the swelling and blindness it's been living with, but I'm not sure yet.

Unfortunately, while the eye is looking better after three days, (a little less cloudy, but still non-functional AFAIK) the swelling hasn't yet gone down at all, and the toad took some persuading to eat the small, recently moulted locust offered. It still turns in circles when it gets the chance.

I'm leaving as much detail on this thread as possible so anyone with a similar predicament can make their own choices, if for whatever reason a veterinary surgeon's advice is out of reach.

[GP]

Update: after seven days' treatment with metronidazole and frusol daily, there's no improvement. Eye is still cloudy, frog still swollen up, still swimming in circles (maybe a little less). There's still three more days of frusol treatment to go, but my hope for a recovery is fading. The one mercy is that toad's condition has not worsened significantly, but I wonder whether all that stress has been for naught. I will return to the vet soon but I doubt much good news will come of it. I suppose we can now rule out certain bacteria and protozoa as culprits, since they should have been cleared out by the metronidazole, but other infections might be to blame.

[BossFrog]

Poor thing, I’m so sorry... you’ve been doing all you can.

[Kylie]

I’m sorry, I hope they make a recovery!