2 months w/out pooping - very worries

[WingoDragon]

well, not a great weekend. Wingo is not eating much at all. He actually seems perkier and more alert, but is only interested in basking. He won't drink water when I mist him. He will only eat an occasional meal worm. He is taking his meds well, but spends the next few hours all stressed and black colored. Still no poop.

I called the EMR line at the vets because one afternoon his eyes were all buldged and popped out. I freaked out! While I was waiting for a returned call, I logged on and saw that this site has some info on the eye bulging. It doesn't sound like it's an immediate red flag or anything, but he has never done this before. The vet was not overly concerned. He though it might possible be a reaction to the Baytril, but definitely not the Panacure. He said to keep monitoring him, though.

I hope this ends soon - meaning, I hope he gets better - this is tearing me up inside! I hate to see him in any sort of pain or discomfort.

 

[MissT]

Wyw bulging happens a lot when they are shedding although I have seen both of mine do it at other times. Is wingo getting ready to shed - that might also explain his lack of appetite!

I really do hope things get better soon!

T

 

[WingoDragon]

well, I am very sad to say that there has been no real improvement. I just called the vet and am expecting a returned call any time. no poop. wingo is not very interested in eating. I'm lucky if I can get him to eat 3 meal worms a day. He won't touch his greens - he normally loves blueberries, but won't touch them. After I give him his medicine (panacur finished last night - baytril through Friday), I fill it up with applesauce and force feed him that. He will not drink water when I mist him.

I am heart broken.

 

[WingoDragon]

Ok, we had poop happen last night! I ran a warmer than usual bath for him and lo and behold - out some came. He acted like it really hurt, though, poor guy. After I dried him off and put him back in his tank, I went to clean out the tub and was amazed at all the wood-like looking stuff that had come out and then realized it was walnut shell! There was a TON of it. Poor Wingo.

He is not acting like he feels very good still, but I can imagine that was a painful process to go through. I'm just hoping his appetite and energy come back soon.

 

[MissT]

Well thats great to hear. Keep roughly the same temp and the same applesauce, olive oil and tummy massages. I really think you should continue with liquidised food for a while so he doesnt have to work too hard to pass his poops!

Good luck!

T

 

[WingoDragon]

The vet wants to take an x-ray to see if he has a bunch more shell in there making it too painful to pass more or even impossible to pass more. The x-ray will answer the question of will he improve or not. If not, he says I may have to consider putting him down. I can't even explain how sad I am to hear that. I do not want him to suffer, though, and believe the x-ray will shed light on what the potential future may bring. I love that little guy so much - this is so difficult. And what's worse......it's my fault. I'm the one who put the walnut shell in his tank in the first place. I have no one to blame but myself for his suffering and that hurts.

If he is full of the shell and impacted, the closest reptile surgery place is 6-7 hours away and it is expensive. There is just no way I can afford it.......I'm struggling as it is just to feed my family. What a thing to be up against, huh? Not able to save your pet because of money.

I am hoping for the best with the x-ray outcome, but am having a difficult time staying positive. Thank you so much for your care and help. I will let you know what happens.

 

[MissT]

I believe jaspersmom had a very hard time with calcium sand impaction a few months back on a rescue she had. It took a long time for her beardie to poop on any sort of regular basis. The fact that he has passed a little, gives some hope that he will be able to pass more and continue to improve so please dont give up too soon. Im going to try to PM some of the more experienced members here to see if anyone has any other experiences / expertise to share!

Keep working on the pooping!

T

 

[LJean]

Oh, please don't beat yourself up over it. We all have done some things with our beardies, or have gotten bad advice on what to use that could have been harmful.

Just continue with what you are doing and hopefully he will be able to pass more of it.

Hang in there!

 

[vickson420]

Hi
It looks like you have gotten some wonderful advice so far but I thought I would pop on and add just a few things.First the carefresh/desert snow I have personally used it as well and at first I was happy with it but your going to find it releases alot of little dust particals that get into their eyes and lungs not to mention the glass.It also can start to stink.So I would consider switching out to a solid substrate or if you really want partical sub then the safest thing to us is washed and sifted playsand(NOT reptile sand).Why did the vet give him baytril and panacur?Did he do a fecal?His lack of appetite is going to be from that most likely so as stated make sure you get him on a probiotic,bathe him daily and you could even use clear pedialyte or gatorade to add to the water to help boost him up.While he is in the bath massage the are in a circular motion starting from the armpit and working down towards the vent to help move the impacted materials down and out.I would also start him on babyfood.Squash and applesauce with some olive oil mixed in would help greatly.Most likely you will be able to get him just to lick it voluntarily from a spoon or from his nose otherwise you could forcefeed with a needless syringe.Also did you get the bright white light yet?Did you manage to get your temps under control?What are they now?

