Is it safe to give fluids for dehydrated beardie if they have fluid in abdomen?

[Claudiusx]

I just re-read your OP, and unfortunately, that yellow liquid was most likely also in relation to being gravid..

-Brandon

 

[EmmaL]

Okay wow that’s really good to hear that she might not be in as bad of shape as I thought.

She’s about 5 and has never laid eggs before but I did bring that up to my vet. I was worried she might be experiencing yolk peritonitis or something serious like that because of the fluid in her abdomen. They told me once they have fluid in the abdomen it means something is very wrong. Could being gravid cause fluid in the belly? She also told me she doesn’t think it’s eggs because she thought the fluid test would come back with very high protein levels. But she was not sure about any of it and was going to consult with a specialist, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she was wrong.

I do have two x rays I will attach. One from last Thursday and one from yesterday. They said they couldn’t see much in the X-ray because of all the fluid. But they also gave her an ultrasound when they were draining some of the stomach fluid and couldn’t see any eggs. I will definitely give her a lay box as you suggested, I guess my question now is when should I start being worried about a more serious problem like preovulatory stasis or yolk peritonitis? I’ve just read a lot of horror stories about it and how it can kill dragons so quickly if you don’t do something about it in time. A few weeks ago she was digging and hiding a lot which made me suspect she could have eggs, but I had also just given her a loose substrate for the first time in a while so I thought maybe she was just not used to it. She’s also been avoiding her basking spot which is not like her. And I noticed that her stomach looked bigger on one side than it did the other.

But the results of the fluid test definitely scared me, they made it seem like it was something very very bad, like heart failure or cancer. Also do you think I should hold off on giving her calcium for a while because he levels are so high?

Again, thank you so much for your input!!!

 

[EmmaL]

I just re-read your OP, and unfortunately, that yellow liquid was most likely also in relation to being gravid..

-

Okay wow that’s really good to hear that she might not be in as bad of shape as I thought.

She’s about 5 and has never laid eggs before but I did bring that up to my vet. I was worried she might be experiencing yolk peritonitis or something serious like that because of the fluid in her abdomen. They told me once they have fluid in the abdomen it means something is very wrong. Could being gravid cause fluid in the belly? She also told me she doesn’t think it’s eggs because she thought the fluid test would come back with very high protein levels. But she was not sure about any of it and was going to consult with a specialist, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she was wrong.

I do have two x rays I will attach. One from last Thursday and one from yesterday. They said they couldn’t see much in the X-ray because of all the fluid. But they also gave her an ultrasound when they were draining some of the stomach fluid and couldn’t see any eggs. I will definitely give her a lay box as you suggested, I guess my question now is when should I start being worried about a more serious problem like preovulatory stasis or yolk peritonitis? I’ve just read a lot of horror stories about it and how it can kill dragons so quickly if you don’t do something about it in time. A few weeks ago she was digging and hiding a lot which made me suspect she could have eggs, but I had also just given her a loose substrate for the first time in a while so I thought maybe she was just not used to it. She’s also been avoiding her basking spot which is not like her. And I noticed that her stomach looked bigger on one side than it did the other.

But the results of the fluid test definitely scared me, they made it seem like it was something very very bad, like heart failure or cancer. Also do you think I should hold off on giving her calcium for a while because he levels are so high?

Again, thank you so much for your input!!!

Hi Brandon! Okay wow thank you for telling me that I had no idea. I will definitely stop the fluids then because she did poop this morning and it wasn’t chalky at all. Actually quite slimey, looked like mucus. I can’t tell if the urate is discolored because of the mucus covering it, but I did take a picture if that would be helpful. It’s definitely not normal looking. I’m still waiting on some of his blood work but I will attach what I have so far. I do think I was over supplementing him which I feel so terrible about. I wasn’t aware that was even possible and I was taking bad advice from someone who I thought knew best. His calcium levels were extremely high. I’m just really worried about the fluid in his belly and whats causing it. The bloodwork that came back so far was very confusing to my vet but she said it looked like kidney failure, so she’s waiting to receive the rest and she’s going to consult with a reptile specialist at the lab. I plan to take her to an exotic vet once I receive the rest of the blood work anyway. I also received the fluid testing but they said they needed to run further tests on that as well which should be back by Tuesday at the latest but I will attach that aswell. She does seem like she feels good today she has tons of energy and a better appetite than yesterday. Also looks like her eyes have perked up a little. Thank you so much for your help, really I appreciate it so much

-Emma

@Drache613

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi Emma,

How are things going?

