Sand impaction in older beardy

Hi,

We rescued an older bearded dragon and the folks that had him before had him on some sort of sand. He had very badly clogged femoral pores, which we had taken care of, but now he's not pooping and after an xray, we were told he's impacted with what looks like sand. He's had two rounds of enemas (which I know folks on here have advocated against, but we've tried prunejuice, olive oil, daily baths with belly massages, everything we could think of.) He's still not pooping, its been weeks since his last bowel movement. We've been syringe feeding him Repashi Beardy Buffet so he's able to absorb some nutrients but he isn't able to eat much since he isn't pooping.

The impaction has gotten so bad he's lost use of his rear legs, and his beard is always black. I made him a wheelchair, which seemed to cheer him up because he's more mobile now, I can tell he's uncomfortable. The vet says the options we have left are another enema or potentially surgery, but it seems like that'll only deal with the food in his stomach, not the impaction in his intestine. I don't know what else to do.

Does anyone have any other laxative or diet suggestions? (I appreciate the suggestion of husbandry changes, but I know that isn't the problem in this case.)

Hi there, sorry to hear about your beardie. How long have you had him now and do you have pics of the pores when they were clogged ? When did his beard start turning black, before or after the enemas ? A few things to try are baby food sweet potato, squash, green bean as well as raw unpasteurized honey. When you soak him + give light belly rubs make the water warmer than usual. Those things might help. If you want to post pics, here's how :

https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload them

Go with the surgery, at least that will have a better chance than the enemas. Act fast, he’s in pain.