Impaction - Advice Please!!!

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morganmc

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My beardie, Smokey, is most likely suffering from impaction. He has always had a sensitive digestive system, and been prone to constipation, but generally a warm bath will do the trick. He has not pooped in about a month now, and yesterday in one of his baths while massaging his stomach I noticed a hard lump. It did not seem to be causing any pain, but is likely what's preventing his pooping. I gave him some canned pumpkin with a few drops of vegetable oil after. Today, in another warm bath, I massaged the lump towards the vent, but he did not make an effort to expel it. It does move through his digestive track though, which is why I believe it is some sort of impaction. I don't want to harm him by forcing it out, of course. He licked up a few drops of organic olive oil for me while in his bath earlier today, but still no poop. I had been feeding him normally, but I believe I should stop giving him hard foods, so some advice on what types of soft foods I can feed him to keep him healthy and give him all necessary nutrients would be very appreciated. I am planning on picking up some baby food prunes today to try as well.

For a little bit of background, I have no idea how he could have become impacted - the only hard food he receives is crickets - the rest is softer foods like salad ingredients and treats such as hornworms and wax worms. He is on tile as well, no loose substrate. The only thing I can think of is the fact that his basking spot is a log (properly cleaned and treated by previous owner) which I have recently noticed has some of the outer layer peeling up in thin strips. I don't know if he has somehow ingested the wood, but even so, it does not seem like it could be an impaction issue. It is still connected to the log too - looks more like his claws have just scraped it up, or maybe the wood got swollen when I cleaned it and cracked the outer bark layer. Either way, I'm looking into replacing it, but I don't want to just remove it - he needs access to the warmer temperatures for basking.

Right now I am giving him warm baths daily, and trying to mix a little bit of oil into safe, soft foods. Any advice or tricks on how others have gotten their beardies to go poop with an impaction would be so helpful - as would advice on what to feed him to keep him healthy!!
 

morganmc

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It is also worth mentioning, I believe, that he has passed urates twice now, with no poop - a little bit of liquid with them is all.
 

CooperDragon

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It sounds like you have done your research and are doing the right thing. I would offer drops of water for him to lick up from his nose to keep him well hydrated in addition to the baby food and drops of oil. Hopefully that will help soon. The plain pumpkin and baby food prunes are the common choice for these issues as well. Keep up with the baths if they aren't stressful for him. There isn't a lot else to do for him at this point. Do be mindful that if he strains too much it could cause a prolapse. If that happens have a cool sugar water bath ready for him and a vet may be needed to help at that point. Here is more info on that. Not saying it will happen but it's good to keep an eye out for it and be prepared http://www.anapsid.org/prolapse.html
 

morganmc

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CooperDragon":2l3c2cdg said:
Keep up with the baths if they aren't stressful for him.


Thank you for your help! I did notice in his bath today that he has some stress marks on his tummy - is it worth keeping up the baths if they stress him out, or should I reduce how often I do them? Right now I've been giving him one daily.
 

CooperDragon

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I would take thrashing and trying to escape as signs of stress vs sitting in the water calmly or splashing around a bit as signs of contentment in the bath. If he tries to escape and doesn't want in then I would just stop offering them and keep up with the other things. If he is content in the bath go ahead and offer them daily.
 

morganmc

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Good news!! Smokey finally pooped today! However, I want to prevent something like this from happening again. I went through his poop (gross, but needed) to try to find the source. The actual poop was all very soft, but the urate was HUGE and hard. I am fairly confident it was what I was feeling in his stomach while massaging him. It had a gritty, brown coating, but once I rubbed it off it was white underneath. VERY hard, and just so much bigger than usual. I'm trying to figure out how to attach the images but be warned, they are gross! Can urates cause impaction? How do I prevent this?

Also, there was a strange little piece that came out - you will see it in the images. The closest thing I can compare it to is a worm, so if anyone can abate my fears of parasites that would be very welcome. I took a close up of it as well.
 

morganmc

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AHBD

BD.org Sicko
The urate is actually normal sized, but if it's very hard then he could just need a bit more oral hydration. Offer him a smoothie of greens + a bit of applesauce , olive oil + pumkin or baby food sweet potato once a week and that should help move things along. Extra water added to it is even better and try offering water dripped/sprayed on his snout every 3-5 days for hydration. If they are well hydrated, they will poo.
 
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