New Beardie Abnormal Bloodwork!

Hi there,

I am new to this forum but I have been combing through the posts for awhile. I bought a Bearded Dragon about one week ago. She's about five years old, but I don't know anything else about her background. She was surrendered by her previous owner. She's a beautiful citrus girl who weighs in at 550 grams. She appears very healthy, but upon bringing her home, she began exhibiting odd behavior.

She was digging obsessively for DAYS. Even at night, she was trying to dig in her terrarium. The store had also mentioned that she has had a voracious appetite! I became concerned that she was pregnant, and decided to make her a lay box (based off of threads on this site actually). She did well and dug for three hours, specifically a burrow in one corner of the lay box. Later that night, I saw what appeared to be her trying to lay eggs. She was doing a hind leg wiggle over and over, but nothing was happening. She became very lethargic the next day and uninterested in her morning salad. I brought her in for an emergency vet app. that day. They took two x-rays and found nothing wrong! No eggs, no impaction. A healthy bone mass, and perfect physical. They suspected a phantom pregnancy. They offered to run a blood panel, just to be safe, and I agreed to it.

The blood came back today and some of her counts are through the roof! She has a calcium count of 91, and phosphorus at 95. Very high protein. Her blood globulin was elevated as well as one liver enzyme. The vet was baffled by the results! She said that it could be an ovulation issue, liver issue, or possibly an infection of some sort. They want to try a round of antibiotics before trying anything else (like hormone injections). I just don't think that makes sense because she didn't have an elevated white blood cell count? She also HATES her mouth being messed with, she puffed/hissed at the vet tech when she attempted to examine her mouth. So obviously I'm nervous about administering antibiotics to a new, stressed out beardie.

She is still lethargic but shows no other signs of ill health. I have no idea where to go from here... any advice?!

Hi there, just wondering if your vet is a qualified + experienced reptile vet ? Sometimes it's very hard to see the eggs on an xray if the vet is not a reptile vet.

Can you post the xrays here ? I don't think antibiotics are necessarily a good idea at this point.

Thank you for the reply! Yes, she is a qualified reptile vet. I specifically took her to a local exotics clinic. They were great, but I think they are truly confused by the bloodwork. I plan on having a more in depth discussion with the vet tomorrow, but was hoping for any advice/ideas on here. Unfortunately I do not have access to the x-rays or bloodwork at this time.

Sometimes if they are stressed out by the visit it can cause odd readings in the blood tests. I've had to return to the vet after a week or two and get another test to compare results and average them before. I'm not sure what units the Ca and P results are in but the ratio is on the low end of normal as far as I know (I have no formal training at all so take it with a grain of salt). I agree that antibiotics probably aren't a good idea without confirming a specific infection and targeting it with appropriate meds. Her behavior is consistent with egg laying though so it's an odd one. Did the vet try an ultrasound?

Hello,

It does sound like something is definitely going on if her levels are that high. I really wish that
you could get a copy of the blood test, just so I could take a look at it.
Does she have a black beard?
If she has been developing eggs/follicles, there is a possibility that they were not able to be seen
on the x-rays if they were not shelled completely. An ultrasound would reveal undeveloped eggs.
Many times they will reabsorb the eggs if they are not shelled.
I am not sure that the antibiotic is a good idea if they are not sure whether or not she has any
type of infection.
How is she doing today?

Tracie

I was just going to post the same answer, it's very likely she has undeveloped eggs that are not visible on a flat x-ray, she needs an ultrasound. I would not give her any medications at all yet, her wbc count is normal and typically when they are given antibiotics it makes them sick and causes a lot of other issues, so if it's not a case where she definitely has a bacterial infection then don't agree to give them to her! Vets do this constantly, they give antibiotics or antiparasitics "just in case", and all it does is make the beardie sicker than it was to begin with. It's your choice, but I would tell the vet no antibiotics without a definitive diagnosis of a bacterial infection, please do an ultrasound to look for follicles/undeveloped eggs.

Wrong antibiotic can make an infection worse , so she will get the side-effects with no benefits.

Insist in ultrasound and xrays and pathology on swabs from her mouth, from her poo, and blood.