Grainy orange urate

[Ignotum]

Hello,

I am posting this because for the past 8 days there has been some orange color in my dragons urate. I believe the issue to be some dehydration but i am curious to see if anyone else has any ideas. I have been doing a lot of reading on here and have been giving 2+ mL of water and about a 0.5mL of tart cherry juice each day to cleanse him. Each day the orange portion has become less but my questions are:
What does orange grainy urate mean?
Does this look like dehydration or maybe parasites?
Could this possibly be a kidney/liver issue?

No real signs of decreased appetite or anything although i did not feed protein for 5 days, only greens. I fed 2 large dubias this morning. He is very healthy and running around. 8 months old, 18.5 inches long and about 310 grams.

I must also add, he was treated for parasites about 3 months ago and then had a RI a month later so his kidneys have had quite a bit of strain on them. He seems active and happy but i am sharing on here as it has been 8 days now.

I know he needs the vet but my exotic vet is booked out for a few weeks. Appreciate any advice.
Thanks,
Damian

 

[ThomasWillamHaney]

try to get to that vet as fast as posable. it looks like a parisite but it could be as you said a liver problem. how old is it? what do you normaly feed it? how much water dose he get per feeding?

 

[Ignotum]

He gets dubia and collard greens. 8 months old

 

[KarrieRee]

He gets dubia and collard greens. 8 months old

He needs protein everyday till he's a year old - the poop looks good- what are you giving for supplements and how often? Are you feeding anything orange like carrots ?

 

[ThomasWillamHaney]

He gets dubia and collard greens. 8 months old

as long as he isnt acting lathargic then he should be fine but Im no vet, so I would still get him in as soon as you can. unless there is somthing orange he drank/ate lately that you wouldnt usualy let him have

 

[Ignotum]

No orange things. He gets vitaminz supplement from tracie every 4 days and calcium every other day.

I know they need protein everyday. I always give him as much as he will eat in 10 mins twice per day but i have stopped in case there is a liver issue. The orange in the poop just really worried me as i have never seen it before. I know for a fact he is a bit dehydrated due to me not understanding his water needs properly but now i do.

I just really wanted to make sure it was not too serious. He has had 0 supplements for the last 5 days as i was worried

He needs protein everyday till he's a year old - the poop looks good- what are you giving for supplements and how often? Are you feeding anything orange like carrots ?

 

[KarrieRee]

No orange things. He gets vitaminz supplement from tracie every 4 days and calcium every other day.

I know they need protein everyday. I always give him as much as he will eat in 10 mins twice per day but i have stopped in case there is a liver issue. The orange in the poop just really worried me as i have never seen it before. I know for a fact he is a bit dehydrated due to me not understanding his water needs properly but now i do.

I just really wanted to make sure it was not too serious. He has had 0 supplements for the last 5 days as i was worried

Ok I am going to flag her on this post and let her advise- I think blood work would need to determine if it is a liver issue
@Drache613

 

[Ignotum]

Ok I am going to flag her on this post and let her advise- I think blood work would need to determine if it is a liver issue

Thanks Karrie i appreciate that. The orange just didnt seem normal. I really dont think parasite because his fecal is not that smelly. Last time he had parasites it was quite bad and not well formed at all.

I figured this could be a result of oversuplemtation, dehydration or a liver/kidney issue of which i would need blood work to determine.

Appreciate your help as well thomas. Hopefully i get this sorted- or maybe after all, this is just normal. He seems very happy and healthy jumping all over the place showing off his moves!

 

[KarrieRee]

Thanks Karrie i appreciate that. The orange just didnt seem normal. I really dont think parasite because his fecal is not that smelly. Last time he had parasites it was quite bad and not well formed at all.

I figured this could be a result of oversuplemtation, dehydration or a liver/kidney issue of which i would need blood work to determine.

Appreciate your help as well thomas. Hopefully i get this sorted- or maybe after all, this is just normal. He seems very happy and healthy jumping all over the place showing off his moves!

That is good for the behavior-- I flagged Tracie she can be more helpful w/ the liver thing and his supplements

 

[Ignotum]

Thank you

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Unless he is acting ill, or you just want to have a baseline blood test done, I doubt that it is a
liver issue. Their urates can have orange tint to them based on their diet so I wouldn't worry
too much about that. Is his urate soft or hard? Based on the picture, it looks pretty soft.
Which vitamin of mine are you using, the liquid or powder? Are you using the liquid calcium or
powdered calcium?
What greens or veggies do you give?

Tracie

 

[Ignotum]

It varies a bit. The urate is just very grainy, like sand. Vitaminz powder. And powdered calcium. Do you recommend the liquid of either instead?

For greens usually collard greens and dandelion greens although he really prefers collard greens. I do give carrot as well, bur havent given any in about 2 weeks. Sometimes green beans as well. For a treat he gets a couple blueberries every couple weeks.

I would say he is healthy, maybe a bit dehydrated but i saw you had asked if the orange in the urate was grainy in another thread. It made me wonder what the grainyness could mean and if it could signal any issues.

I appreciate your help and insight Tracie
Damian

 

[Drache613]

Hello Damian,

No problem at all! The powders are fine. They may have the tendency to dry them out a bit,
if he isn't eating enough vegetation but other than that, I don't think he is having any type of
liver or kidney issue.
I would increase the vegetation & oral fluids some, if you can. A lot of dragons tend to go through
phases like this. You can also try some butternut squash too, he might like that.

Let me know if you have more questions.
Tracie

 

[Ignotum]

Thank you Tracie really appreciate it. I really like the vitaminz powder but i will look into liquid calcium, sometimes after feeding calcium he gets hard white urate so maybe it is drying him out a bit. I tried butternut sqush a couple months ago but he wasn't too fond of it. I will try again and see if he likes. Im going to keep him on fluids for a bit and see if that makes a difference but i am very happy to know this is common
Appreciate all your help!
Damian

 

[Drache613]

Hello Damian,

You are welcome, no problem!
The vitamin powder is fine, it is most likely not the culprit for drying him out. The calcium powder
sometimes can be too much for them, if too much is used for feeding, etc.
If he doesn't like the butternut squash, try acorn squash or even sweet potato, he might like that.
Yes, this type of issue is pretty common in reptiles. Try to increase his oral fluids some if you can.

Let me know how he is doing!

Tracie