Kidney failure?

I need advice about my beadred dragon I have had her for about 5 months I do not know anything about her history because I bought her from a small pet store she is fully grown and a very large docile definately female ( she lays infertile eggs every few weeks since feb ) well anyway when I got her she had one of the lumps where the eyes are bigger than the other and that eye drooped just a little and the lady in the store said it was probably an old injury. after maybe 2 months it went back to the same size as the other but and the "droopyness" almost compleatly went away, then about 2 weeks ago I noticed it was back but in a very little amount and since then it has gotten worse and the "froggy" look with the eye lumps are huge and both eyes droop enough to obstruct her vision though not totally, now exactly how quickly this got really bad I dont know, I did notice less of an apitite the past 2 days but she still eats alot. you know how things just kinda sneak up on you but anyway I really noticed how bad it had gotten today and been trying to find a vet that will be open before Monday that deals with reptiles, so a friend sent me to this site in the hope you can help identify the problem or at least point me in the right direction.
I know you want stat ( been reading everying tonight trying to find answers.

age.......adult
sex.........female
weight......about a pound
eating habit.....eats like a horse, crickets superworms silkworms tons of veggies
poos........everyday
tank........75 gallon tank
uvb........retisun 10 strip light
basking light.........100 wat basking bulb
nearest she can get to it.........about 10 inches
hot side...........98 to 103
cold side...........81
night heat........ceramic bulb
night temp......73
water dish pu in her tank for an hour a day
bathed twice a week
substrate....newspaper

did I miss anything?

I tried to get pics to show you, hope I did this right


see the drooping?

see the "froggy eyes" thing?

I would definitely find a vet and have a fecal done to check for parasites.

Also, I recommend reading this http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Eyeproblems.html

The moderators here are very helpful and will go over your setup with a fine toothed comb! They will definitely get to the root of any problem and help you through it.

Good luck, Cheryl

I had a fecial done a while ago it was clear, the article you posted talkes about kidney failure, you think thats what she has? should I post this in ER?

I posted about my dragon in "health" about my dragon developing "froggy" looking eyes and someone suggested it might be kidney failure, its a holiday weekend is there anything I can do to help her until I can get a vet?

You may want to send a message to Tracie at Drache613. She is very knowledgable about these things and will be happy help you.

Hello,

I am going to merge your two topics so we can keep all of the information together, ok? I will go look at your topic & add to this post as well.

Tracie

Hello,

Could you maybe post a couple of more pictures of her overall, so I could see the eyes better please? Thanks.
Your tank setup looks fine. The Reptisun 10 flourescent tube bulb will need to be changed now, at 5 months it is not putting out quite enough, but that would not be the problem though.
You mentioned that she continues to lay infertile eggs. How many at a time does she lay?
How often do you give calcium? Since she is laying so many eggs, she will need extra calcium. She might not be getting quite enough calcium.
Also, if she is only laying a few eggs here & there, it is highly likely that she has some type of egg stasis problem going on. Since you don't know her health history prior to you getting her, she might not have had any UVB at all which would cause her to have egg binding problems that she brought with her to your care now.
While sometimes "frog" eyes can be indicative of renal problems, it is not always an indicator. There are other things that can cause that as well. High blood pressure from other health problems can cause raised eyes, too. Heart problems can increase blood pressure due to water retention around the myocardial & pericardium areas. I am not saying that is what she has! There are also genetic traits from the Froggy eyes bloodline. I cannot remember the technical blood line name, I will have to go searching.
So there are several things that it could be. There are some dragons who tend to get a "droopy" eye for no known reason really, it just develops more with age. It may have something to do with overall hydration status.
How are her stools, are the urates hard or soft, white or discolored?
The best way to determine renal problem is through a blood test. The uric acid levels need to be looked at as well as the BUN & the Creatinine, & other factors also. She could probably use an x-ray also, to see if she has other eggs or any blockages in there caused by an egg perhaps.
In the meantime until you get her to a vet, just keep her comfy & try to increase her oral fluids to get her hydrated.

