Prolapse recovery..constipation enema?

Hey everyone!

So as per my last post, my Beardie prolapsed a week ago. Now she is in the process of recovering, and hasn't pooped since the surgery. She urinated the other day but only a spec of green poop came out.

There is a water dish in her tank that she goes in every day and I have been giving her warm baths in a separate container for 20 mins daily. She is also on a diet of collard greens and is receiving her calcium through her daily medicine of calcionate.

I wanted to try feeding her gerbers baby food squash to make her go because she has had this problem in the past and it seemed to work however the vet did not recommend i switch up her diet right now and stick to just the greens. The vet told me if she doesnt deficate in a few days I should come back and have an enema done.

I have been researching beardie enemas online and have found they can be very stressful and harmful and I really dont want my beardie to have to go through that right now. Plus i am afraid it can be fatal. I thought that enemas should be the last resort and that I should try different foods first.

Just wanted to get everyones opinion, I wouls really appreciate it. Not sure how I can get Draco to poop or if I am doing anything wrong in my care that is causing this constipation.

Thank you!!

I would not give an enema at all, she will go when she's ready to go. BTW, just curious if you decided to feed her collards or the vet ? The real protocol after prolapse is to limit the dragon to all liquid [ but not too much ] for the first 3-4 days, then add soft foods but not too much.

I would avoid the enema for sure but give baby food + liquid and a daily warm bath.

The vet told me to go back to normal greens:/ I didnt like the idea of it at first but two vets told me to do that so I did. I hope it is alright. She lost alot of blood and they wanted her to gain weight following the surgery so maybe thats why, I am not sure. But I will make sure to not go through with the enema, I hate the idea of it.

Thank you very much for the reply.

You're welcome. I'm very surprised they didn't give you Critical Care nutritional supplement. It's highly nutritious and very often prescribed after any type of surgery. You can order some online if you Google " Oxbow Critical Care ".

Another thing you can do is make a slurry of collards and add some bugs for protein. As long as it's nice + soft there shouldn't be a problem and she'll get nutrients. Bee pollen can be added as well.

I agree, she should have just been on liquids and very soft foods like baby food and Critical Care for her blood counts to return, but no greens or insects for the first week. I'd try the baby food with a drop of vegetable oil and the warm soaks daily, she'll go when she wants to go. Surgery itself causes your system to go out of whack, and it's not uncommon to delay a bowel movement. But collard greens are not helping the cause, and could cause her to tear her stitch or prolapse again, so stick to the liquids and soft foods.

And absolutely NO ENEMAS! They often result in the death of the beardie because they literally drown them. This happens with even experienced reptile vets doing the enema, and with just having a prolapse surgery an enema could totally undo what the surgery fixed, if it doesn't kill her first. Plus, she should not be under any more stress after losing a lot of blood during a surgery she only had a week ago. She needs to rest, move around as she wants to, be given lots of hydration and soft/liquid foods, and a nutritional supplement like Oxbow Critical Care should have been prescribed, but not an enema. She'll go this week I'm sure, the fact that she already passed a normal urate with a bit of poop so quickly after the prolapse surgery is a great sign, so just let her do her thing. Sometimes too much vet care can have devastating results, and the whole "bearded dragon enema" thing is a totally unnecessary and completely unsafe procedure that should be reserved for only the most dire impaction and blockage situations as a total last resort, not in your beardie's situation at all...

Okay I will definitely blend her squash and stick to soft foods and liquids. Thank you guys so much. I hate when vets give misinformation like that because now I am stressed that all of the collard greens I gave have hurt her cause and that she might prolapse again due to it.

The vet recommended I go back for her second dose of an injection. She received her first injection during the surgery and they told me to bring her back in ten days for the second. I have an appointment to go this weekend to have that done but I am nervous about causing her too much stress.

Do you think the injection is a good idea if they recommend it to ensure the prolapse wont occur again?

Update: she pooped!! I am soo happy and relieved. Only thing that i am noticing is that the urate (white part of her poop) is slightly a pale pink color. Im not sure it this is related to the recent prolapse or if it is something else. Sorry about the picture

Well that's good, a poo is always a good sign after a prolapse. The pink in nothing to worry about ATM. What type of injection do they want to give her ?

Yay! Poop! Looks good! The pink/red is totally normal right now...Yeah, an injection of what?

Yay!! And i am not sure. I tried calling but the exotic vets arent in on weekends. The lab report for draco says an "antibiotic injection" but thats all it says:/

Hello,

Bless her, she has come through a lot! That is wonderful she finally went to the bathroom,
what a mess. LOL I hope she didn't strain.
I agree, after a surgery, absolutely no enema, that is not safe & not to mention the pain &
distress it would likely cause her!
Why do they feel she needs an antibiotic shot?

Tracie

They are telling me it is standard procedure following a prolapse to ensure the prolapse doesnt occur again. Im going to call tomorrow when they are available and get more information.

I wouldn't give an antibiotic unless she actually needs it, though an injection (though stressful to her while having it done) isn't as problem-causing as oral antibiotics are. I understand antibiotics after a surgical procedure (or during and right directly after, that's standard care), but an antibiotic will not have any bearing on whether she prolapses again at all, and since the surgery was 4 weeks ago she shouldn't need precautionary antibiotics anymore because of the surgery unless she has an active infection, which she doesn't.