*EMERGENCY* Beardie stiff, barely conscious

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Vilderup

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HELP!! My 2 yo female bearded dragon has suddenly, within 1 hours become totally stiff, looking upwards(see picture). She has been sick with a variety of different diseases for over ½ a year now, while being treated for one, another came up. She has been healthy for any infectious diseases, of what we know. Only things left before this happened, was some pain in her cloacal opening, aswell as some articular gout, perhaps from a bad kidney.
She can not move, bends over to one side, one leg (the one in the same side as the stomach) hard and stiff. She has trouble breathing, gasping for air. Barely conscious. Red/brown fluid coming from the mouth. Her beard is very black, aswell as her "shoulder pads" or whatever they are called. She is suddenly also VERY yellow (normally grey/red)..
I think she has been suffering from an impaction, which is why I have been giving her daily warm baths and olive oil, aswell has plenty of vitamin and calcium water. She had some sort of paralasyis in her back legs, and has had that for ~1 week, which again, I think is because she is impacted. She has been force fed a few greens, barely no insects, but since she ate a cockroach, she has barely even pooped any solid matter since, again, impaction. If I feel around her stomach, and the other side of her, there are som long, hard lumps going from ribcage almost to the hips. I have tried and tried, but it looks like she is giving up. Dunno if impaction, or just dehydraton or heat stroke since she can barely move out of the basking spot and we found her locked up in the position (see picture) in the basking spot, while the bulb would have heated her head a lot and shined right down her wide open mouth, therefore possible heat stroke/dehydration? WHEN she poops, it's primarily just fluid. I give her about 10-20 mL of water each and every day, also because of her kidney.
Any emergency advice would be nice. I have tried to stimulate her to poop, by carefully inserting a lubricated swab, aswell as slowly and again carefully sprayed some warm, luke water into her cloacal opening.
101468-9343611756.jpg
 

Vilderup

Member
Original Poster
*UPDATE*
She is not as stiff as before, but definitely still stiff. Her head is lower, her right leg is not that stiff anymore and she can move her spine to the sides. She is becoming more "active". Opening her eyes, etc. NOT walking, not even close. No vets are available near me, the closest is 400 km away, who can check her, but because its a holiday in Denmark, the start cost for just coming in is around 2500 DKK = 372 USD.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Ahbd and Tracie drache613 is gonna haft to help on this- Tracie is our vet mod she is on at nite
Karrie
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Oh my, she is in rough rough shape indeed.
Does she have metabolic bone disease too, or just the renal issues? Is she in renal failure
per say or not yet? Is she on allopurinol medication for her kidney problems?
What caused the impaction, a roach? Was it just too large? What are you giving to help
with the impaction? Try giving the olive or coconut oil (just a few drops) mixed with squash or
sweet potato baby food, daily to help move things through.
How close is the basking light to her?
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie
 

Vilderup

Member
Original Poster
Hi,

We had an X-ray taken of her 3 months ago with no signs of MBD, and she never has had MBD, but could now. Her tail has been twitching and hurting for a long time, hence we decided to take an X-ray. So I would say that she just has the renal issues. Her cloacal opening is VERY, VERY sensitive(off course it is, but this much?), even when she does not react to pain anywhere else, she does in her cloacal opening. WHEN she poops, her anus comes out a long way, not nearly a prolapse, because she can pull it back up again. She barely has any muscles left on her legs or front legs for that matter. She has been on a low protein diet, with plenty of squash, kale, sometimes carrots and very few apple pieces and blueberries, aswell as daily supplemented calcium and vitamin water.
I have never ever heard of allopurinol before... We have not had any bloodwork done, because the vet is nearly 100% sure its the kidney, hence the gout. He never mentioned any medication for this, he said they don't have anything for the kidneys in beardies.
Maybe the roach is the problem. We don't know if the roach is the problem. Yesterday we got a little poop out, and it had some parts of the shell of the roach, but no whole roach. The roach was medium size. I couldn't imagine how it would be too large for her, but maybe in her state it was way too big..
Again, we are not sure if it is impaction, or just some sort of dehydration/heat stroke, but for the possible impaction I have given her some droplets of olive oil, vitamin and calcium supplemented water, a lot of warm baths, trying to stimulate her to poop.
The basking light was around 25 cm away from her when we found her in the stiff state. She has not been in the basking light very much since that, only a little now, around 35cm away. It is an ExoTerra All in One 125W bulb. She also has an 18W ExoTerra UV light covering the rest of the terrarium.

