Emmagray86
Member
- Beardie name(s)
- Bella
My female bearded dragon is about 7.5 years old and two weeks ago I spotted a lump on the lower part of her back, to the right of her spine. The lump isn't protruding too much out of the skin, but it's taking a up a good third of the area on the right of her spine. At first, I thought it was impaction, but she doesn't live with sand or bark, or any substrates she could accidentally ingest. Her behaviour has been totally normal, eating and pooing fine, still quite active running and climbing rocks, and doesn't look to be in pain. She seems to be drinking more but the main difference I've noticed is that she spends more time in the hot end of the vivarium, and then turns yellow from being there too long. As soon as I move her to the cold end, her colour goes back to normal within seconds.
I took her to the vets and he said as the lump is lower down, it doesn't look like it's anything reproductive (eggs/binding), but whatever it is, it's so large it must be pressing against other organs. She doesn't look skinny but he confirmed that she didn't have any fat in her fat pads so this lump must be draining her energy. He has taken a blood test to check the kidney in case of failure (if that's the case, he says the best thing for her is to be to sleep). He has booked her in for surgery on Tuesday to find out what it is, which is the same day the blood results come back. I won't have surgery until the blood results are back.
I questioned whether an x-ray would be sufficient, he said, not really, and whatever they find, it'll need to be surgically removed, which is fair enough, but just seems so intrusive for a diagnosis.
Does this lump sound familiar to anyone? And what are your thoughts on surgery being the only option to diagnose this?
I took her to the vets and he said as the lump is lower down, it doesn't look like it's anything reproductive (eggs/binding), but whatever it is, it's so large it must be pressing against other organs. She doesn't look skinny but he confirmed that she didn't have any fat in her fat pads so this lump must be draining her energy. He has taken a blood test to check the kidney in case of failure (if that's the case, he says the best thing for her is to be to sleep). He has booked her in for surgery on Tuesday to find out what it is, which is the same day the blood results come back. I won't have surgery until the blood results are back.
I questioned whether an x-ray would be sufficient, he said, not really, and whatever they find, it'll need to be surgically removed, which is fair enough, but just seems so intrusive for a diagnosis.
Does this lump sound familiar to anyone? And what are your thoughts on surgery being the only option to diagnose this?