TITLE OF ARTICLE: Delineating the cause of a bearded dragon's anorexia and weight loss: a contrast enema study helped clinicians detect an intestinal stricture in this exotic pet.
AUTHORS: Katie W. Delk, David S. Biller and James W. Carpenter
PUBLISHED IN/BY: Veterinary Medicine. 109.3 (Mar. 2014)
FINDINGS: One male bearded dragon, weight ~400g, was brought in due to constipation. The beardie was emaciated, but otherwise "bright and alert". Testing showed blockage in lower GI. Due to body condition, treatment consisted of oral liquids, enema, and soaking. It was noted that soaks were "so the patient could absorb water through the cloaca", something that I understood to be a myth. After 24 hours, the mass was still palpable and the diagnosis of impaction official. After further radiography, surgery was preformed, noting a tickened, fibrous amount of tissue directly below the impaction. Sadly, surgery was unsuccessful due to leaky sutures, resulting in the euthanasia of the patient. Further investigation seemed to indicate that the fibrous growth cinching the intestine was likely the cause of this impaction - no causal organisms were identified. Cause is thought to be previous perforation of the intestine or infection.
TITLE: Two Common Disorders of Captive Bearded Dragons ( Pogona vitticeps): Nutritional Secondary Hyperparathyroidism and Constipation
AUTHOR: Wright, Kevin
PUBLISHED BY/IN: Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine (2008)
FINDINGS: While substrate was mentioned in this article, this paragraph speaks volumes of the author's beliefs regarding constipation:
"Captive bearded dragons suffer from 5 key husbandry errors that I believe promote the transition of this urate mass into an obstruction. First, they are often in a state of chronic subclinical dehydration because clients misunderstand the need of a “desert” lizard for water. Water is withdrawn from the lumen of the colon, causing the walls of the colon to contract down around the urate fluid, thereby removing more water and causing it to form into a solid mass adhered to the colonic mucosa. The other 4 errors all decrease the frequency of defecations and thereby increase the length of time that water can be absorbed from the colonic urate fluid: failure to provide a warm enough hot spot in the environment for a sufficient amount of time leading to slow gastrointestinal peristalsis; feeding insufficient quantities of produce so there is not enough roughage to promote regular defecation; insufficient exercise; and overfeeding, leading to obesity."
Additionally, specific substrates mentioned were walnut shell substrate and calcium sand substrate, NOT regular sand.
This author also suggests treatment of long term soaking - 30 to 120 minutes - followed by enema. Once the dragon has defecated, the stool should be used to determine cause of impaction. This includes the search for parasites and the analysis of stool to look for "substrate present in any quantity".
THIS AUTHOR HAS MANY SUGGESTIONS FOR TREATMENT. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND READING THIS ARTICLE YOURSELF!