-Brandon

 

[EmmaL]

Hi Emma,

How are things going?

-Brandon

Hi Brandon,

Truman is doing great, (not sure if u told you her name yet but it’s Truman lol). The last few days have been crazy but I managed to find a great exotic vet and she actually had to perform an emergency ovariectomy on Truman. She had yolk peritonitis and it was very bad. They suspected it had been going on for a long time and were shocked that Truman wasn’t much much more ill from the infection. She has also shocked me and the doctors with how great she’s doing recovery wise. We’re only two days post op and she’s back to eating like a horse and full of energy! Couldn’t be happier with her progress so far, but of-course we’re not completely out of the woods yet. Thank you for your help!!

-Emma

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi Emma,

That is great news. Surgery is never great news, but the proper diagnosis and recovery are!

Truman is a fighter. It helps having a human that cares also. Keep us updated on her progress

-Brandon

 

[xp29]

Hi Brandon,

Truman is doing great, (not sure if u told you her name yet but it’s Truman lol). The last few days have been crazy but I managed to find a great exotic vet and she actually had to perform an emergency ovariectomy on Truman. She had yolk peritonitis and it was very bad. They suspected it had been going on for a long time and were shocked that Truman wasn’t much much more ill from the infection. She has also shocked me and the doctors with how great she’s doing recovery wise. We’re only two days post op and she’s back to eating like a horse and full of energy! Couldn’t be happier with her progress so far, but of-course we’re not completely out of the woods yet. Thank you for your help!!

-Emma

Thats great!!!! Sounds like she is on her way to recovery

 

[EmmaL]

Hi Emma,

That is great news. Surgery is never great news, but the proper diagnosis and recovery are!

Truman is a fighter. It helps having a human that cares also. Keep us updated on her progress

-Brandon

Thank you so much!! I definitely will !

 

[EmmaL]

Thats great!!!! Sounds like she is on her way to recovery

Yes she is! Can’t wait for her to be fully recovered!!

 

[Drache613]

Hello Emma,

I thought I would check in on your thread, too.
It sounds like Truman is doing really well after her surgery. How is her appetite, has she been
eating now?
Hopefully she will be back to normal real soon. Peritonitis can be very serious so I'm glad that
you got it all taken care of before she got really ill.

Tracie

 

[EmmaL]

Hello Emma,

I thought I would check in on your thread, too.
It sounds like Truman is doing really well after her surgery. How is her appetite, has she been
eating now?
Hopefully she will be back to normal real soon. Peritonitis can be very serious so I'm glad that
you got it all taken care of before she got really ill.

Tracie

Hi Traci!

Truman is doing great! Her appetite is back and better than ever! Today was her last day on her daily meds. We have a follow up appointment tomorrow for them to check on her incision. Her biopsy came back and they told me they didn’t suspect cancer or anything other than just the issues caused by the peritonitis. I do have a few concerns though. Firstly, her toes. I noticed a while back that a few of her toes look off. One of them is completely crooked, but it’s been like that for a long time and I was told it was probably an old injury that healed itself. But more recently I’ve noticed that a quite a few of her toes have swollen a little bit. Mostly the front ones. And one of them seems to be lighting than the other. Almost like that one toe had shed and the rest of the foot hasn’t. Her toes also look oddly bumpy in some spots. I’m not sure if this is just from her being her crazy self and having broken or sprained toes over time, or maybe a shed issue. I’m really hoping it’s not gout related, but her forearms do seem a little swollen. All of this I noticed even before her surgery but we had to focus on the more pressing issue which was the peritonitis. I do plan on talking to the vet about it tomorrow. I did ask her before the surgery if anything else in Truman’s blood work looked off, that couldn’t be explained by the follicle issue and she said no, that it all matched up. Her calcium levels were crazyyyy high which makes me worry, but her calcium to phosphorus ratio wasn’t really off too much. And her uric acid levels were normal, so I guess my question is can they still have gout if they uric acid levels are showing up normal? I’ve been giving her the cherry extract from your website just in case. She has no trouble getting around at all and shows no signs of discomfort in her legs. I do think I was over supplementing her with d3 aswell which I’ve definitely educated myself on that and how dangerous it could be. Could hypercalciema have caused the swollen toes and forearms? The vet told me she doesn’t think that’s why her calcium was so high but I don’t know, 78 seems crazy high even for a dragon that’s developing eggs. My only other concern is her eyes. They are still not back to normal. Definitely better than they were but they’re still a little flat and sunken. I do everything I can to keep her hydrated but she still looks dehydrated. Her bm definitely doesn’t look like dehydration to me but her eyes and skin do. I just fear they’re could be something else going on that the vet hasn’t caught on to. I will attach pictures of her feet and her before and after X-rays from her surgery which are crazy!! The difference is insane. Her fingertips do seem to look extra white on the x ray Im not sure what that could mean. And I will attach her bloodwork again.

