Please help!!!!

[christineyellow]

My 6.5 year old beardie is really sick and for the first time since bringing him home in 2013, I'm truly at a loss for what to do. He started acting super lethargic with a constant black beard around Saturday, 4/25. Took him to the vet on Monday, 4/27. Blood work and an x-ray later, we found out that he has wacky white blood cell counts, hypoproteinemia (causing fluid to leak into his abdominal cavity), and what looks to be a mass in his gut. The vet thinks that the mass on the xray might be impaction (he hasn't had a good poop in maybe two weeks, just tiny little bits of poop/urate here and there) and that the hypoproteinemia and wacky white blood cell counts are due to an infection. The vet prescribed him metronidazole and ceftazidime for the infection and I'm currently syringe feeding him baby food with critical care and Pedialyte. What else can I do at this point to help move things along and encourage pooping? We've been giving him 10-15 min baths for the past 3 nights but he barely has the energy to hold himself up during his baths, much less try to poop.

He is so limp and so weak, my heart is breaking. Please help!!!!!!

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi there,

Could you post the blood results for us to see?

What was his normal daily diet like before this?
Could you post a picture of him too so we can see his general look?
If you could post the X-ray that would be nice too.

So sorry you are going through this with him. It's important to keep nutrients in him to help get his strength back. 2 weeks really isn't too long of a time to go without pooing for an adult, so I wouldn't worry too much about that, but I know it will be relieving for both you and him when he finally does. The syringe feeding should help with that especially since it's more liquidy and hydrating.

-Brandon

 

[christineyellow]

I don't have a copy of either but I can ask for them tomorrow.
For the blood work, the vet specifically mentioned uric acid and albumin levels being normal, and that beardies have two types of WBC and normally it's a 50/50 split between these types. Mushu's levels were about 70/30.

For the image, it was a round mass close in his upper abdominal area right below the chest. He had a blueberry right before things started going downhill so I wonder if it's that.

Prior to everything happening his diet was mostly superworms as he refused to eat much else. I gave him hornworms on occasion, about once every 6 weeks I'll order 10-12 hornworms and feed them to him every other day til they're gone. He used to love silkworms and dubias but no longer goes after them. Offered greens daily (dandelions mostly but occasionally collard greens, kale, escarole, blueberries, red bell pepper, mango) but he almost never went for them. It almost felt like he'd rather starve until I offered worms.