Elevated uric acid levels - looking for advice

[tayloranne]

Hi all,
So my bearded dragon Hawke is about 2 years old. A week or two ago, his left back leg began to twitch. The twitching was intermittent but fairly frequent. I’m not sure how to properly describe the location, but it was the upper part of his back leg, almost between his leg and his tail. It looked like the muscle there was twitching and seemed like he couldn’t control it. I made him a vet appointment for the day before yesterday. The twitching was still going on, but he was walking all over the place at the vet’s office, just being incredibly alert and active, so it didn’t (and still doesn’t) seem to be inhibiting his movement or causing him pain. The vet did a blood test, and I just got a call back with the results.
All looks good, according to the vet, except for elevated uric acid levels. I don’t know the actual number but will try to find out when I return to the vet on Monday. She didn’t seem concerned that it could be gout, she just emphasized that he may be dehydrated.
What are some good ways to help combat this, and should I be concerned about gout at all?

Some basic info — Setup wise he’s in a 40gal tank with tile substrate, has an Arcadia tube uvb and a halogen bulb to provide basking temps. He’s big on superworms and does get calcium with D3 and multivitamins, as well as daily salads, usually turnip or collard greens with squash.
I can answer any additional questions, and can provide pictures of him if that would help!

 

[AHBD]

I don't know that twitching has ever been associated with the onset of gout in beardies so it may just be some kind of spasms. BTW, how often do you use the calcium + vitamins ? With a good uvb bulb you don't need cal. w/D3 very often. You can keep both on hand [ cal. with AND w/out D3 ] and just use the D3 once every 10 days or so, the other regular calcium 1-2X a week.


How do you hydrate him ? Be sure to offer water with a dropper, spray bottle or syringe dripped on his snout. Be patient, they don't always drink right away or the first time. Drip, stop, repeat. You can also offer water mixed with baby food squash or something he likes.

And if you can post a copy of the blood tests here to show the uric acid levels that would be good.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I agree with AHBD about the twitching. I don't think I've ever seen twitching be related to gout,
but if gout is developing then there could start to be an absorption issue developing.
Definitely try to obtain a copy of the blood test results if you could. I would like to look over
them.
For now, just keep him hydrated & give more oral fluids than normal daily. Hawke is a great
name. Does he have any swelling on any of his limbs that you have noticed?

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

 

[tayloranne]

Thanks so much for the responses, both of you! I’m hoping to get a copy of the blood test results on monday and will post them here then.

I dust a meal with calcium 3x a week and with multivitamins 1-2x a week. I also just picked up some brewers yeast to try, since I heard a vitamin b issue could cause twitches. Thanks for the info about the d3. I do have some liquid calcium on hand which I believe doesn’t contain the d3, so I could give him that more often and cut back on the powder.

I tried plain water in a small syringe today and he seemed to love that, so that’s good! I will keep this up for sure and hope to see him continue to improve. I also read that black cherry juice can be good for gout — would it be beneficial to mix some of that in water, or should I stick to plain water unless the situation ends up becoming worse?

I’m adding some photos of him that I took today. He seems his usual self, active and happy and running around, so all good signs, and still haven’t seen the twitching again.

The night the twitching was at its worst I was afraid his back leg (on the left in the image taken from above) was swollen but the more I look now, the more I feel like I may just have been panicking and over analyzing. But do feel free to either reassure me or correct me on that! I appreciate it a ton. He’s my baby and I definitely just want him happy and healthy.

 

[AHBD]

He looks very good and healthy, not to mention quite handsome. It's great that he's drinking water, and yes, I think just a few drops of cherry extract [ a few times a week ] would be fine.

And I think the back leg looks fine, can't really see any swelling there.

 

[tayloranne]

Thank you so much, that's very reassuring to hear! I've kept up with giving him water in a dropper and he's doing really well with that. I'll get some cherry to add into it every now and again, I'm sure he'll like the added flavor. He was never truly inactive to begin with, but he seems even more active now that he's getting more water!

 

[AHBD]

Good to hear, some dragons just need extra hydration now + then.

 

[tayloranne]

So he still seems very improved! He's been a bit lazy lately which I assumed was due to the weather change, but since I've been giving him extra hydration that laziness is pretty much completely gone. I still haven't seen his leg twitch either, the last time I saw it happen was last Thursday. We did have our followup with the vet today. They sent me home with lactated ringer's solution and instructions to give him 6.5ml 2x a day for 5-7 days. I sent a private message to Tracie to double check the dosage since she seems to be the resident expert on that kind of thing, just from my occasionally browsing the forums! In addition to checking the dosage, I'm hoping to find out if this is definitely necessary since the regular water has been doing him so much good already. I'd hate to stick him with needles for a week if it isn't necessary.

Also, I did get a copy of those blood test results. Here are pictures of those if anyone can offer some insight.

 

[AHBD]

I just glanced at the U.A. levels, [ Tracie can decipher the rest better than I ] they seem to be O.K, not really high . I think that oral hydration is fine, giving injections can be painful and I don't think he needs all that. If he will take any type of fluid and or nutrition orally [ willingly ] then that's the way to go.


Good to hear that he's doing better though, that's some improvement.