Gastrointestinal Prolapse - help or advice needed

[M. Pedersen]

Hello, first off, my 6 year-old bearded dragon Sandy has already been to the vet yesterday, just looking for any help or advice...

Yesterday I noticed she had laid an egg after showing egglaying signs for a few days, and something was sticking out her cloaca. Turns out it was her intestines. Got an emergency vet visit and within an hour her intestines where put back in by the vet. However, the vet told me she might not survive the weekend due to gangrene/necrosis being a serious risk. He put a small temporary stitch on her cloaca to close it up, to hopefully prevent it again. I was told to not feed her and to give her warm baths daily. She has had follicular stasis since she was 2½ years old, and I didn't know it was possible for her to produce eggs with this diagnosis, so it was quite a surprise to me.
Whenever I give her a bath, she wants to poop and thats pretty bad considering her current health risks. She still has 5-6 eggs inside her and is still digging. She is otherwise showing normal signs. No black bearding and is still active, sunbathing. It is around 24 hours ago it happened. I'm afraid she will start laying the other eggs and push out her intestine again. The vet told me, if it happened again, his advice would be to put her to sleep. Does antibiotics not help? I didn't receive any medication, nor pain relief for her.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, I am very worried about her. :-(

 

[KarrieRee]

Hello, first off, my 6 year-old bearded dragon Sandy has already been to the vet yesterday, just looking for any help or advice...

Yesterday I noticed she had laid an egg after showing egglaying signs for a few days, and something was sticking out her cloaca. Turns out it was her intestines. Got an emergency vet visit and within an hour her intestines where put back in by the vet. However, the vet told me she might not survive the weekend due to gangrene/necrosis being a serious risk. He put a small temporary stitch on her cloaca to close it up, to hopefully prevent it again. I was told to not feed her and to give her warm baths daily. She has had follicular stasis since she was 2½ years old, and I didn't know it was possible for her to produce eggs with this diagnosis, so it was quite a surprise to me.
Whenever I give her a bath, she wants to poop and thats pretty bad considering her current health risks. She still has 5-6 eggs inside her and is still digging. She is otherwise showing normal signs. No black bearding and is still active, sunbathing. It is around 24 hours ago it happened. I'm afraid she will start laying the other eggs and push out her intestine again. The vet told me, if it happened again, his advice would be to put her to sleep. Does antibiotics not help? I didn't receive any medication, nor pain relief for her.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, I am very worried about her. :-(

Tracie needs to help here shes our vet tech mod
@Drache613

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I am so sorry your girl is having this trouble.
Does the vet think she will be able to lay the eggs? I would think that due to this issue, they would recommend spaying her since she has had egg problems.
If she attempts to lay she will most likely prolapse again which could be fatal for her.
There have been dragons here survive a prolapse but it does take work, that is for sure. Keep her on a soft food diet, some regular calcium supplementation to see how she does.
Has her beard been dark at all?

Tracie

 

[M. Pedersen]

Hello, sorry for the late reply, I didn't get a notification.

She has been able to lay 5 more eggs with my help, but it looks like she still has 1 more egg and 2 more on the way according to the vet looking at the x-ray. The vet hasn't mentioned anything about spaying her, didn't know you could do that. No necrosis has formed, and her cloaca still looks fine and doesn't smell abnormally. I think the stitch has helped tremendously. It was a surprise she was able to lay the eggs through such a small hole, but she's a fighter.

She has a few wounds around her cloaca, presumably from the stitch irritating her. However the wounds are getting better and has been disinfected several times with daily warm baths.

I am keeping her on greens only with calcium/D3 supplementation so far. I am worried if I start feeding her bugs, she will poop more often and could lead to another prolapse. Should I start feeding her dubias or superworms? Her fat pads are still looking fine.

She has not had a black beard during this entire 1½ week. She is still VERY interested in bugs, not so much greens, but she never has ;-)

Since the 5 eggs were layed a week ago, she is very tired, not as active, but still running around. She is barely digging anymore. Still basking under the sun and light, swimming when given a bath and still alert.

Her poop looks a little weird, I don't know what or why. I have attached a photo(2 different poops). She poops everytime she gets a bath, probably because she can feel she has something that needs to come out, but she can't push out the last egg(s).
She "temporarily" prolapsed yesterday, a very small and thin piece, which looked like her intestine came out for a second or two, but it was pulled back in quickly by her. Nothing to be seen after and she looks fine.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How is your girl doing today? It is good to hear she didn't prolapse again, bless her. I'm glad to hear she
hasn't had a black beard through all of this, so hopefully she isn't in any pain.
Of course she is interested in bugs over the greens! LOL
So the vet says she has 3 more eggs to lay? That has to be hard with her being partially stitched up as she
is. I would for now, keep her on a more softer diet, to help reduce stress & the chance of another prolapse.
They can spay them, it is fairly routine for a good experienced reptile vet.
The stool looks a bit odd, but considering her circumstances, not too bad. One looks like a lot of urates, is
that correct?
Keep us posted on how she is doing.

Tracie

 

[M. Pedersen]

She is still doing fine. I can't seem to get her to lay the last eggs, but that time may come. The vet doesn't recommend any pain medicine.

Yes, atleast 1 more egg is visible, the other 2 could be something else, but looks like eggs that hasn't fully developed yet

Yes, I think it is urate, but I'm not sure.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

It sounds like she is doing pretty well. If the eggs haven't' fully developed or been shelled, then she may
just reabsorb them eventually instead of laying them.
How are her colors, she doesn't have any black beard, etc correct?

Tracie