High Uric Acid

[ZeroTheDragon]

Good evening everyone. Unfortunately, our Zero is sick again. Within the past three weeks he has been more lethargic hiding most of the day.

In order to get him to bask, we have to physically take him out of his hide. Well he only pooped one a week for two weeks (which is not normal for him) so we contacted the vet and brought him in Tuesday. He eats but only after he has basked of course.

Well he’s gaining weight, he’s 490 and is officially an adult (he’s a fresh adult). The vet was concerned for his hiding everyday so we did some blood work and fecal sample.

The fecal sample is negative. But, we got his blood work back today and everything is normal but his kidney function or uric acid is a 19 when it’s supposed to be an 11 I believe is what she said. She said she would like to consult her colleagues before proscribing medicine and advised more frequent soaks while feeding EmerAid IC Herbivore Intensive Care Nutrition in the mean time and in order to make him hydrated. She told us she would get back to us this week.

Has anyone else been in this position before? Outside of him being lethargic, he’s still active when he’s out of his tank and he’s such a cuddle bug. I couldn’t help but cry after her phone call because I feel like maybe I should did this to him by continuing to feed him bugs everyday. I don’t know, I am more scared he is in pain. I want him to be happy and healthy. Not sick.

I would love to hear from other people who have been in a situation like this.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Do you have a full copy of the blood test you could post?
Pictures of your dragon would be great also, does he have swelling from the high uric acid? I would think that he is developing gout but in some cases if it's caught early enough you can get it reversed without too much trouble.
Actually it is ideal for the uric acid levels to be in a range of 2-4mg/dl so even 11 would be too high. If it's
at 19, then we need to get that down immediately. If you can get some black or tart cherry juice extract to
get him started on, that can help begin to break up uric acid levels some for him.
I would limit the insects to no more than 15 per week & focus on greens & vegetation along with more oral
fluids if possible.
Is his beard dark right now?

Tracie

 

[ZeroTheDragon]

Hello,

Do you have a full copy of the blood test you could post?
Pictures of your dragon would be great also, does he have swelling from the high uric acid? I would think that he is developing gout but in some cases if it's caught early enough you can get it reversed without too much trouble.
Actually it is ideal for the uric acid levels to be in a range of 2-4mg/dl so even 11 would be too high. If it's
at 19, then we need to get that down immediately. If you can get some black or tart cherry juice extract to
get him started on, that can help begin to break up uric acid levels some for him.
I would limit the insects to no more than 15 per week & focus on greens & vegetation along with more oral
fluids if possible.
Is his beard dark right now?

Tracie

Currently, I do not have a copy of his blood work I am wondering if maybe she did not give that to us yet to limit maybe us freaking out?

Unfortunately she didn’t tell us any amount. She just said 19. But 19 what? I just immediately went into fix it mode and how to lower it. We plan on calling her Monday.

We saw the vet on Tuesday and got the results Friday evening. He did also eat a bigger breakfast at 7am on Tuesday.

Oddly enough I don’t think he has swelling. His beard is not dark. The only major symptom he was/is having for us bringing him to the vet was him being lethargic while we are not home and not basking. Meaning he hides from 8:20am to about 3:20pm (when I get off of work). And even then I have to manually take him out and bask him (but he does end up sitting there for a while).

Currently after adding another uvb (so it runs his whole tank) he’s been more active. Yesterday he was jumping around moving around a lot more than he has.

We are most definitely limiting the bugs and focusing on water and veggie. The vet suggested EmerAid IC Herbivore Intensive Care Nutrition to also help with hydration.

Thank you so much!

 

[KarrieRee]

Currently, I do not have a copy of his blood work I am wondering if maybe she did not give that to us yet to limit maybe us freaking out?

Unfortunately she didn’t tell us any amount. She just said 19. But 19 what? I just immediately went into fix it mode and how to lower it. We plan on calling her Monday.

We saw the vet on Tuesday and got the results Friday evening. He did also eat a bigger breakfast at 7am on Tuesday.

Oddly enough I don’t think he has swelling. His beard is not dark. The only major symptom he was/is having for us bringing him to the vet was him being lethargic while we are not home and not basking. Meaning he hides from 8:20am to about 3:20pm (when I get off of work). And even then I have to manually take him out and bask him (but he does end up sitting there for a while).

Currently after adding another uvb (so it runs his whole tank) he’s been more active. Yesterday he was jumping around moving around a lot more than he has.

We are most definitely limiting the bugs and focusing on water and veggie. The vet suggested EmerAid IC Herbivore Intensive Care Nutrition to also help with hydration.

Thank you so much! View attachment 88752 View attachment 88753 View attachment 88754

Please lower the UVB to 12-15 inches -- the stick on thermometer is giving ambient temps please get two digital probe thermometers --- please get a copy of the blood work and post

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How is he doing today? Based on the pictures, he looks very alert there without any black beard. I don't
see any swelling either on his hands, feet, etc which is very good.
The reading of 19 would indicate 19mg/dl on a blood test which is high. I am not sure what would have
caused that high of reading, but perhaps he is just beginning to have some kidney stress. So, if you can
get him on some black or tart cherry juice extract as soon as possible & keep his protein intake to a
minimum that should help to start getting his uric acid levels down.
It might not hurt to put him on a short term regimen of Allopurinol, to help break down & inhibit production
of uric acid. What did the vet suggest at the moment?

