Bloody stool and pinworms :(

[LittleRepieye]

Well today was a great day for my poor Draco I got up and fed him, hes been finicky with eating crickets lately, he has been just refusing them on some days, and I thought I had just been spoiling him with phoenix worms, he still has no problem eating those.He has also been more sleepy and I just though he was trying to brumate. I went upstairs and come back down to little spots of blood everywhere in his poo. I freaked out, and took him to the emergency vet a hour away, they where the only ones I could get a hold of on a Saturday. They informed me they where not experts on reptiles, but it was fine, I just wanted to know what was wrong with my little guy Just till I could take him to the reptile around here durring the week.

I got there and they actually where very helpful thank god They knew what to look for, and knew all the no no's of Bearded dragons, like not to keep him on sand( No worries I don't) and where able to tell he wasn't impacted or anything. Everything checked out fine on him, except for a large amount of pin worms he had

Then I returned home and my boyfriend's like "What smells like a candle?" I look over and was in such a rush to get him to the vet, I must have left his tank open and it melted the plastic rim on top or his tank, So his tank needed a good scrub down to get rid of the smell and if there was any left over, I'm just glad I had him with me and wasn't in the tank, I can be so dumb sometimes! ><

I got some pancor for him and just have a few questions:

1.) Should I give it to him when I feed him, or wait till later in the day?
2.) What can cause the pin worms? I know crickets carry them, but is there a way to prevent them in the future?
3.) Can I still give him his calcium and vitamin dust while hes on treatment?

 

[beardie parents]

Sometimes the look of blood in stools can be because of a certain color of food they've been eating. The other reason is hookworms. My thinking is that if it was hookworms, most likely they would have (hopefully) found it when they found the pinworms.

Redrock had pinworms at just over one year of age. The vet we took her to gave us 3 syringes full of the proper amount for her weight. We were to feed her one of these every week for 3 weeks. They did the first dosage when we had her in the vets, 4 weeks, total.

I'm not sure how to prevent the pinworms. You can feed as per normal. I do suggest you give him a probiotic, such as sugar free soy yogurt or acidolpholhis. I was only able to find that on line.

 

[LittleRepieye]

Thank you so much, I'm gonna try to get him some soy yogurt tomorrow.
O another thing I forgot to add is the dosage: Hes to get 0.08 orally once per day for 5 days, then repeat two weeks later.
So I will give it to him once a day during his feedings ? then do it again 2 weeks later?
I just wanted to see if this looked good to people because again they where not experts on reptiles and I can't take him to the reptile vet till Monday.
Thanks again everyone for the help.

 

[beardie parents]

The question on his meds is one to ask Tracie, drache613 is her screen name. PM her, she'll be glad to help you.

 

[fc3schick87]

pinworms are extremely common in bearded dragons, often referred to as normal gut flora. it is thought that pin worms are present to help in the digestion of the plant matter that bearded dragons eat.

because reptiles remain in the same space practically their whole life, they are around their fecal all day long, we do clean their enclosure often but eggs are easily re-ingested and increase the amount of pinworms and other parrasites in the gutt. its normal to treat your reptiles or at least get a fecal done once a year if not 2 times a year. before burmation or right after.

panacur will treat the pin worms very easily but you must also bleach soak all furniture. steam clean or bleach clean your enclosure well at least once a week if not EVERY day!!! this will help rid all the possibilities of re-infection.

also, order some beni-bac or at least get some yogurt in him to replace gutt flora destroyed by panacur. panacur isnt an antibiotic, but, better safe then sorry!

your guy should be fine. after panacur you should try out reptaid. if there was blood in his stool he may have risk for infection. reptaid is more mild and less harsh then baytril. i dont like baytril as an antibiotic. so i use reptaid instead.

 

[LittleRepieye]

Thank you for the reply's I'm gonna look into the rept-aid after he is done his treatment to help this from accruing again. His viv got a very though cleaning along with everything inside when we got home from the vets, and he didn't poo today, but everything he poos on is gonna be removed as quick as possible and cleaned
But I'm happy to say, he was a very good boy with taking his med and didn't refuse it.
Thanks again for reading.

