Tail Surgery and Pooping after

lasm":1e6d4ymf said:

Our bearded dragon had tail rot and needed surgery. Prior to the procedure, she was very active and had a healthy appetite. She was pooping normally (one bowel movement every day). Since we've gotten her home she has not pooped.

Here is some information on the timeline:
She did poop on Monday, the day before the procedure.
She had her surgery on Tuesday and they fed her a few meal worms while at the vet after her procedure. <<<< not the best choice of worms to give to her right after surgery IMO , silkworms would have been better .

I am not sure if she pooped that day while at the vet.
Wednesday she did not poop. We fed her a handful of greens.
Thursday she did not poop, but when we took her out of her cage to administer medications, she was very active and hungry. We did feed some crickets since it has really been 3 days since she had a full meal. <<<< it's a simple equation . small volume of solids in , expect a smaller poo or a longer interval between poos .
It's Friday and so far she has not pooped. I know for humans and other animal species, anesthesia can cause delays in returning to normal poop schedules. I just don't now how long until we should be worried. The vet said as long as she poops by Monday she should be fine, but that seems like a long time (5 days) for a beardie who usually poops (a very large poop) every day since we have had her.
She does seem to be a little down, laying down in her cage more frequently since surgery instead of standing perked up. I'm sure it's painful and she is in a quarantine cage which is smaller than her usual set up.
Does this seem normal after surgery? Is there anything that we can try to do to stimulate her to poop. I am hesitant to do a bath because we are supposed to be keeping her tail dry and clean and shes been a little squirmy with all the handling the last few days. Any insight or advice is appreciated.

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kingofnobbys":ccps1z0b said:

lasm":ccps1z0b said:

Our bearded dragon had tail rot and needed surgery. Prior to the procedure, she was very active and had a healthy appetite. She was pooping normally (one bowel movement every day). Since we've gotten her home she has not pooped.

Here is some information on the timeline:
She did poop on Monday, the day before the procedure.
She had her surgery on Tuesday and they fed her a few meal worms while at the vet after her procedure. <<<< not the best choice of worms to give to her right after surgery IMO , silkworms would have been better .

I am not sure if she pooped that day while at the vet.
Wednesday she did not poop. We fed her a handful of greens.
Thursday she did not poop, but when we took her out of her cage to administer medications, she was very active and hungry. We did feed some crickets since it has really been 3 days since she had a full meal. <<<< it's a simple equation . small volume of solids in , expect a smaller poo or a longer interval between poos .
It's Friday and so far she has not pooped. I know for humans and other animal species, anesthesia can cause delays in returning to normal poop schedules. I just don't now how long until we should be worried. The vet said as long as she poops by Monday she should be fine, but that seems like a long time (5 days) for a beardie who usually poops (a very large poop) every day since we have had her.
She does seem to be a little down, laying down in her cage more frequently since surgery instead of standing perked up. I'm sure it's painful and she is in a quarantine cage which is smaller than her usual set up.
Does this seem normal after surgery? Is there anything that we can try to do to stimulate her to poop. I am hesitant to do a bath because we are supposed to be keeping her tail dry and clean and shes been a little squirmy with all the handling the last few days. Any insight or advice is appreciated.

Click to expand...

Poor girl .... I'm not surprised she's not being her normal self after such a major procedure.

How would you feel after major surgery ?

Is she getting regular pain relief injections ?
If not she's really uncomfortable and in agony and needs to be getting pain relief .

Follow the vet surgeon's instructions and if you have concerns call the surgery and discuss them with the vet in charge .

Really, if she goes a week ,even 14 days , without a poo I'd not be overly concerned , especially if the food intake is really low because she's too sore and depressed to bother much with the food.

If she goes 7 days , I'd consider it time to give her olive oil (about 0.4ml) to lubricate her plumbing a bit, then it might take 48hrs for this work it's way to back end, if no poo then, another dose , maybe some prune juice or apple sauce (I hear these are good as mild laxatives).

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lasm":2xx2n9it said:

kingofnobbys":2xx2n9it said:

lasm":2xx2n9it said:

Our bearded dragon had tail rot and needed surgery. Prior to the procedure, she was very active and had a healthy appetite. She was pooping normally (one bowel movement every day). Since we've gotten her home she has not pooped.

