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Melissa Kaplan 
by Melissa Kaplan
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Lizards-in-Scarves |
The
following statement may appear obvious, but given the
number of people who post questions on email lists, message
boards and by personal email, it bears repeating: If
your herp is bleeding from a wound or internally (bloody
vomit, or blood in the feces or urates), paralyzed, or
has abnormal swellings on any part of its body, or may
have a broken bone or shell, or has ingested a potentially
toxic substance, do not post a message or send an email:
get your pet to a herp vet right away.
While
many of the following articles appear, at first glance,
to be about green iguanas, the fact is that other types
of lizards - and other reptiles - may experience the same
or similar health problems. If you are looking for information
for your reptile, don't skip a title here, or close an
article without reading, just because it has the word
"iguana" in it.
One
last word before I leave you to browse the rest of this
page...
One of the most upsetting category of email and posts
I read are from people whose pets clearly need veterinary
care--often urgently so--but the people won't go because
they can't afford it. Frankly, people who can't afford
to pay a vet shouldn't get a pet. That being said, I do
understand that for many people, life changes can result
in the loss of income for someone who used to be able
to afford whatever came their way. But when it comes to
our children or our pets, when they require medical intervention--and
no matter how well we care for them, at some point a medical
situation will arise that requires urgent or emergency
medical or veterinary intervention--we have to prepare
for that eventuality before it happens. For many
of us, that means doing without even more than we usually
do without when money is tight. It also means socking
away money when we have a little extra. It might be "extra"
because we didn't go out to eat or to movies for several
months, or we didn't indulge in the same amount or brand
of legal recreational substances, or we skipped a year
of season tickets to our favorite theater group or sports
team, or upgrading to the latest version of whatever device
we're inordinately attached to. I'm not speaking from
a theoretical standpoint here: I am disabled and know
all too well what it is like having a bare, spare budget.
But I still make sure that I can provide veterinary care
for my reptiles. If you'd like to start building a fund
for your veterinary needs, a good place to start is by
reading Motley
Fool's 60-Second Guide to Short-Term Savings, part
of the Fool Savings
Center. Okay, soapbox over. Now go read about all
the things you hope you never have to see a vet about.
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