Lab work

[Wildflower]

Hello, got my beardie's lab results last week. Veterinarian still not off vacation and I'm worried sick over trying to figure out what these checkup results mean for my bearded dragon with fatty liver. Is there anyone out there who can shed some light on these numbers? Esp concerned about LDH. Thank you.

 

[hdochow]

let's have @Drache613 take a look. she's usually on super late at night so it might take a bit for her to respond. she's a vet tech.

 

[Drache613]

Hello!

The values on most of the readings look good overall, but the LDH is a bit high. Is this the first blood test you have had done?
What insects do you feed? You could start your dragon on either liquid or powdered Milk Thistle to help the liver detoxify & blood circulation.
Is your dragon doing well health wise right now?
Is your dragon male or female? The Albumin is a
little high which can happen when a female is developing eggs.

Tracie

 

[Wildflower]

Hi Tracie,

Let me start by saying: I cannot thank you enough for helping me with this.
YOU are making a difference and I so appreciate that!

I should start from the beginning. Zero is male, almost 4 years old. Over the years, he has been
fed crickets, dubias, collards, few other veggies/fruits, horn worms as treats, super worms.
As you can imagine, he mostly ate the protein. Late last year, we noticed that
he started going into his cave more hiding/sleeping, not eating much. We thought it possible he was going into brumation. Anyway, we ended up bringing him to vet 2/4/23 where he was diagnosed with fatty liver disease. The doc put him on Herbivore Critical Care and we did the best we could to get him to take as much as we could. Doc said strictly vegetarian, no more protein. After a while of this, he began doing better and started eating his salads again.

Fast forward to around this fall, he's hiding more again and less appetite. We decided to get a checkup from a vet closer to us who did some lab work last Tuesday. Got results last Friday, but haven’t been successful in getting anyone to explain any of it to us (doc out of town). I’m so worried about my sweet boy. Every day, I see/hear conflicting info and every day that goes by I am worried I’m not doing things right for him/his situation. I don’t know whether he is trying to brumate, or sick, or both. I’m going to give you all the info I can on how he is being taken care of, including the lab work from the previous fatty liver diagnosis.

I’ll also post pics of his tank. If you can give me any clarity at all, I would be forever grateful. I really love the little Booger so much.

Thank you Tracie,
Christel

Zero is 21 3/4" long, weighs 562
Tank is 4 ft wide, 20" tall, 18"deep
Left side is Reptisun 10 UVB
Zoo Med 75 watt basking lamp
3 ft, 6000K LED
Right side is Reptisun 10 UVB
Heat lamp for night

 

[Wildflower]

His current setup

We are in the process of building something bigger for him.

 

[Wildflower]

So sorry, I forgot one more pertinent fact!
Calcium daily on food
Vitamin 2 times week on food

 

[Drache613]

Hello Christel,


No problem at all!
How is your boy doing this evening?
I see that his uric acid readings have gone way down since February, so that is good to see.
As far as fatty liver, they can definitely recover from that. I will look more into the LDH levels for you,
maybe something is being missed.
I think his tank setup is fine, right now. The size upgrade will be great for him. The Reptisun 10 tube
is a nice bulb. Do you have a light fixture around it or just mounted on top of the tank? On the other
end, is the Reptisun 10 a compact/coil light?
As suggested, you could cut out the calcium with D3 & go with just calcium a few days per week.
The Reptivite has D3 & synthetic vitamin A in it which can cause some oversupplementation & or
possible toxicity issues since they are fat soluble vitamins & stored in the liver. Since they have a
unique but slower metabolism, things that can be stored in the body longer than in a mammals'
system can take longer to break down & be flushed out.
For now, I would look for a multivitamin powder that has beta carotene in it, instead & one that has
no calcium or D3.
I would recommend Milk thistle in either liquid or powder form to help out the liver. The liver does have
regenerative properties, so getting it healthier to get it functioning more efficiently is ideal right now.
Keep his fat intake a little lower while increasing a bit more greens & vegetation.

Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie