I've just been told my beardie has Cryptosporidium

Hi all, I'm so upset. I've just had the hombshell delivered by my vet that my beardie has cryptosporidium.

I took him to the vet last week as I was concerned his stools were very loose and contained a greyish mucous and he seemed to be darker in colour than usual with all of his stress markings very visible. The vet gave him a physical examination and said he looked completely fine but advised a fecal. The fecal came back today saying he has pinworms and cryptosporidium. The vet has prescribed a course of worm treatment to take for the next 4 weeks to clear the worms but he said there is no cure for the cryptosporidium. He said we wouldn't know until the wormer treatment is finished if the symptoms are due to the worms or the cryptosporidium.

I am crying as I write this as the vet really couldn't give me any glimmer of hope and everything I have read on the Internet has frightened me to death.

The vet doesn't know if the cryptosporidium is dormant or active, just that its "present". He said there's evidence to suggest many beardies carry cryptosporidium dormantly and that it would never be detected were it not for a fecal.

Can anyone please advise me-is there anything I can do? Is it as bad as the vet suggests and, as frightened as I am to ask, what will happen to my little guy??

Hi there, sorry to hear this about your dragon, but it seems that some carry it without becoming very ill or even symptomatic. The drug of choice is paramomycin, ask your vet about that ASAP. Here is an article about juvenile beardies in a study that had it, were treated with paramomycin and remained symptom free.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj0gYqRxMvNAhXDcj4KHfLRBTkQFggqMAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjherpmedsurg.com%2Fdoi%2Fabs%2F10.5818%2F1529-9651-21.1.10&usg=AFQjCNH39QKtkf15EFRQwXxQSHimcB6khA&sig2=4YvHyOlBHT4_Z90VU9m1cQ

Best wishes for a good outcome !

Hello,

I am sorry to hear your dragon has cryptosporidium, that is too bad. Are you going to start him on medication specifically for that, along with the dewormed?
I would also recommend starting him on a probiotic, too just to help balance the system out.
Is he eating very well? I would also keep him around 80 or so overnight to help boost the immune system.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

On April 21 you posted:

"He poos once every couple of days and I'm worried that it isn't right as its very loose. The urates are there and intact but the black poo had no form whatsoever and stinks to high heaven! Am I just worrying about nothing or should I be concerned??"

I am guessing that your vet wants to treat the pinworms first since he has been apparently having poo issues for 2 months--since April 21. If this were an active crypto infection your lizard would probably be dead by now (the fact that your lIzard is still holding his own after 2 months lets you know he is a fighter). It would not hurt to ask the vet about the medicine mentioned by AHBD and to explain further his reasoning on the treatment.

Just in case he stops eating, I would get a vet grade critical care feeding formula and a syringe for hand feeding, in case it turns out to be active cyrpto he will need the nutritional suppport. Most exotic vet offices will have it on hand. Probiotics as mentioned in previous posts wouldn't hurt. Keep your dragon at the higher end of the acceptable temp range for his age while undergoing treatment and meticulously clean up all poo, cage, and cage assessories. You may wish to switch over to paper towels for substrate.

Hi all,

Thanks for your replies. He is having treatment for the worms but my vet has told me that he is not able to obtain anything in the uk for the treatment of cryptosporidium. I do trust he is telling me things accruately, he is the exotic species rep for a large zoo nearby.

In terms of his general health ziggy is absolutely fine. He has a voracious appetite and eats a good selection of live foods (locusts, Morio worms, Phoenix worms and crickets) and a good selection of fresh greens and dried flowers. His live food is dusted daily with calcium and twice weekly dusted with nutrobal. He is active all day long and sleeps soundly at night. I bathe him every other day and that is the only place he will poo so Viv hygiene isn't too much of a concern. I do however deep clean the Viv every 4 weeks anyway. Im confident that the Viv set up is right but I do have a total lights out set up that goes off at 9pm until 7am. In the day my Viv temps are 40-50c at the basking end and 26 at cool end and the lowest night time temp according to my stat which records 24-hour temps is 19c although the average is about 21.

Regarding my previous post about loose stools, that seemed to be a blip for about 2 weeks and then he went back to 'normal' poos. It was about 2 weeks ago again that I noticed they went a bit weird which is why, as it was the second occurrence in a short space, I thought I would get it checked.

I'm hoping any praying that the crypto is dormant as he really is very healthy in every other sense. Everything crossed the poo problems and his moody markings were just a result of the worms. Only time will tell I suppose.

Here he is watching me while I type my reply

and here he is posing in his favourite spot this morning after scoffing a belly full of locusts!

Am I being stupid and naïve in thinking he doesn't look at all unhealthy???

And just on the issue of the antibiotics, I intend to fully research the drug suggested and will be booking an appointment to see the vet again once the worming treatment is finished (4 weeks from yesterday) to ask for a second fecal to be done to check the worms have gone and to discuss this antibiotic option.

He does look the picture of health ! Very robust and if he has a great appetite, that's a bonus ! Difd the vet say how high the pinworm count is ? I'd be wary of putting him on 4 weeks of dewormer , that can affect his appetite, stress can set in and then the crypto can possibly take a foothold. Personally I'd leave well enough alone.

Hello,

I agree, treating for worms may not be necessary to deworm him if his levels were low. Since he looks very healthy & is eating he might not need any meds right now.
He has a nice beardie belly indeed.
How is he doing today?

Tracie

Hi, I don't know what the work count was but I will phone the vets this morning and ask them to tell me.

The treatment is 0.1ml panacur suspension once every 7 days for 4 weeks. Does this seem excessive?

When you say stress do you mean the stress of administering the drug? If so, then he isn't at all bothered! He's as daft as they come and will let me do anything to him!

It's such a difficulty knowing what to do for the best as the vet said if you leave the worms the stress that could put him under could lower his immune system and allow the crypto to take hold but everyone here says the drugs to treat the worms could do that. Feels like I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't!

As soon as I know the worm count I will post and would be grateful for your opinions. Thank you all so much for your advice so fat. Today's job is also to find a probiotic I can start supplementing him with. I'll do anything and everything I can to keep this crypto at bay for as long as I possibly can.

Crypto is nasty stuff when its not latent or in remission. It may never give your dragon any problems if it doesn't become active. It is treatable if it becomes active, however it doesn't work most of the time.
If you have any other reptiles keep your dragon under quarantine conditions.
Sorry your dragon is carrying crypto

That's great that he takes meds. so easily . That in itself may not stress him at all, but a lot of dragons will stop eating while on meds., plus the meds. can wipe out a lot of the beneficial gut flora and that can weaken his immune system. So it's your choice, he may do well either way. Do what you feel is best, and I wish you the very best.