-Vicky

 

[WingoDragon]

Great news! His x-ray turned out good. There doesn't appear to be any additional walnut shell in there - there is some poop, but the vet said it looks normal. He said his bones look excellent too - I guess their bones can get in pretty bad shape from lack of food, etc. I am so happy, I could poop! (just kidding)

Wingo is currently soaking in a warm bath and seems to be content.

I removed the Care Fresh - I didn't want to risk anything and I also noticed it left a lot of dust. Currently, until I can get some slate or tile, I am using newspaper.

I got a bright white light and placed it near his ceramic heat lamp - the temp reaches mid-90 to 100 in the warmest basking spot. The vet said that is ok - but it sounds like you all recommend maybe a bit higher?

I'm not sure why the vet gave him panacur and baytril - he did not do a fecal. I will give him his last dose of baytril tonight. He is still only interested in meal worms on his own, but I am getting him to lick some applesauce off my finger/his nose, or I use the needle less syringe.

I plan on giving him lots of TLC and hoping he continues to improve. I never thought it would be possible to love a reptile so much! I can't thank you enough for your concern, your helpfulness, and for this great site. You are awesome!

 

[vickson420]

Oh thats great news.I have another thing to add that I just noticed and you probably wont be happy so let me say sorry in advance.The mealworms carry a huge risk of impaction as well and have almost no nutritional value so I would slow down on giving him those.You could try other worms though like silkworms,butterworms,goliaths,phoenix worms and as a treat wax worms.You can also give superworms as long as he is bigger then 16 inches but intro them slowly to make sure he can handle them and I wouldnt offer those until your way clear of the impaction problems going on.As for the temps 95F-105F is acceptable so as long as your there your good

 

[msmaui]

I'm so happy for you and Wingo that things are starting to improve. I know what a relief it is. Hopefully, he will be back to normal in no time now.

 

[Jasper's Mom]

Hi there! Sorry I'm late chiming in here. I have some experience with a truly horrific impaction as well. It's good that he's pooped most, if not all of the walnut shell out. For right now I would continue keeping him on a soft/liquid diet until you're SURE that he's going normally again. Also, his poor little intestines are probably all banged up from the walnut shell, and a liquid diet will make things easier while he heals. The key here is to keep him really, really well hydrated. You can do this by using a needleless syringe to put water or unflavoured pedialyte in his mouth. You want to go in from the side rather than the front, and syringe it in very slowly - both of these things help prevent the liquid from going down the wrong way. As for food, I would stick with baby food - chicken & vegetables, squash, and apple are all good for this stage of his recovery. You can feed him these by dabbing it on his nose and letting him lick it off, or again by very slowly syringing it into his mouth. You can also add a few drops of olive oil to the baby food just to help everything keep moving smoothly. The important thing to remember is that you'll need to monitor him very closely for quite a while after this. My Cam passed her impaction about three months ago, and I still find that she'll quit pooping if I don't keep her well enough hydrated. I syringe feed her water every day - if I don't, we end up having to make a trip to the vet! Even after you start him back on solid food, you'll want to make sure he's getting enough water. I would wait at for at least two weeks of normal pooping, maybe even longer considering how badly he was impacted, before starting him on solid food. When you do go to solid food, do it slowly - don't just abruptly switch. Gradually reduce the amount of the liquid diet while gradually increasing the amount of solid food to give his system time to get used to it. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

 

[WingoDragon]

do you have any suggestions for the syringe feeding - he HATES it and it's really hard to keep him still enough to even get the syringe emptied into his mouth. I have to really hold his head down and I'm so worried I'm going to hurt him and of course he hisses and turns pitch black from being so pissed at me! I have to release the syringe quickly or he practically bites the dang thing in half. Maybe I need to do it more......and he'll 'get used' to it. Unfortunately, he will ONLY eat worms right now......which isn't exactly soft food. I will get some baby food ASAP.

Question about hydrating him; he is not drinking when I mist him and is actually acting like it bothers him to have the water squirted at him (he has always loved being misted in the past, but not the last few weeks). I have read several sites that say soaking them is a good way to hydrate them - is this true? I guess I don't understand that - do they soak it in through their skin? If they aren't actually drinking from the bath tub, how would it hydrate them? Sorry for the ignorant questions, but I am trying to learn as much as possible.

Thank you so much!

 

[Freeie]

You can bathe a beardie in luke warm water up to their armpits for 20 mins this keeps them hydrated. Everyone does this diffrently I give all my beardies baths everyday time frames are diffrent. Babys get them everyday for 10 mins due to the higher basking temps. Older ones get 20 mins soaking time 3 days a week. The older ones get a bath every morning intill they poo which isnt long usually 2 to 5 mins.They poo in the water that means they dont poo in their vivs if your lucky. One of mine will not poo in his viv he will hold it intill you bathe him. Babys eat so much that they can poo up to 3 to 4 times a day so this wont work intill they hit about 4 to 6 months or intill you notice that they are only going once a day.