Tracie

Hi, Thank You for taking the time to reply sorry it took me so long to the better pics organised, I am not sure its genetic when the swelling and droopyness was only in one eye and then went away and now its both. she had 10 eggs then 18 then 23 all just over 3 weeks apart, my vet gave me liquid calcium for her and she gets .5ml per day, its fruit flavoured stuff and she gets lots of veggies everyday, she also get her crickets dusted with a little calcium and her veggies get dusted once a week with vitiamins. Molly poos everyday and it looks healthy not runny or smelly and the white bit is white. I think she had uv but am not certain, (her new one is on order), I am not sure how I can give her more fluids cause she already drinks alot and lays in her water dish for hours to, is there anything else i can do I have been reading everything i can find and it said about yo much protien in the diet so i have only given her 4 crickets today but loads of veggies.
Molly is a very gentle bearded dragon and never gets ticked but since yesterday she seems uncomfortable her beard is not black but kinda dark, she has never did that before.

Hello,

Thanks for the extra pictures, I appreciate it. That really helps. NO, I don't think now, that it is a genetic trait especially since it just came on like this.
Ok, good that she has had some liquid calcium since she has been laying infertile eggs, that should help alot. Great you have a new Reptisun 10 on order already.
I was just going to ask how much protein she gets. As an adult, she should only get 40-50 feeders weekly with the rest comprising of greens & veggies. You can't control what she ate before you got her though, unfortunately. If she was kept at subpar conditions & was chronically dehydrated then that is certainly enough to have caused kidney damage. There is nothing that you can really do about it other than treat for gout, if her uric acid levels are high enough.
There are successful cases where the reptiles that had gout & made a recovery with the proper treatment. Alot of cases though were not successful. It just depends on the severity of the kidney damage.
Has she laid anymore eggs lately?
Good that she drinks alot of water then so no need to increase it if she drinks alot on her own.
I think you just need to go ahead & get the blood test at least to check her levels which will give us a good idea of what is going on.
She has a dark beard so she must be a little distressed right now, so we need to figure out what is going on.

Keep me posted on Molly, the little sweetie.

Tracie

I will Thank You

Sorry I forgot to answer your question she laid 23 eggs on I think the 2nd of this month.

Hello,

Ok, no problem at all! Poor girl, she sure is laying alot of eggs.
Keep me posted on her. I hope she is feeling better soon.


Tracie

Just thought I would update everyone who was kind enough to try and help Molly and me, I took her to the vet and they put her on a diet of only pellets and veggies and half the calcium I had been giving her cause bearded dragons only lay 3 cluches a year so she was done and didnt need the extra, and all was pretty good for about a week, her eyes went back to normal even though she hated the diet.
Then she got very upset and restless like she was in pain and I took her back to the vet, turns out Molly did not get the three cluches maximum per year memo and she was making more twelve more to be exact. Molly laid her eggs yesterday and today looks very bedraggled and exhausted but not like she is in pain anymore. I called the vet and he said she is definately done now and the last clutch probably pushed her blood pressure and kidney functions etc to far but she will be ok now she has a year to recover, I am not so sure that my vet is not just reading this stuff out of a book instead of learning about her but after 4 visits an ultrasound antibiotics and more blood work than i can count i have run out of money, so Molly and I will just keep learning and getting her stronger but I would like to hear what else i can do to help her get strong and happy again.

Hello,

Well, some dragons lay way more than 3 clutches per year. It varies from dragon to dragon. I hope that she doesn't lay anymore eggs.
Really the main thing you can do for her is to maintain her hydration status so her kidneys don't have to work too hard. If she is in fact done laying, then you can back off on the calcium to 3 times per week, & that should be sufficient.
Avoid foods with high levels of goitrogens in them such as collard greens, mustard greens & kale but instead use the spring mix without spinach & you can use endive or escarole. Those are harder on the kidneys to process.
Keep her on a low protein diet. She is just getting pellets right now & greens & veggies but no feeders? I think that you can use feeders but just limit them to 25 or so per week. Silkworms would probably be one of the better feeders since they are lower in fat & don't have the harder exo skeleton that some of the other feeders have.
Did he mention gout at all? I was just curious, that is why I would like to see the bloodtest results. Does she have any swelling of any toes, fingers, feet or hands at all that you have noticed?

Tracie

Molly had another 9 eggs last night so 21 in total this time, the vet did not mention gout and no she had no swelling anywhere other than her eyes, I dont have the blood report but I will get it for you. do you know where i can get her silk worms? i will get her the new greens later today if i can.
yes the vet said just pellets and greens no bugs and no fruit ( she loves strawberries )