Juvenile Beardie in Kidney Failure

Thanks Tracie.

I have been using ReptiCalcium without D3 from ZooMed the longest. I just got Repashy Multivitamin a few weeks ago, and I got Repashy Calcium Plus a couple days ago. I don't really feel like I've overdone it with the supplements considering he's not a huge eater, but I can definitely cut back when he gets home.

I should be getting him back today after they rerun his bloodwork following the subcutaneous fluids he received last night. I will ask for a copy of his bloodwork for continued research into the issue.

Here's a pic of his enclosure. I have been using the Reptisun 10.0 T8 mounted inside the tank since about a week after I got him (early September).
His cool temp is 70-75, hot side ambient temp is around 85, different levels of basking are between 95 and 110. At night it drops to 70.

Humidity is between 20-40 during the day, 40-60 at night.

Diet consists primarily of dubia roaches but I also feed him BSFL and butter worms once or twice a week. Bugs are fed twice a day. I leave his greens in all day between bug feedings, those are collard or turnip, strawberry or sweet potato occasionally but not more than once a week.

I don't give him a water dish for fear of drowning and increasing humidity, but I spray his greens with water every day. I do this both to keep his greens moist and also to give him a layer of water to drink if he desires. The vet didn't think he was dehydrated, neither did I really.

Daily poops are firm and digested, moist not too dry or wet. Urates are present each time and white. Occasionally a little dry but not discolored.

Despite all of this he is growing, shedding, and otherwise normal. The vet said although his body is a good, normal size, he's mostly fat because he doesn't move around a lot due to his difficulty walking around. I'm thinking that I will reduce the height of things in his enclosure today, not because he can't safely climb/get down but rather to encourage more activity. He's never been super active though, I imagine because it is tiring for him to walk much the way he does.

His enclosure looks very nicely done. I don't know that it would be good to change things since that can cause stress. Will he move around if you take him out in a nice warm room [ closely supervised ] or out in the yard if it's warm ?

Thanks. I think I'm going to leave his enclosure as is for now, just lower the hammock a bit. He doesn't fall off of it and can climb onto it okay, so changing it up is lower on the priority list for now.

I picked him up today and he's his normal friendly self. We are going to rerun blood work Friday after a couple days of treatment. He's going to get 3ml of saline subcutaneously 2x day and .1 ml of allopurinol 1x day until then and go from there. No diagnosis is likely, just working towards lowering uric acid for now. The vet believes this is something he's had all along which is why he doesn't have any real symptoms. She thinks the legs and kidneys are somehow tied together though.

Here's a picture of his bloodwork yesterday:


And here he is today, happy to be home:

Hi there,

Thanks for posting the blood tests. Tracie was right, it was the uric acid levels.

Unfortunately it's something that can happen (or be exaggerated) by feeding mainly dubia roaches. Dubia roaches are very high in uric acid as they store and hold onto it unlike other insects. For the time being at least I'd cut out the dubia roaches and try a different staple feeder.

-Brandon

Thanks Brandon. That's what I was thinking too. I think more BSFLs should be okay, right? I'd give crickets but he can't really chase after them. I can get more butter worms too, and will look at hornworms tonight.

Also, a quick Google search of high CK levels can indicate muscle wasting and muscular dystrophy. I'm no vet, but to be honest I've kind of thought it could be that as he moves similar to the videos I've seen of beardies with MD. Along with his xray showing that he's mostly fat and not much muscle, I'm curious if this is the case. ? I might bring it up to the vet when we recheck him on Friday, especially if it's still elevated.

Yes bsfl would be fine. If you could get your hands on some silkworms that would be another great option.

Yes the high CK is related to muscle issues but truth be told I dont know much about it. It's not something I've seen or dealt with much myself. I'm sure Tracie can shed some light on it for the both of us.

-Brandon

Hello,

Oh dear, that is extremely high uric acid levels! How is he doing today?
Are you getting fluids into him?
The Creatininekinase Phosphate (sorry, probably didn't spell it right), is directly related
to muscle injury, stress & trauma. Sometimes it will elevate simply from a needle stick
due to a blood draw.
He also could possibly have a parathyroid dysfunction, too.
You are getting another blood test on friday?

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

He's his normal self today too, no change in his behavior so it's still surprising that he has this issue. I gave him his fluids and medicine this morning with no issues. His urates were nearly all water yesterday and today, which I guess is to be expected with all these fluids and him not being dehydrated.

We'll see what bloodwork says tomorrow.

Hello,

That is impressive he is doing so well right now! Bless him.
I was going to ask also about your tube bulb. Is it mounted on top of the screen, or
on the back wall? It looked different in a couple of those pictures.

Tracie

Thanks Tracie! It's a 10.0 T8 so its mounted inside his tank, on the back wall.

Hello,

Terrific, that sounds good then. The T8 Reptisun 10 tube is a nice bulb. Is it mounted
directly overhead also?
Keep us posted on how he is doing.

Tracie

Hi, yes it is overhead. He spends a lot of time within range of the UVB.

His blood recheck on Friday showed uric acid back down to 7, CK was still pretty elevated, and glucose was elevated but the vet thought that was due to being stressed. I'm no longer giving him sub fluids but he is is still getting .1ml of allopurinol 1xday. We will be checking his blood again on the 13th. Throughout all of this he's been the same attitude-wise, and his wonky legs are still wonky. She's fairly confident that won't ever change. Whatever the cause, it's permanent now.

I did ask about the dubias being high in uric acid. She and Dr. T had never heard that and also were hesitant to say that high dietary uric acid correlated with high uric acid in blood work. They are going to do some research on that and let me know at the next visit. In the meantime I'll keep him on fewer dubias and reduced supplements and hopefully his UA will stay down.

Good to hear that he's doing better ! Here is some info on high uric acid in dubias :

https://www.store.repashy.com/can-feeder-insect-diets-contribute-to-gout-in-reptiles.html