Beardie has food lodged in pouch for 4 days

[samaradragon]

Hey everyone. I do have a vet visit scheduled for tomorrow night (wednesday) there are only three herp vets in CT and none are near me but I found one that will take her. Here is a time table:

Friday morning she eats
Pouch enlarged Friday night, Saturday and Sunday.
Sunday she voids but it is much smaller than usual.
Monday night I give her a bath and she finally opens her mouth wide enough for me to see that there is food (greens) stuck in there not digested.
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday her pouch is still large.
She has a slight mucus on her mouth but nothing coming out of her nose.
She looks like she is in slight respiratory distress but can still breathe.
She has not slept in a few days (she will shut her eyes for a few minutes).

Samara is between 4.5-5 years old and has never had any health problems thus far.

How can I make her comfortable until tomorrow night?

Please help

 

[jacqui778]

Sorry to hear about what your dragon is going through. We always dread the bad things that can happen to our little ones....

As far as making her comfortable, the best I could say is to keep her nice and warm, not too hot, not too cold.... give her a nice bath and let her soak for a little, if she likes baths.... wrap her up in a soft towel/blankie and softly pat her head, rub her tummy, etc., turn the lights low so the possibility of sleep is there for her.

Let us know what the vet says. We all would like to know. Every regular visitor on here always cares about everyone's beardie in some way. It's slightly comforting.

Again, keep us posted, and I hope she feels better.

-- Jacqui

 

[skoobah]

Where in CT do you live? I found quite a few herp vets in CT.

 

[samaradragon]

Sorry I haven't been back. I was actually able to get her in last Tuesday night at the Marlborough Bird and Animal Hospital in Marlborough CT. Samara was treated very well and they told me it was an abscess and that they would take cytology and give her some meds for it. I haven't heard back on the cytology yet but she passed something on Friday afternoon and it was not a normal bowel movement. I am taking her for a follow up this Saturday and I will let you know what happened.

PS. The vet said that the safest and most preferred bedding for beardies is AstroTurf (indoor/outdoor carpeting). He said to get a large piece and cut it down to size then cut those pieces into 3 separate pieces that fit in the cage. The practice is that when there is a bowel movement you can take that piece out and replace it with a new piece; you then clean the soiled piece in a bleach/water solution and let it dry, then when another piece is dirty repeat the process with the extra piece. He also said that if you have multiple types of animals in the house rabbit food also makes for a good bedding because if the beardie eats it than it can't get cut by the bedding (such as wood chip bedding), however if the beardie is eating too much of the rabbit food that can cause a bowel obstruction. I hope this is helpful to people it was very helpful to me. Feel free to copy and paste this info for yourself or anyone else.