Fatty liver confusion

[ethanmelch]

Hi, my bearded dragon that i rescued in August of 2023 just had exploratory surgery yesterday. They did bloodwork before surgery and it came back all healthy even the liver showed to be fully functioning and healthy. The doctor found a cyst on her liver during the surgery and also said the liver looked unhealthy so she decided to send in the cyst for testing.

Is it common for the liver to be healthy but to look like it has Fatty liver disease from the outside? Doctor said her case is severe and weird

Just wanted to see what anyone thinks about this because me and the doctor thought that it was weird

 

[Claudiusx]

If anything with the liver was in the "severe" category, there would have been markers in the blood test showing.

What are the health concerns you have with your dragon that led to exploratory surgery? That's almost never done on dragons.

-Brandon

 

[ethanmelch]

If anything with the liver was in the "severe" category, there would have been markers in the blood test showing.

What are the health concerns you have with your dragon that led to exploratory surgery? That's almost never done on dragons.

-Brandon

Hi, Doctor said the outside of it looked bad but it showed healthy on the bloodwork which is confusing. I can see if i can get the blood results. Maybe i have badluck? She unfortunately couldn't wake up from the anesthesia and passed away.

But the doctor had to do exploratory surgery due to severe bloating and fluid retention. Everytime we drained fluid it came back fast within 1-2 weeks after draining so this was the next step. The first doctor we went to thought it was reproductive disease because she had follicles and an enlarged ovary from an ultrasound we did before hand. We also got the fluid tested and it came back non cancerous but alot of protein cells were present. The second doctor said she couldn't feel any follicles in her and there was none present when she did the surgery. There was just a cyst on her liver that she removed for testing

 

[KarrieRee]

Hi, Doctor said the outside of it looked bad but it showed healthy on the bloodwork which is confusing. I can see if i can get the blood results. Maybe i have badluck? She unfortunately couldn't wake up from the anesthesia and passed away.

But the doctor had to do exploratory surgery due to severe bloating and fluid retention. Everytime we drained fluid it came back fast within 1-2 weeks after draining so this was the next step. The first doctor we went to thought it was reproductive disease because she had follicles and an enlarged ovary from an ultrasound we did before hand. We also got the fluid tested and it came back non cancerous but alot of protein cells were present. The second doctor said she couldn't feel any follicles in her and there was none present when she did the surgery. There was just a cyst on her liver that she removed for testing

 

[Claudiusx]

Sorry for your loss.

Dragon's don't always handle surgery well which is why exploratory surgery is usually reserved for a last ditch resort type of deal, which maybe it was in your case.

You paid for the blood test results so you have every right to request a copy of them. Sometimes, there just isn't an answer for what the issue was though, unfortunately.

-Brandon

 

[AHBD]

Sorry to hear that you lost your dragon, that's a sad turn of events and I know it must be hard for you . They are tough creatures but can also be fragile.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Oh no, how horrible. I am so sorry for your loss. The cyst removal is probably what caused the stress
on her system during surgery. Exploratory surgery is hard on them for sure. That is very odd the blood
test values didn't reflect the severity of the situation.

Tracie