Bacterial Infection and rock hard Urate

[RhiannonJade]

Hi Everyone!

Hopefully you guys can help me out with this:

Ryu was treated for parasites about 4 months ago and made a full recovery and was back to his normal self, but 2 weeks ago he was extremely lethargic and hiding in his cave and no appetite. After taking his poop in to be tested the results came back as a bacterial infection. The vet didn't give me a name of the infection just some medication for him to take for 10 days.

Well it has been 10 days and Ryu hasn't changed much. He pooped this morning and his poop was very dark and his Urate was rock solid. Would the cause of his hard urate be the infection, or maybe the medicine that he is on?

I give him baths every other day and he still drinks water when it is poured over his nose, and since he isn't eating solid food I have been making him smoothies which consist of dandelion greens, water, mangoes, and a little calcium powder, all blended together which he will drink out of a syringe. The name of the medication he is taking is Metronidazole.

It's Sunday so the vet is closed today, so I thought I should just post to ask.

Also we found out that the pet store has been selling infected crickets, so I will now only order crickets online.

Thanks for any help!!

 

[AHBD]

Hi Rhiannon....first thing you may want to do is to call the vet and ask for the name of his infection. Just call first thing in the morning, even if they are busy they need to tell you exactly what Ryu is being treated for. Then you can ask here again what the typical symptoms + prognosis is. It's good that you are hydrating him + giving those good slurries, keep it up and try to get as much water in him since antibiotics can dehydrate, which would lead to a hard urate. One other thing, be careful that you only add a very slight pinch of calcium powder, because too much calcium can also cause hard urates.

 

[RhiannonJade]

Thanks for the quick response!

I will let you know tomorrow as soon as I find out what the name of the infection is!

 

[RhiannonJade]

Soooooo....

Ryu has to go to the Vet tomorrow, we have made an appointment. No one at the Vet has told me what the name of this bacterial infection is, they just keep saying it's a bacterial overgrowth in his system.

The Vet said the medicine is supposed to help stimulate appetite as well as treating but that hasn't seemed to work as Ryu still wont touch his greens, I dont want to give him any crickets for the obvious reasons, and Superworms make him constipated...

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Continue to give him the slurries daily along with a bath, to help.
The Metronidazole really doesn't do anything for the appetite. It will help treat flagellates & amoebas/protozoans so it will help clear out the system helping the appetite I suppose.
I would get some bee pollen to help increase the appetite & use just a small pinch of it daily.
What type of calcium & other supplements do you use?

Tracie

 

[RhiannonJade]

Thanks for the tip about the bee pollen, I will try that!

Right now we use TetraFauna calcium powder with d3 for him, he doesn't take any mulitvitamins tho...

 

[RhiannonJade]

So we had a bad experience at the vet, We asked if the bacterial infection had been cleared out but she said "oh I didn't do a float, just tested him for pin worms and coccidia, which he only has a tiny amount of" so she said that wasn't the problem, But i wanted to know if the bacterial infection was gone! ugh!

She was also really rough with him and my boyfriend was furious with her, as he said "she handled him like you would if you were wrestling a crocodile"

And then after the entire visit she didn't tell us any thing new, charged us $50.00, and told us to come back Friday so she can take his blood.

I don't think I will be doing this... I think I will try to find a a different vet.

 

[AHBD]

Rhiannon, I'm sorry that you seemed to get no results from your vet visit, if you don't feel comfortable with your experience you should'nt return there. By the way, how old + what size is Ryu ? It may just be the winter slow down.

 

[RhiannonJade]

Ryu just turned a year old this January, and he is 23 inches long.

I was really wondering if it was just cause of winter!! But i was worried that he was still too young for that kind of stuff??

 

[AHBD]

Oh wow, a big huge boy ! LOL , he is definitely old enough to do the winter cool down that scares all beardie owners the first time it happens. As long as his pin / coccidia counts are low, don't worry about him. Just cut the calcium back and give enough water/slurries and he should be fine.

 

[RhiannonJade]

Ah thank you so much!!

This makes me much happier to hear this maybe that's all it is, I will do a watch and wait thing and see.

Thanks again!

 

[RhiannonJade]

So it has been a while and Ryu is still being really lazy, I am wondering though... he hasn't pooped since I gave him all those smoothies. Is this a bad thing and should I get him to poop? I am worried because I heard food can rot in his stomach while he is burmating. I give him baths about once a week since he has been sleeping just to keep him hydrated, but no poop. Currently he is awake with his head poking out of the rock.

I am also worried that we didn't cure the bacterial infection the first time around, since my silly vet never checked to see if it was cured. She decided she would only check for parasites, which came back as low. So I am really wanting him to go to the bathroom so I can take it in and get it checked out.

Thanks for any help!

 

[AHBD]

Hi there ! Well, a couple of things to try are canned pumpkin [ plain, no spice ] olive oil, applesauce or baby food prunes. Any of those or a combo. Then try a warmer and deeper than usual bath , that can very often stimulate a b.m. Just be sure to keep an eye on him the time he's being soaked.

 

[RhiannonJade]

Thanks for the suggestions, I will try those this afternoon. So you think it's a good idea to get him to poop before he goes back to sleep?

 

[AHBD]

It would be good, depending on how much he actually ate in the past month. If he ate very minimally, I wouldn't worry, he would probably utilize everything and then not have anything to " present " to you.