Thank-you so much for your help!! I’ve spent the last month reading every post that I could on this website and the kindness and help you give to people is amazing. It’s so nice knowing other people care about my baby and want to help. I hope your doing well!

-Emma

 

[Drache613]

Hello Emma!

Wow, the calcium is super high for sure!
I think all of the egg issues have complicated things & affected the calcium absorption, too.
I'm happy that Truman's biopsy results don't yield anything like cancer, etc.
Hypercalcemia is caused by a lot of different things, but hopefully she hasn't developed gout. I do
see the swelling a bit & the bright whiteness on the fingertips. There are a couple of crooked toes,
too.
For now, I would cut back or cut out the calcium for awhile. What did your vet say, regarding the
calcium levels? At the moment, the uric acid levels look good so, we can hope that it's just a sign
of calcium absorption problems right now.
Continue giving the black cherry right now, daily along with extra fluids. Are her spirits good, is she
basking normally?

Tracie

 

[EmmaL]

Hello Emma!

Wow, the calcium is super high for sure!
I think all of the egg issues have complicated things & affected the calcium absorption, too.
I'm happy that Truman's biopsy results don't yield anything like cancer, etc.
Hypercalcemia is caused by a lot of different things, but hopefully she hasn't developed gout. I do
see the swelling a bit & the bright whiteness on the fingertips. There are a couple of crooked toes,
too.
For now, I would cut back or cut out the calcium for awhile. What did your vet say, regarding the
calcium levels? At the moment, the uric acid levels look good so, we can hope that it's just a sign
of calcium absorption problems right now.
Continue giving the black cherry right now, daily along with extra fluids. Are her spirits good, is she
basking normally?

Tracie

Hi Tracie!

Yes she is basking normally, as far as her spirits she’s much better than she was before the surgery, but she’s definitely a little lazier than she used to be. She sleeps a lot, but she’s eating great. Still having some digestion issues. The last two times she made a bowel movement there was a lot of undigested greens, which hasn’t happened before, but I have been giving her a few new greens that she’s not used to so maybe that’s why. We had blood work done again and the result just came back and I was wondering if you could look them over because I am pretty concerned about her blood count. I will attach the email they sent explaining the results as well. Her calcium definitely went down a lot though so I’m happy about that. When we were with the vet getting Truman’s blood drawn, she mentioned doing another round of antibiotics if the results came back showing infection still, but didn’t mention it in the email so I im gonna call and ask again. Im not great at interpreting bloodwork, but it definitely seems like something is still going on. She has also been blackbearding on and off the last few days, now that I think about it, it’s probably since she’s finished her meds and been off them. And her eyes are still pretty sunken so I’m definitely worried. I just hope she’s not in pain. My mom is a tech, and the doctor has been letting us get Truman’s meds from my moms work so we can save a little money with her discount, so I know I’ll be able to get the antibiotics by today but I would like to get the vets ok first obviously. Please let me know what you think! Does the bloodwork show a really bad infection? She had peritonitis so I understand it will probably take her a while to heal completely, but I just want to make sure she’s getting the meds she needs!! Thank you so much!!

Edit- I forget to include the X-ray we took as well. Just want make sure nothing stands outs to you. The doctor said everything looked fine, but whatever organ that is on her left side right below her lungs looked larger to me.

-Emma

 

[Drache613]

Hello Emma,

How is Truman today?
The bloodwork isn't bad, I agree the LDH is probably high too just due to the liver having to work so
hard from the egg issues. The regular values look good to me. It does appear there might be some
type of infection but after everything she has been through it's kind of expected.
Which antibiotic will you be giving her & for how long? Be sure to include probiotics for her & keep
giving oral fluids since her eyes are a bit sunken probably from dehydration to some extent.
I hope her black bearding goes away, she might not be feeling 100% but hopefully she will continue
to heal. It does take some time though.
The lung irregularity might just be the way her body might have shifted after surgery. Does she seem
to be breathing normally? I agree, the calcium levels are looking better now, they are almost back to
normal finally.
Are you keeping her a little warmer overnight?

Keep us posted on how she is doing.
Tracie