Beardie's white cells - heterophils high. HELP!

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Jenny89BD

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Hello,

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I took Dino to the vet because he lost weight. He was around 675 g and got down to 600 g. He is almost 5 years old and 22 inches. He is range free(has his cage on the floor next to the sliding glas door), 10 uvb Reptisun, 100 w basking light. His substrate is stone(from Petco). I will post a picture with his setup. I know everyone has their opinions on free range, but it is what it is at the moment.. I have no one else living with me, no other pet and I have a camera to see if he spends too much time out of the terrarium.. I think he is happy with his freedom. My apartment is always above 75 f as I am cold natured also.
He was in brumation, but when he was back to his active self, he was not eating as much..
*2-4 superworms twice a week
*crickets every once in a while and those would be 2-10 crickets.
*he wouldn't say no to wax worms and hornworms. *Dubias were untouched.
*He always has a fresh plate of collard, mustard and kale with yellow and red pepper, and berries a few times a week(which he doesn't touch).

The vet did an xray, lab/blood work, stool test. While waiting for the results, she gave him calcium at home.
The results came back:
*potassium meq/l
Dino - 7(high) range 2.6-6.1
*differential heterophils /μL
Dino - 6600(absolute 66%) range 1146-6238

Those are the two abnormal ones. Doctor said to put him on Baytril(0.3 mg/once a day for 14 days). She said maybe infection or inflammation.
I've read so many horror stories about bearded dragons on Baytril.. I don't know what to do... I am devastated..
I take him every year to the vet and everytime they say he's a healthy, curious boy..

He seems so happy for the past week. He has been eating 10 superworms one day, next day 20 crickets plus a hornworm, the other day he had wax worms and a small hornworm(I know.. they shouldn't be fed that many, but I didn't know what to do until I heard back from the vet..)
He is active. Staying in his terrarium as always, he only takes a lap of the living room, and goes back to his basking spot.. his beard is always white and he is alert.. but he dropped another 15 g..
No environment changes, nothing new to make him stress out..

What should I do..? I don't want to hurt him.. he is my baby :(

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Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

He looks really good in the pictures, by the way & has great size.
Free roam is great, so long as he basks enough. I have had dragons in the past that had
free roam & I never had any trouble.
Do you happen to have the blood test copy you could post? I would love to see the rest of
the values if possible!
How long has he been out of brumation? Sometimes their levels are slightly off during their
brumation phases since their body's metabolism is different than when they aren't brumating.
When is the fecal exam due back in? For the moment, I would hold off on the baytril until
you figure out if there is infection or not. Instead of having an infection, he may just have a
heavy load of worms or parasites which can cause weight loss, etc.
How much calcium have you been giving him?
How many insects does he eat weekly, on average? If he isn't eating any greens then you
could try giving some slurries mixed with blended greens, sweet potato baby food or squash
baby food a few times weekly for help with extra nutrition.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie
 

Jenny89BD

New member
Original Poster
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Thank you so, so much for your reply. Here are some pics of the lab work and dr.'s notes.

Fecal came back good(no parasites), his xrays are good.

He was out of brumation I'd say beginning of February.

He used to eat 10-15 superworms every other day, crickets maybe once a week, depending on his mood, 10-15 waxworms a week. This is just a big picture of what his usually mood was for food.

Now he finally started eating again a week ago. One day 10 superworms, next day 20 crickets plus a hornworm, day after some wax worms and a small hornworm.

He doesn't touch his veggies now.. he used to be all about the veggies. I'm making some blended greens with squash.
Do you know which sweet potato baby food I should get?

The past 3 days he ate just a few 3/4" superworms and he ate,of course hornworms and wax worms. At this point, I'm giving him anything that he wants to eat so he won't drop more weight.
His poops are a little bit more watery(still solid with white urate, but more water around them) but it's probably from the hornworms and him asking me for more water:)

I just bought some ReptaBoost and some Bene-Bac Plus gel for reptiles. Should I give him the Bene-Bac or that just goes with the antibiotic if I start it?

Also, he hasn't been basking as much. He runs through the living room more and hangs out on the rug). He does stay in his cage anywhere from 3-6 hours and for the most part he is sitting under the basking light, especially after he eats. Should I switch to a lower wattage bulb? Maybe he is too sensitive now and wants less heat than usual?

Thank you again so, so much for replying. This means the world! We all know how hard we try to do what's best for our beadies and it is so hard because they can't let us know too much when something is wrong, especially mine since he always has a white beard and he is so active.

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Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

How is your boy Dino doing?
Have you started the Baytril yet? You can start the benebac gel anytime & continue it during
the medication cycle if you do the antibiotics. The Reptaboost should hopefully help out for
nutrition, too.
Since he is an adult he wont need more than 30-40 insects per week.
That is good news he doesn't have worms or parasites then, so that shouldn't be part of the
issues of weight loss. Hopefully he is just a little sluggish from a nutritional problem perhaps.
You can lower his basking temperatures to a range of 95-100. Adults can sometimes develop
a preference for lower basking temperatures as they get older.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie
 

Jenny89BD

New member
Original Poster
Hello!
Dino is refusing to eat anything else but hornworms and waxworms. I have been giving him slurries, he does not like them and scratches his head on the basking rock.. he hides after maximum 2 hours of basking and goes to sleep. Tomorrow I am starting the antibiotic. I am scared but I think I did everything that I could to avoid medication. He dropped another 10 grams.
When I was giving him a bath today, I noticed his femoral pores being swollen. Maybe that's why his heterophils came back high and why he is feeling like this. :(

Dino sitting straight with tail towards back
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Trying to lift the swollen area so it's more visible
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