Please help! Beardie just 'not right'

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice. My beardie hasn't been 100% right this week. Some background....

A few months back I took him to see the vet because I was worried about his poo not looking right, turned out he had pinworms. He was treated with panacur for 4 weeks and he went back to normal. He was sadly also diagnosed with cryptosporidium but it appears to be dormant.

Anyway, for the last week I have been noticing some odd behaviour - his colours are very dark, he isn't basking anywhere near as much as before, his poos are very runny and infrequent again and stink to high heaven. These are all exactly the same symptoms as the last time he had worms. Incidentally, his appetite is ferocious as always so luckily no concerns there but....

He's doing this really weird thing with his mouth keeping it constantly slightly open. It's not like he's gaping to regulate temp. He's also sleeping in the day and spending time in his hide -two things he never does. He has also started drinking water which again is something he never does! He's never seemed to be dehydrated and in fact normally wastes a little puddle of fluid with each bowel movement which I understand to be excess hydration and nothing to be concerned about.

I took him to the vet on Thursday, he weighed him and said he has gained 140g since his last bout of worms (he was 320g now 460g - he was 1 year old in September) which he said was good and he gave him a physical exam and said all looked fine other than that he looked pale judging by inside of his mouth. Vet did note as well that his colours were dark. We have sent a fecal away for a full screening which I am awaiting the result. Vet recommend we start panacur again straight away as it does appear to be worms again.

I can't stop worrying though about his mouth gaping and water drinking. I'm really worried he's suffering from something more sinister that pinworms. Can anyone help me make sense of all his symptoms? I should get fecal results on Monday but I just can't stop worrying in the meantime.

Hi there, what exactly is his diet ? It's good that he's eating so well, that's very important. When you say he was on Panacur for 4 weeks, was that every day ? That's a long time on medication, I would wait for the fecal results before putting him back on....this can dehydrate him and probably why he's drinking more. Also curious as to why the vet needs to send the poo sample away, pinworms would be easy to detect at the clinic.

Hi,
Diet- he's a naughty boy with his greens, will only eat small amounts and only rocket, watercress and small bits of butternut squash. Live food he eats locusts which I gut load with fresh greens, Phoenix worms and a small number of morio worms as a treat.
Panacur- 0.12ml once every 7 days for 4 weeks (same treatment as before but slightly higher dose to account for being bigger)
Fecal-my vets don't like to do a floatation test abe prefer to send the sample away for a full analysis-that's how we come to find out that he has crypto (something that wouldn't have been detected on a floatation). The vet said a full screening would look for everything rather than just for worms .

It's still better to wait for the results, which is why they should at least check a bit of it right there before advising to medicate. Drugs are harsh and can cause more harm than a light load of parasites....they destroy good gut flora along with the bad. And sending the sample off will mean that it's not fresh, which can distort the true count, possibly causing the bacteria to multiply.

By the way, can you post pics of his poo ?

The last pop went off for testing, I'll take a pic of the next one but might be a couple of days!

I can understand that. But all in all it sounds like he's in pretty good condition.....a good appetite is always a plus, and of course even if he slowed down it would most likely just be the season for brumation when most beardies try to sleep for a while.

Did your vet recommend treating for parasites prior to getting the results of the fecal? I would wait for the results. Treating beforehand makes as much sense to me as giving you a daily antibiotic even if you don't have an infection. There are side effects to every medication so it seems like overkill to treat without results of the test.

Hello,

I agree, I would wait for test results before medicating him again, since he has gone through medication previously it might be too hard on him right now. As stated, they can cause chronic dehydration, too.
When are you expecting the results? He has crypto currently?
It is a possibility of him being anemic perhaps. How often do you give vitamins?
It sounds like he is eating well right now, for the most part. LOL He could be trying to brumate also.

Tracie

Hi, I dust his food twice every day for 5 days, rotating 3 days pure calcium dust and 2 days nutrobal then I give 2 days off.

The vet gave him the first dose of panacur while he was there, I'll know the results before the second dose is due.

Interestingly, he appears to have picked up since having the first dose so maybe it is worms.

Hadn't considered brumation, what would be the signs he is trying and what should I do to help?

Re the crypto, he tested positive a few months back. Vet said it may well be dormant and may stay that way for many years. It highlighted to me that any number of things could cause it to become active. He shows no symptoms of active crypto whatsoever, he is normally a very active and happy chappy! The vet did highlight to me that a large number of BD's can be carriers of dormant crypto and there owners would never know unless they had a full laboratory fecal analysis like we had done.

Here's my boy this morning, still doesn't look 100% himself but definitely an improvement on earlier in the week!

He is a big handsome fellow ! Very beefy, not at any risk at all of being too thin, even looks a bit chunky. I misunderstood how much Panacur he was being given, when I first read your post I thought it said every day for 4 weeks. Once a week is a big difference. Every vet seems to dose differently. Hopefully this will help him out and if he doesn't test positive for worms then that would be great. The Nutrobal is very high strength calcium with D3 so be sure to dust very lightly when you use it. Also be careful that he doesn't develop a burn being so close to the light, if it could be up higher that would be better.

Thank you for that, very reassuring and helpful! I did move his hide lower (its made of those flexi sticks) to move him away from the light a little but he had a total hump and spent three days black as coal until I moved it back when he instantly returned to his usual self. He's just a wee bit spoiled!!

Hello,

He does look good to me, also.
I agree, a once a week treatment for Panacur is actually just about right. Which medication did they give him for the Crypto, do you know?
Brumation is different it seems like for a lot of them, as they all do various things.
Essentially they slow down on their eating overall & basically want to bask less & sleep more, etc.
Right before they want to brumate they only want bugs & stop eating greens for the most part.
Of course, there may be some that do things a little different, as they love to keep us guessing!
Hopefully he feels better so if he did have worms that should take care of it.
Moving the light probably helped him out also.

Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

Did the results of the fecal come in yet?
He sure does look really healthy.
Nice looking dragon