My beardie Vlad was confirmed with gout roughly 2 months ago from a vet. It seems to still be in the acute stage because only one arm has been affected. I'm just trying to get out in front of this before it becomes to severe. The uric crystal deposits are around his left elbow and this is also causing significant swelling to his arm. Fortunately he has been and is still extremely active with no major signs of discomfort. A bunch of tests were done and his uric acid levels, or whatever is being measured, came back at a 10.5 ( I forget what unit that would be in) and the vet said that it is in that middle stage where 5 and under is normal and 20+ is severe. This was a couple months ago, so I can only imagine it has gotten somewhat worse because the deposit continues to grow. The tests on his organs came back fine and we believe the culprit is a too heavy of a dubia roach diet because of how high in protein they are. At the time the vet prescribed Metacam to help alleviate some pain which is now been used up. The vet suggested we come back in a month to get retested, but after $500 in vet bills because of all the tests (x-ray, blood, parasite, etc) and our older female needing looked at, we have put that temporarily on hold
Some info on Vlad and setup:
He is rougly 8 months old and his diet has now gone from 15+ / day down to 4-5 every other day. He eats a rotating mixture of turnip and mustard greens, yams, zucchini, escarole, bell pepper, apple, blueberry and papaya. The greens and escarole are more staples while the veggies get rotated and the fruits mixed in slightly less frequently. As a treat he gets superworms, but not all that often. Insects or greens are calcium dusted 5 or so times a week with the other days usually being dusted with vitamins (Reptical and Reptivite). He is bathed at length maybe 1-2 times a week with some other short baths given when he makes a mess of himself. His cage is 48x20x13 (I don't know gallons), but this is a fairly new cage. Old cage was a 20 gallon long. His cage's temperature range is 83f-100f with a flourescent tube running half the length for uvb and a basking bulb used for heating. Like I mentioned earlier the vet found no kidney failure and that is why a high protein diet is suspected to be the culprit and most of the research I have been finding almost exclusively points to the kidneys failing as the cause, so I don't know if a different approach is needed or not. I fear lowering the roach count more or ending it indefinitely because of how young he still is, but he does do work on his salad daily even though you can see how pissed he is that he isn't getting his protein!
Please ask if more information is needed and any and all help is greatly appreciated!
Some info on Vlad and setup:
He is rougly 8 months old and his diet has now gone from 15+ / day down to 4-5 every other day. He eats a rotating mixture of turnip and mustard greens, yams, zucchini, escarole, bell pepper, apple, blueberry and papaya. The greens and escarole are more staples while the veggies get rotated and the fruits mixed in slightly less frequently. As a treat he gets superworms, but not all that often. Insects or greens are calcium dusted 5 or so times a week with the other days usually being dusted with vitamins (Reptical and Reptivite). He is bathed at length maybe 1-2 times a week with some other short baths given when he makes a mess of himself. His cage is 48x20x13 (I don't know gallons), but this is a fairly new cage. Old cage was a 20 gallon long. His cage's temperature range is 83f-100f with a flourescent tube running half the length for uvb and a basking bulb used for heating. Like I mentioned earlier the vet found no kidney failure and that is why a high protein diet is suspected to be the culprit and most of the research I have been finding almost exclusively points to the kidneys failing as the cause, so I don't know if a different approach is needed or not. I fear lowering the roach count more or ending it indefinitely because of how young he still is, but he does do work on his salad daily even though you can see how pissed he is that he isn't getting his protein!
Please ask if more information is needed and any and all help is greatly appreciated!
At least he doesn't have any mobility issues yet, that's a good sign. I am happy he loves his black cherry juice also, it's good for him.
