So my 4-5 year old female Bearded Dragon Bowser has been continuously eye bulging for extended periods of time (hours on end) for the past few months. We took her to the vet and she has had blood work done. The doctor said there does not appear to be any infections or inflammation but we are waiting for a pathologist review (will take another 5 days).
The doctor did do a heart doppler and said "this is the funkiest sounding heart I have ever heard" but then also when listening on a stethoscope said that it sounded fine.
The worry here is that there may be heart involvement due to the eye bulging which could be high blood pressure. However, her eyes do return to normal. Just looking for any input here. I know that the eosinophils are very high, but not sure what that means.
That is odd that she is bulging her eyes so often, but good to know that they do go back to
normal though. I would say it is possible for kidney issues or heart issues so I'm glad that he
did a blood test. Did he do a fecal exam also on her?
The Eosinophils can be elevated when there is a protozoal infection. It can also indicate an
inflammation in the body, too. Since the levels were high, I would have him run a fecal exam
to determine worms or parasites present.
The AST is a little low. That can indicate a B6 deficiency perhaps. It doesn't appear that she
is having any liver trouble though.
The BUN is a little low. That can indicate mineral deficiencies possibly or maybe pregnancy.
Has she ever laid infertile eggs? The uric acid looks good so I don't think she is dehydrated.
The calcium is good but on the high side.
Also, the Albumin is in the middle of the ranges & can become elevated if producing follicles.
If nothing is yielded from the blood test analysis from the pathologist, maybe have an x-ray
or ultrasound done to see about egg development & have a fecal done, too.
Oh they do tend to have a little bit higher heart rate, too, naturally.
Thanks so much Tracie. I was worried about waiting so much longer for the pathologist.
The vet did give her a B12 shot which seems to have gotten her appetite up and her eyes haven't been bulging as much since.
There was no fecal done, which I thought was a little strange as the Dr. did not even mention it. She has suggested doing a heart ultrasound, so if that is what we do proceed with I will request that they also check for eggs. I will likely start with requesting a fecal exam being done.
Bowser did lay about 20 infertile eggs in December.
Again thank you so much, this has made me feel a lot better as the Dr. made it seem as if the only option was a heart condition.
That's good she did get a B12 shot, maybe that helped her some. Waiting on more information
is always hard.
It would be good to do a fecal also, because of the Eosinophil counts. Oh Bowser had laid
some eggs in December, just one clutch?
I hope something is figured out, because eye bulging constantly isn't normal. An ultrasound
would be helpful, also.
How is she doing today?
We have done the heart ultrasound today and the doctor also checked her liver since she was there. Bowser has been diagnosed with cardio myopathy and has edema in her cloacal area which was found when she was getting a flush to attempt getting a fecal sample done as well.
She is being started on daily medication for 2 weeks to see if there are any improvements in her symptoms.
So sorry I missed your update!
Poor Bowser, cardio myopathy? That is terrible. What medication did they place her on?
How is she doing today? Try to keep her as stress free as possible. I hope she is feeling
better.