Tracie

 

[ZeroTheDragon]

Hello,

How is he doing today? Based on the pictures, he looks very alert there without any black beard. I don't
see any swelling either on his hands, feet, etc which is very good.
The reading of 19 would indicate 19mg/dl on a blood test which is high. I am not sure what would have
caused that high of reading, but perhaps he is just beginning to have some kidney stress. So, if you can
get him on some black or tart cherry juice extract as soon as possible & keep his protein intake to a
minimum that should help to start getting his uric acid levels down.
It might not hurt to put him on a short term regimen of Allopurinol, to help break down & inhibit production
of uric acid. What did the vet suggest at the moment?

Tracie

Today he is still hiding and refusing to eat his salad (due to him expecting bugs). But when I took him out to bask he did that and sat there just fine. And when I took him out to hang out he just sat around with me trying to jump on the head board haha. He’s still “lethargic” unfortunately.

That is why I am so confused. His uric acid levels are high but besides the laying in his hide all day he’s alert, gaining weight, and pooping. I think he’s not eating a much because we are now on day two of giving him intensive care, and he’s experiencing bugs (which we haven’t given him).

In the mean time while she gets back to us the vet did give us EmerAid IC Herbivore Intensive Care Nutrition to help boost hydration and suggested daily to soaks to help encourage him drinking.

She did suggest that this could possibly be treated with some antibiotics and fluids but she wanted to get a second opinion. So in the meantime she suggested EmerAid, soaks, and misting veggies (which we already do). We did pick up some tart cherry juice concentrate as well as be pollen to encourage eating his salad.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That's great you were able to find some tart cherry juice for him. Give that to him daily, to help out.
You can mix a little bit of water with the juice.
If he has pre-gout symptoms such as the high uric acid levels, giving antibiotics isn't really a good idea
because antibiotics are hard on the system.
How much of the critical care are you giving him right now?

Tracie

 

[ZeroTheDragon]

Hello,

That's great you were able to find some tart cherry juice for him. Give that to him daily, to help out.
You can mix a little bit of water with the juice.
If he has pre-gout symptoms such as the high uric acid levels, giving antibiotics isn't really a good idea
because antibiotics are hard on the system.
How much of the critical care are you giving him right now?

Tracie

We are giving him 10ML twice a day but realistically he’s eating about 10ML maybe 15ML a day. I feel like him eating 20ML is alot. But he also hasn’t been eating his greens. I also got his blood work back! I am attaching it! I really appreciate you

 

[ZeroTheDragon]

We are giving him 10ML twice a day but realistically he’s eating about 10ML maybe 15ML a day. I feel like him eating 20ML is alot. But he also hasn’t been eating his greens. I also got his blood work back! I am attaching it! I really appreciate you

There was a small update! The vet had proscribed injecting 20ML every two days (or 10ML every day) of Fluids Subcutaneous for Exotics under the skin until Sunday. And we will retest Monday. She said to continue to feed him the critical care along with giving him bugs and salads!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How is he doing today? Those are very high uric acid levels! The AST or liver enzymes are high
as well.
The Emeraid can help if he isn't eating much. The vet will be giving subcutaneous fluids again,
when?
Has his beard been normal color still I hope?
Are you in the UK or the US?

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

 

[ZeroTheDragon]

Hello,

How is he doing today? Those are very high uric acid levels! The AST or liver enzymes are high
as well.
The Emeraid can help if he isn't eating much. The vet will be giving subcutaneous fluids again,
when?
Has his beard been normal color still I hope?
Are you in the UK or the US?

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

We are in the US. We will be giving them on Wednesday afternoon. The vet and techs trained me on how to administer them. He got 20ML yesterday, he’ll get 20 more ML on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday and then retest his blood that Monday.

Currently his bearded is still normal. I feel like yesterday after his first round of fluids he was already more active. He basked of course, but ran up to me jumped on me and then ran to bask some more.

Thank you so much
Wen and Zero

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That's great to hear he is getting some fluids. So you will be giving the fluids then? I'm happy to know that he started basking more now, that should help.
That's good the vet techs showed you how to give the fluids, that is important.
Let us know how the blood test results turn out on Monday with the retest. The uric acid levels really need to come down, soon to avoid too much renal damage.

Tracie

 

[ZeroTheDragon]

Hello,

That's great to hear he is getting some fluids. So you will be giving the fluids then? I'm happy to know that he started basking more now, that should help.
That's good the vet techs showed you how to give the fluids, that is important.
Let us know how the blood test results turn out on Monday with the retest. The uric acid levels really need to come down, soon to avoid too much renal damage.

Tracie

There has been a wonderful update! I gave him the subcutaneous injections every two days for a week (stopping yesterday). We got his blood drawn Monday and his blood work back today he is in the clear! As well as gaining more weight while being on the critical care. The vet called this afternoon to say his blood work is normal! The injections worked and lowered the uric acid content within his body. It turns out, our poor guy was dehydrated.

We really have to continue to get his fluid intake up. But now we are battling him not wanting to eat his salad because we have been syringe feeding him. We have tried a salad topper, bee pollen and he just does not seem interested. So while his health is in the clear, we now have to try to get him to eat his veggies again.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

They can be so picky with their greens! Keep
working with him & hopefully he will eventually
start eating more greens as he feels better.
I'm glad to hear that his uric acid levels are much
lower now. Dehydration can wreak havoc on the
system, absolutely.
So you wont need to do more injections now I
hope? I am happy to hear he is improving by the
day. Keep us updated on how he is doing!

Tracie