Acting like he has MBD

[EllenD]

Yeah definitely not impaction based on the fact that he's pooping, not straining, and the way his legs are flipping around...He looks completely healthy except for his legs and lack of appetite. This one is weird...

It's not unusual that he had no appetite prior to starting antibiotics for coccidia because he had coccidia, and the antibiotics certainly can cause a lack of appetite during the treatment and then for a bit afterwards, though one dose of an antibiotic for coccidia is odd, was it an oral dose or an injection? The appetite problem I could blame on the coccidia and the antibiotics and I'd tell you to start him on probiotics or soy yogurt daily and you should see his appetite pick up. But there is absolutely no explanation for his legs, as neither coccidia or antibiotics cause paralysis, unless the vet gave him an injection in his spinal column or something like that, but I highly doubt that.

I can't imagine it's MBD, not only is his setup good and he's always been under proper lights, but he doesn't look like a beardie suffering from MBD at all, except for his legs. His size is great and he's not at all stunted, no under bite, his color is great, he just looks good. I'm going to go out on a limb and say his lack of appetite is due to him either not feeling well or him being in pain...Is he black bearding at all? Is it possible he fell off of something or had an accident and hurt himself? That would explain it, if he injured his spine and is having pain which is causing the lack of appetite...

Silly question but are you sure he's a boy? I'm just trying to think of everything, and egg-binding would explain this...

I would suggest an x-ray to check his spine out, and I really hate to say this but also to check for a mass pushing on his spinal column, as a tumor, cyst, abscess, etc. would also explain the paralysis and the lack of appetite...

 

[Vandy]

The medication was given orally. He did have some bigger logs in his cage at one point . I've never seen him fall but he could have . I'm pretty sure hes a boy. Never black beards .

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

He does have a lot of trouble with those back legs, poor thing.
Do you give a multivitamin once or so weekly? There is a product, herptivite which has beta carotene in it along with all of the B vitamins. They can develop a thiamin deficiency which can mimic calcium issues.
I agree, you could get an x-ray done to check for a mass, etc that could be pressing on his spine. He obviously isn't impacted.
Do you have a way of testing the UVB output of the light? Sometimes the lights are not putting out what they should. It is a Reptisun 10 tube, correct?

Tracie

 

[Vandy]

Yup he gets rep cal herptivite 2 days a week. uvb is reptisun and I do not have any way of reading how much uvb it is putting out. It's only 3 months old but I replaced it just to be safe. I will update later today when he wakes up to see how he's doing

 

[Vandy]

Refused to eat again today. Also there is something strange in his poop this morning so warning here comes a poop picture

wondering what that its that is coming out of the urate? It kind of looks like a worm to me ..I have no idea . The fecal that was done about a week and a half ago reveled no worms just coccidia and that would be a big worm so I don't know what to think.

 

[EllenD]

I can't really see the thing in the urates clearly or close enough to even guess what it might be, but I can certainly see that something is there. Was it solid, like a worm or a piece of spaghetti, or was is like a string of mucous? That happens sometimes, and it could also possibly have been a sperm plug that came off when he pooped, but I can't see it well enough to tell. If it's a sperm plug it's completely normal (and confirms he's a boy, lol), they stay stuck on pretty well until someone or something pulls them out/off, so that's possible. I can't imagine that's a worm, it would be huge and usually they're pretty tiny, and especially since he tested negative a week or so ago...

At least you confirmed for certain that he's not impacted at all. How's he doing today? Are his legs the same? I was thinking about him last night, trying to think of anything that this might be. Even if your UVB tube is a bad one, 3 months without UVB typically doesn't cause total paralysis of both back legs, especially sudden total paralysis without any prior symptoms or any other signs of MBD. The sudden paralysis without any other signs of MBD and without any husbandry issues is what leads me to believe he should have an x-ray, because something pressing on the spine will cause sudden paralysis. It's possible he has a growth of some kind that finally became large enough to impinge his spinal cord or the nerves in his lumber area, suddenly causing the paralysis.

You have a vet appointment on Thursday, correct? I'd request an x-ray, it doesn't cost much and doesn't cause him any pain or discomfort, and it can rule out a lot of things, and also should show anything around the spine that shouldn't be there or that is out of place. I'd request that the x-ray be done before anything else, like blood work, if you have to choose one or the other. Blood work would definitely be the next step if the x-ray shows nothing, but the x-ray will not only show any masses or injuries to the spine, but it will also show whether or not he has and bone density issues and will rule out MBD.

 

[Vandy]

He's still not doing good. It sounds like a X-ray is a must and could answer some questions. I'm going to take him tonight and I'll post what we find. Thanks

 

[EllenD]

Good, I'm glad you're taking him now, there is something very wrong and the sooner you figure it out the better.

Keep us posted. Good luck...

 

[Vandy]

X-rays turned up nothing. Good bone density and nothing to be seen as far as a injury or growth of any kind or anything that would be causing him to loose mobility Waiting on results from some blood work now. The vet said if blood work comes back good than he will be completely stumped and just say That's the way he's going to be even though it pretty much happened randomly over night and to just keep working on trying to get his appetite back. So that's where I'm at and it doesn't make any sense to me. But if he's healthy and can start eating in his own again and just has wonky back legs with no pain than I will be ok with that .

 

[EllenD]

Wow, what a bizarre situation. I hope that the blood work shows something simple that can be fixed, because the makes absolutely no sense... Tracie may have thoughts... Keep us posted on the blood work...

 

[neilkd21]

That's very strange how it all of a sudden happened. Hopefully the bloods show something fixable.

 

[EllenD]

Did they give you a digital copy of the x-ray? Usually they will send it to you through email if you ask. It's worth posting his x-ray on here so that Tracie can take a look at it to see if anything jumps out to her. A lot of people have done this with great results.

 

[Vandy]

I can see if I can get a digital copy. He hasn't called yet about the blood work. Dragon refused food again today. But I did take out the reptisun t8 10. And put in the new 3 foot t5 reptisun 10

So I have it about 11 -12 inches from his basking spot is this good or does it need to be farther??

 

[EllenD]

No, the T5 should be at about 11 inches do it's perfect. That's a great UVB light, if this is UVB related you should see a change pretty quickly, but I still can't imagine that it is. The Reptisun 10.0 T8 is also a great UVB tube, I've strictly used them for years mounted inside the enclosures at about 7-8 inches and never even had a twitch. Your lighting, temps, supplementation, all is perfect. It just makes no sense, lack of appetite and back leg paralysis, yet the x-ray shows good bone density?

The only other thing I can think of is if it had something to do with Vitamin B deficiency, or some kind of endocrine disease like hyperparathyroidism. The symptoms of these can mimic those of MBD, but they too are typically caused by insufficient lighting and temperatures. The blood work should pick up anything like that, as well as any signs of an infection, which would explain the loss of appetite but not the back legs.

Did the back legs gradually go limp, or was it a sudden thing?

And yes, I'd ask them to email you the x-ray so you can post it and let Tracie look at it. Sometimes vets who don't often look at beardie x-rays can miss things, some aren't completely familiar with their anatomy enough to notice things.

 

[Vandy]

the back leg thing was very strange. One day he was fine and the next he was walking on them wrong. I've had him since he was a baby and he's never had health issues until now. Nothing will bring his appetite back I've tried probiotics and repta boost. Vet says he's healthy and not in pain and only time will tell