Now, she is a little more active, but not in a good way. Sometimes she does not want her front legs to be as normal, but bent backwards, she does this herself. She can not lift her body, nor her head. A slight tint of red is in the water that sometimes comes out her mouth... She is a little bloated it seems, however she can finally move her legs a little (could not before this happened) and she can actually look around now, instead of her eyes being "locked" in one direction, also her eyes are only a little sunken now, much better than before. Her head sometimes twitches, she also looks like she is trying to yawn, but can't. Also makes swallowing movements. She did a tiny, and I mean tiny little poop in her bath this morning, no reddish color what so ever, just grey/white/brown. It was not a normal poop however, not hard, but a little loose, did not stick together. Weird "tadpole" shaped thing in her poop (NOT ALIVE!!! :lol:) Not hard, but soft. She is still VERY discolored, very light yellow, with very black spots under beard and on the shoulders. End of tail also brown. If I give her water, she also drinks it now, instead of doing nothing. If I look at her belly, it also seems like in her stomach area, there's a small bulge, which could indicate that it is "just" an impaction. I have tried rubbing and rubbing, giving all the things mentioned earlier, and still no luck. If she does not have the strength to push herself, it will be hard.

Since she has been sick for over ½ a year now, we are thinking it might be time to euthanize her, since she looks like she is giving up... :cry: She was recovering very well a few months ago, but then the gout came, aswell as the renal issues and since then it has been going downhill again. She has had parasites, mouth rot, emergency surgery for some tail removal since she had tail rot, now gout and some renal issues (maybe impaction). It is also holiday in Denmark today, so I can't go to the vet... :roll: I will be going to the vet tomorrow (if the reptile vet is at work), and I will update you on what happens. Maybe we can help her or it is time to say stop, since it seems Chili is saying stop now

It is just sad to see. 30 hours ago, she was crawling (the best she can) out in our backyard, exploring, licking everything together with her sister Sandy (who is and always has been very healthy and energetic :D)
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

I am afraid to ask how she is doing this evening?
That is strange that no blood tests ever done on her to determine renal issues? Allopurinol
is routinely used for gout in reptiles. Depending on the case, it is very effective.
Since you are going to be going to a reptile vet, maybe you should inquire about the meds,
just to see what he/she thinks about that.
Do you feel that she is giving up, or is she getting better at all? It is very sad that she has
declined so quickly within the last couple of days.
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie
 

Vilderup

Member
Original Poster
*UPDATE*

Hi again. Today she was at the vet, but with this pandemic, I was not allowed to enter the examination room with her. The vet was very busy today, and also tomorrow, but since this is quite serious, we got a time, where he would quickly examine her.
However, we got an X-ray taken, which was very positive, since there are no signs of MBD nor impaction. In fact, her stomach is almost empty with her fat deposits almost depleted, not good off course, but it is hard to get her to eat these last 24 hours. We are trying, but she keeps spitting it out. We got a small dubia down, along some green kale, squash and little bell pepper/blueberry, and lots of supplemented water. She is still lifeless, no power what so ever to lift her head or anything, something she was capable of before all this. We have implemented a "Eat, drink, sleep" schedule for her. Eat and drink some times during the day, where she will be under the basking lamp for a small while, get warm and then be moved to her bed (she falls asleep very quickly on her own bed, than in her terrarium or anywhere else, quite weird but cute. She has the best personality :lol:.
Some bloodwork was also done, however that off course takes some time, and I will get back to you later with the results. I was also not able to ask about this "allopurinol" but I have a phone time with the vet tomorrow, where I will ask the vet about it.

