My Mr. Bud

Who is Mr. Bud, well he is my 14 year old Iguana. He turns 15 in June of this year. I have had a hard week with him.
My story is a little graphic, I apologize.
It was such a beautiful day outside on tuesday that I wanted to put Bud outside in his enclosure. He loves to soak up the sun, his legs and arms turn a beautiful orange in the sunlight. As I put him in the cage I noticed blood on the bottom of the laundry basket that I use to bring him in and outside. I felt instantly sick to my stomach. You see, I have had Bud his whole life and I love him so much and can't believe what I am seeing at first. So, as I take a closer look at him I noticed he is bleeding from his inner right thigh and something is coming out of his leg. I can't explain the panic that went through me, a lot like the panic that runs through me when I think one of my boys is seriously injured. I call my sweet husband and he says he will come home and see if we can clean Bud up and bandage him. As I keep pacing back and forth along his out door cage, I feel sicker and sicker trying to figure out how my iguana hurt himself. I am thinking at this point he has torn his leg open inside his house cage and has broken his leg, NO his leg isn't broken he is still walking around. So then I think his muscle is coming out of his leg. I franticly call vets to find one that specializes in reptiles, Not Easy and of course not is Ramona. I wanted to be a Herpetologist for this reason. At this point am so scared for my Iguana. Thinking the worse, that I can't afford to help him and have to put him down. My husband arrives at home and took one look and Bud and told me to take him to the vet. Then he said to me "I know how much you love him". And I loose it and am now crying like a baby. I pulled myself together and found a GREAT vet in escondido, who takes him right away and care for me as soon as I walk through the door. I felt a little at ease as they console me in the waiting room. As I wait for the Dr. to come into the room, which is very quick, I have my four year old with me who is just as worried as I am about the health of Bud and I am trying to console him and talk to the nurse about what I think has happened. The Dr. arrives and we take Bud out of the laundry basket and turn him over on the table to better examine him. I gasp at the site of his wound and cry. The Dr. & Nurse both look at me and ask if I need to sit down, and I say "no, I want to help keep Bud calm".
You see, reptiles don't always handle stress very well and Bud could die from stress alone. I hold Buds arms by his side and rub him with my fingers and talk to him sweetly as he is check out. I was able to calm him down and settle his breathing. As the Dr. looked closely at Bud's wound he is sure that Bud didn't hurt himself but, in fact has a tumor that has come through the skin (sorry for being graphic) I start to cry again, thinking that ha to be so painful and that I caused it. Tumors are usually caused in reptiles by not having adequate diets or the wrong lighting. He has to have surgery to remove the mass. Poor Guy =( We had to leave Bud at the vet over night so they could wait for their top reptile people to help with surgery in the morning. I felt scared and at ease, the Dr. was such a sweet and caring man, saying "What a great specimen Bud was" and that he can tell that I take great care of him. Feeling scared was because not only do reptiles not handle stress very well, but don't handle anesthesia well either. Something to do with being cold blooded.
As I am getting ready to leave, the poor Dr. comes in one last time to Thank Me for Trusting Him with Bud and to tell me that Bud may not survive surgery or recovery. I try to hold it together for my son, and leave the vet. Kolby and I cried all the way home. When I received a call at 9:30 am the next day telling me Bud's surgery went great but, we still have to wait for him to wake up and that the mass was cancer. Cancer, well that makes me feel a little better, knowing that I might not have caused this to happen to my sweet iguana. (Reptiles take longer to wake up, cold blood.) I am happy but still uneasy as I wait for another call. I get that call at 4 pm and am told Bud is ready to come home, he is getting aggravated "that's my Bud" I say. Thank You Jesus I say and Praise God for the blessing he has given me and my family.

When we pick Bud up we are told the cancer is being sent out to get a biopsy and we would have the results next week. It all depends on what Bud had if more action needs to be taken. He has been home now for a couple of days and I can't seem to get him to eat very much and today I had to force feed him his medication, No Fun =( He can be difficult and I know he hates to ride in the car, but come on, I just saved your life! I do like his bright green bandage =) We are going back to the vet on friday to remove the bandage and check the wound. I am hoping it won't be so hard to look at this time. I will post another blog with the results =)

A Picture of Bud outside =)

My Pet Tokay Gecko, named Tokay who is also 14 years old.

My Cat Preacher, she has a white square on her neck that makes her look like a Priest.

And our pet leopard gecko, Peete =)

I will tell the story of all the reptiles I have once had and WHY I collected them to begin with at a later time =)