Yellow fluid in belly

Just got back from the vet, once again, with Zilla and his hard, yellow urates. We've been to the vet a few times over the past month trying to figure out what exactly is wrong with him.

While at the vet today, we discovered that Zilla has yellow fluid in his belly. After an xray, the vet was going to give him some fluids and discovered this. I'm terribly concerned. He's sending it off to the lab and I'll know something on Friday. All of Zilla's bloodwork and xrays have been normal. Also, his last fecal was fine. I know that this probably isn't good. For now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed and giving my little guy lots of love.

I'm just happy that the vet persisted and didn't just assume it was all dehydration or brummation, like I wanted to believe.

Any thoughts? I've done some reading on this and it doesn't look good. (heart problem?, cancer?)

Chris

I have no idea but just wanted you to know someone is thinking of you and your little one.

I hope I'm wrong... but I thought I read somewhere that the fluid could be indicative of some type of organ failure. Hopefully, Tracie will chime in with her expertise.

Thanks so much for your kinds thoughts. I'm hoping that Tracie will have some medical thoughts for me soon! I''m fully prepared to hear the worst from the vet regarding organ failure. Until then i'll just have to wait and see.

Chris

Sorry to hear your beardie isn't feeling well. I sure hope it isn't as serious as you think. Maybe you could pm Tracie when you see her on so she knows this post is here.

Hello,

Yeah, not good news most likely I hate to say. I think the vet going ahead & aspirating some of the fluid to have it cultured to see what "type" of fluid it is was the right thing to do so I totally agree with that.
Most of the time, when you have fluid in the abdomen, it is either kidney, liver or heart problems. It could be cancer, but most likely not. Do you have a copy of the blood tests possibly that I could see?
Zilla is male, correct?
Sometimes, in females, they can have a ruptured follicle which will yield fluid in the abdomen, but this is not the case.
Is this the first time he has been ill?

Tracie

Thanks Tracie. Yes, Zilla is male and this is the first time he's been sick. The vet reviewed all of Zilla's bloodwork that has been done in the last few weeks and all was in normal range, including liver and kidney. He decided not to do another round. I do not have a copy of the bloodwork and don't think I'll ask for it. At this point I'm a bit overwhelmed with the whole thing. I have confindence in the vet and am going to just wait and see what we find out on Friday.

Thanks again,

Chris

****** UPDATE ON ZILLA *****

Results from the lab regarding the yellow fluid in his belly revealed nothing. Ughh!!! The lab said it was "unspecified" fluid. So who knows what that really means. Last week, Zilla seems to be back to his normal self again. He ate a few supers, he's basking regularly and really enjoying his bath times. And best of all, his urates are soft!!!!! I'm still feeding him the critical care and offering salad every day.

We went to the vet this AM and the vet was really happy with Zilla's progress. We have agreed to take a wait and see approach. We will return to the vet in another month unless he starts to have some problems.

Thanks to everyone for their continued support!

Chris

I am glad that the vet was pleased with him.
Keep us updated.

boy, you have problems like we do. With Redrock, they couldn't find anything seriously wrong. I hope you either find what is wrong or that he continues to get much better.

i hope zilla continues to get better!!! we will be praying for him (and you)!

Hello Chris,

GREAT, I hope that Zilla continues to do better on a daily basis. I would definitely continue the critical care for awhile longer. How is his weight coming along?
That is very strange that they could not identify the fluid in the belly. I wonder why? Did he have any other comment regarding that?
Very good news to hear his urates were that soft now. You must be doing a great job of hydrating him now. So were they white also?
That is good he has eaten some superworms, too. I hope he is getting his appetite back then.
If you change your mind, & get a copy of the bloodwork, let me know & I can look over it for you. That seems weird to me that the fluid could not be identified.

Tracie

Drache613":e1f3d said:

Hello Chris,

GREAT, I hope that Zilla continues to do better on a daily basis. I would definitely continue the critical care for awhile longer. How is his weight coming along?
That is very strange that they could not identify the fluid in the belly. I wonder why? Did he have any other comment regarding that?
Very good news to hear his urates were that soft now. You must be doing a great job of hydrating him now. So were they white also?
That is good he has eaten some superworms, too. I hope he is getting his appetite back then.
If you change your mind, & get a copy of the bloodwork, let me know & I can look over it for you. That seems weird to me that the fluid could not be identified.

Tracie

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Tracie,

I, too, found it odd that the lab could not identify the fluid. The vet did not have any other comments on it. Also, his urates are white and no sign of the yellow that he had before. His weight is holding steady at 470g. I haven't asked for a copy of the bloodwork yet. With all I'm dealing with at my house right now (long story) I'm putting my trust in the vet. Hate to say that, but life around here as been pretty stressful lately.

After our vet visit today, Zilla has decided to spend the day in his cave. I'm not too concerned by this or thinking that he's taken a sudden downward turn. I could be wrong, but who knows at this point.

I'm starting to wonder about brumation. I get this strange feeling that since he's feeling better he wants to brumate. I keep checking on him to make sure he's okay. He looks sleepy and he's never been a daytime napper. I just hope that it's brumation and he's not on his last leg, so to speak. Since he's had this mysterious illness, I keep preparing myself for the worst. I just hope something doesn't happen to him while he's hiding in his cave. He's got to be sick of me moving his cave and staring at him every couple of hours. Just a worried beardie mom!

Would I be doing any harm to him by moving his cave and checking on him so much? I need some reassurance that he's okay while he's in his cave, but I don't want to stress him out.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Chris

Hello Chris,

I hope that it is just brumation also. There is nothing wrong with periodically checking on him. It might aggravate him some, but shouldn't totally disturb him either.
I know, it is hard not to worry about them, especially with what has been going on with him lately though. So he just seems sleepy all of the time now? It is the time of year for brumation though.
Keep us posted on Zilla.

Tracie

I think Zilla is offically brumating. He's been in his cave since mid-day yesterday. I've been checking on him and he's still alive. When I remove his cave, he opens his eyes and glares at me. Now that I think of it, he drank a ton of water during his Sunday AM bath. In fact, he put his head down in the water and drank for about 15 minutes straight. I guess he was planning this! He knew that he needed the water for Monday's start of brumation.

With all of his recent health issues, I'm going to have to keep a good eye on his weight. Never a dull moment with a dragon in the house!

Chris