So, all in all she is still VERY weak, does not want to eat, but she will drink (has trouble swallowing, sometimes it comes out again after some time, also a lot of spit/slime?). Her color is very slowly becoming more normal, but not a lot. She is not as black as before, and definitely not stiff at all anymore. My theory is, that since the terrarium was very hot at the time, and she was extraordinarily hot when we found her(like hot sand that has been in the sun for hours...) is that she suffered from a heat stroke and possibly a dehydration(we have another healthy beardie, Sandy, which can stay in the basking area for hours, and almost look like she is just sunbathing at that point. She is definitely hydrated since her poop always contains a lot of water, despite us not giving her any, therefore she can stay in the "sun" for longer I suppose?), and she needs time to overcome it and regain her strength, since she had cramps and strokelike symptoms for over 3 hours, gasping for air. Daily baths (between 3-5 baths each day, spread out) are also given to her.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

That is really good to hear she is hanging in there, poor girl!
So she is eating a little bit, along with getting oral fluids too? Bless her. I hope that things
begin to turn around for her, it seems like she is really trying. Keep her stress free as much
as possible, but it sounds like she is already taking it easy so that's good.
I am amazed, but at least she still has a great personality. Definitely post the blood test
results for us when you get them in! Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie
 

Vilderup

Member
Original Poster
*UPDATE*

Hello all again, I am sorry to announce, that Chili has contracted GNT cancer. The vet said, that there is not really much we can do, other than try to give her time to see if it gets better. The glucose levels were super high, while her kidney stats were totally fine, gout was just a side effect, aswell as the renal issues.

I am completely devastated to hear these news, I don't know what to do or say. We will give her to monday, to see if her condition improves, if not, we will put her down sadly... I don't want her to suffer any longer. It's been over ½ a year with pain, medication, restrictions to what she can do, etc. She will also just miss my graduation, since I will be graduating in less than a month. I really hoped that, since she has helped me a lot through that education, the past 2 way too short years of her life. Her birthday is the 29th of March.

Why could it not "just" have been gout, that needed some rest and medicine, why did it have to be cancer... :( I know it happens, and also more frequently, but why my Chili, she is just such a caring girl. She always cuddled up beside me, I loved her and still will forever.

I have included some videos of her throughout her life, when small, to an adolescent, to sick, but slowly recovering. All the good memories I had with her will be remembered, Chili will be remembered. Atleast I still have my healthy beardie Sandy who might be able to cheer me up just a bit... :cry:. Enjoy:
Chili and Sandy a few days after I got them both. Chili is the one at the bottom, Sandy at the top. (the sand is long gone, don't worry :))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wn8B0mz9mE
Nice sleeping spot...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lPmRJZpbVI&feature=youtu.be
First time she chased a dubia roach in the last 4 months of recovery from parasites, mouthrot and tailrot(Sad part is, this was ~1 month ago):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_2DOuhhdrw&feature=youtu.be
Dubia roach pulled a sneaky on Chili(That look: "Where did it go!?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8LeFIdvnW0&feature=youtu.be
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
I'm so sorry to hear that you are losing your girl Chili. :( It sounds like she will not last much longer at all, so it's your decision if you want to put her down now or not. You'll have the memories and your other girl Sandy. Still, it's very hard to get this sad diagnosis. My sincere condolences to you.
 

Vilderup

Member
Original Poster
Thank you AHBD

I will see how she has improved over the course of the next couple of days until monday. If just a slight improvement, we will wait a little and see. Chili has been through A LOT, and keeps fighting, so we will give her a small chance. She has been on deaths door too many times already, but always fought her way up and away from the grave. I will update you all on the situation later, maybe first on Monday. I need some time to rest and to think.

Again, thank you all. Have a nice day :)
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
You're welcome. I enjoyed the video of them as youngsters eagerly chasing the dubia's. :) And Chili still going after them despite her ill health. One suggestion, cut the baths out to every other day, 3-5 is way too much time in water and they actually hydrate orally, not through the vent.
 

Vilderup

Member
Original Poster
Yes, I have cut down on the baths. 1 every other day? I give her a daily bath now :D It was in fear of the possible heat stroke :)
 

Vilderup

Member
Original Poster
Hi all.

I am sorry to announce, that Chili, this morning, at 13:25 danish time CEST, passed away, with me and Sandy at her side.

She is now totally limb, closed eyes, not breathing and has turned very dark all over her body, sleep well my dear. :cry:

We will be burying her at some point in the next 24 hours.

Thank you all again.
 
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