Here is some information on the timeline:
She did poop on Monday, the day before the procedure.
She had her surgery on Tuesday and they fed her a few meal worms while at the vet after her procedure. <<<< not the best choice of worms to give to her right after surgery IMO , silkworms would have been better .

I am not sure if she pooped that day while at the vet.
Wednesday she did not poop. We fed her a handful of greens.
Thursday she did not poop, but when we took her out of her cage to administer medications, she was very active and hungry. We did feed some crickets since it has really been 3 days since she had a full meal. <<<< it's a simple equation . small volume of solids in , expect a smaller poo or a longer interval between poos .
It's Friday and so far she has not pooped. I know for humans and other animal species, anesthesia can cause delays in returning to normal poop schedules. I just don't now how long until we should be worried. The vet said as long as she poops by Monday she should be fine, but that seems like a long time (5 days) for a beardie who usually poops (a very large poop) every day since we have had her.
She does seem to be a little down, laying down in her cage more frequently since surgery instead of standing perked up. I'm sure it's painful and she is in a quarantine cage which is smaller than her usual set up.
Does this seem normal after surgery? Is there anything that we can try to do to stimulate her to poop. I am hesitant to do a bath because we are supposed to be keeping her tail dry and clean and shes been a little squirmy with all the handling the last few days. Any insight or advice is appreciated.

Click to expand...

Poor girl .... I'm not surprised she's not being her normal self after such a major procedure.

How would you feel after major surgery ?

Is she getting regular pain relief injections ?
If not she's really uncomfortable and in agony and needs to be getting pain relief .

Follow the vet surgeon's instructions and if you have concerns call the surgery and discuss them with the vet in charge .

Really, if she goes a week ,even 14 days , without a poo I'd not be overly concerned , especially if the food intake is really low because she's too sore and depressed to bother much with the food.

If she goes 7 days , I'd consider it time to give her olive oil (about 0.4ml) to lubricate her plumbing a bit, then it might take 48hrs for this work it's way to back end, if no poo then, another dose , maybe some prune juice or apple sauce (I hear these are good as mild laxatives).

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She is getting an oral pain medication once daily and we are doing injectable antibiotics every 3 days as instructed by the doctor. We are hoping she will start feeling a little better soon. <<< are you sure it's not the other way around - oral antibiotics (likely taste really nasty) and pain relief every injections in the back (above the kidneys and just under the skin) every 3rd day ?

We will just wait it out and see what happens. I had a bearded dragon many years ago who prolapsed after having not had a bowel movement for about 10 days so I am always very cautious about not pooping now. Since I know she is already in pain I am just trying to stay vigilant so her pain and condition does not get any worse.
<<< longest any of pet lizards (I've currently got bluetongue skinks and beardies, and I've also had water skinks) has gone between poos is 14 days, no prolapses here.

silkworms make my gang poo's nice an wet and loose .... I think it's either the mulberry leaves or the chow they've eaten that's inside their guts that has a moderate laxative action, and there are health benefits to giving a reptile silkworms too.
See http://www.chineseherbshealing.com/mulberry-leaf/

Main mulberry leaf medicinal uses ( just relevant extracts )

..

2) Antibacterial effect. Vitro tests showed that fresh mulberry leaves have a strong inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus, beta-hemolytic bacteria, corynebacterium diphtheria, and Bacillus anthracis. In addition, its plant defensin is anti-microbial.

..
..

12) Relaxing the bowels and reducing the swelling. With the action of mulberry leaves, the saccharide that failed to be absorbed by small intestine will be delivered to the large intestine, where with the help of the intestinal microflora it will be broken down into carbon dioxide, hydrogen, butyric acid, propionic acid, acetic acid, lactic acid and other organic acids. As a result, the acidic environment is formed inside and outside of the intestines. As you know, acid can inhibit the proliferation of harmful bacteria and thus improve constipation and bloating. What’s more, it still can reduce edema by removing excess body water.

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and Silkworms also contain an enzyme called serrapeptase which has many beneficial properties: it is an excellent anti-inflammatory and pain reliever, it aids calcium absorption, and it also fights arterial plaque!!


In terms of the meal worms, we do not regularly feed her those. I am assuming it is what the vet had on hand for feeding and they elected to give her some. Since it was just a few and I know we won't be giving any her more I am just going to say she got lucky with an unexpected treat. <<< I'm sure she hovered them down like a kid in a lolly shop ....

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