 

[fc3schick87]

things to note while treating your guy.
hiding, sunken in eyes. low and laying flat on the ground with head down and eyes closed. green foul smelling fecal that is jelly like and very runny.

green stool and sunken in eyes in combination can mean infection from irritation and inflammation from bloody stool/pin worm infestation.

good luck and please keep posting up!!!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I will be happy to review your dose for the Panacur for you. What is the weight of your dragon, & how many doses is he getting?
Do you have a picture of your dragon?

Tracie

 

[LittleRepieye]

Thank you everyone for your help
Update: He has been doing pretty good on his med, He hasn't lost his appetite to much and I've seen him a little more active lately. He still has been basking and wanting to come out for some roam time But he still has been having some issues with his poo, There not spots of blood anymore, but you can still see a light red tint to the poo. But other then that he has been active and alert, so I'm not sure if I should call the vet again tomorrow or wait till this weeks doses are over with on Thursday.

Thank you Drache613 for the help He did get weighed at the vet, but I honestly did not remember his exact weight they told me, I'm gonna see if we have a small scale around the house tomorrow to weight him with.
I do have some recent pictures from a week ago I will post on here. I will take another of him tomorrow when he is awake, currently he is sleeping
His dosage was 0.08 ml orally once a day for five days then to repeat it two weeks later. I hope the images can help give a estimate on his weight till I can get the information. He is also 17inches and around 10-11 months old. Thank you again for the help!

And now here is my little boy

 

[LittleRepieye]

Update: Well his poo looked much better today, still some red to it, but It didn't look green and was actually starting to form today. Hes been on a soft foods diet by the vet for a few weeks while hes on treatment, so hes been on salad and phoenix worms this week.I wasn't able to find a scale, but gonna see if my parents have one at there house. I took some photos of him today along with his viv. Thanks again for keeping up and all the help everyone

This was him this afternoon, He still seems very alert and I didn't notice him keeping his head down allot or his eyes looking sunken in, but I am still keeping a close eye on him. He still is having a strong appetite too.

On his favorite perch this afternoon.

His home Making sure to keep it really clean. He is getting a little scrub down every time he poos.

 

[fc3schick87]

i dont think you have anything to worry about , i think he's out of the woods now. keep doing what your doing though.

 

[beardie parents]

I found a scale at Walmart (quite a while ago) for about $30.00 plus tax. It weighs in pounds and grams and goes up to 5 pounds, which should be enough for any normal beardie, even the larger ones, which I don't have. Ours are 16 inches long and 16.25 inches long.

 

[LittleRepieye]

Well I thought Draco was getting better, but then he decided to go to 2 days without pooping so there was no way of telling for a few days how his poo looked.He is finished his first round of treatment. He finally went today and I noticed the blood wasn't really in his poo, but it seems to be I think on the inside of his vent but im really not sure. He had allot of blood on the tissue he pooped on after his poo. He always looks worse on the weekends when I can't get a hold of a reptile vet, so no matter if he looks better or not the vet is getting a call on Monday, I just hope he will be OK till then I love my baby!

I also have another question, this may be dumb, but can reptiles get fevers? Ive noticed him allot warmer felling then usual and he has been gaping when the temps are in the high 80's. I have a probe thermometer placed under his light so I'm sure the temperature is correct.

 

[fc3schick87]

ok the not pooping(constipation) is exactly what happened to my dragons when i treated them with flagyl. its common. my dragons have gone days with out pooping, the vet gave me meto-clopra-mide(one word)

it is a digestive stimulant that is very easy on the reptile. it will keep things moving.

because their is blood in the fecal, and because its still on going and obviously not getting better. i think you should get some antibiotics. this is imo. your reptile could be suffering from an internal infection due to inflamed and raw intestine, hence why the blood isnt going away.

the poop is not green, which is good. i was told that green poop means not only giardia, but also failing liver. also a good thing to look for is sunken in eyes. and fat loss in the body.

hang in there. . . good luck!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How is your dragon doing today?

The dose looks pretty good actually, at .08ml for him. Is he doing ok on it?
I would just keep him well hydrated right now during this time, & some probiotics if you have them.

Keep us posted on on him.

Tracie