Prolapse aftercare for a 12 year old beardie

[bmcalinden29]

Good morning everyone,

My girl almost 13 over night on Friday had a prolapse. It was the most stressful thing I ever experienced with her.
I cried calling over 40 different places that night that couldn't take exotics right away. Each one said no. My husband and I did what we could to keep the prolapse moist and take her in somewhere that morning.
That morning. We took her to her usual vet office who thankfully let me bring her in. They did the surgery successfully. Wasn't a huge prolapse. Could have been because of the sugar water bath we did. It shrunk some.
They stitched her up and sent us off with some medicine. Meloxicam, antibiotics for 10 days, and 2 extra dewormers. She's finished with everything except the pain/anti inflammatory and antibiotics.

She pooped Sunday thankfully. Very liquid and saw a uriate thankfully. She told me to feed her regular diet but I was worried of it being too solid. So thankfully she gave me critical care to feed her with crushed greens. Force feeding my bearded dragon is stressing her out a lot. I hateeeee doing it but she's not quite eating on her own yet. How much each meal should I be giving her of that critical care? How many times a day?
I want to be making sure I am not over feeding her or too little. It's hard to tell just how much is too much. She fights me regardless with the syringe.

I have noticed she's been keeping her eyes closed a ton and never keeps them open as much as she use too. This is a new behavior. She did this when she prolapsed but she's still doing it all the time and her neck beard line is black. I am assuming this is stress and pain? Can I give her a nice warm bath? I have been putting drops of water on her snout but she's not caring for that.
How long can I expect her to be in pain for after the surgery? I feel so awful this happened to her .
She has a recheck soon.

 

[CooperDragon]

Poor girl, sounds like she's still a bit uncomfortable (understandably). The sugar water bath was a good move, and probably helped out quite a bit to reduce swelling. As long as infection doesn't set in and the prolapse doesn't return, she should be able to recover. If she's eating mostly salads, she is likely to be able to digest that without a lot of issue.

Will she eat on her own at all? She may not want to eat much for a while, and I probably wouldn't be too forceful about it yet. Just offer food a couple of times a day and see if she seems interested. As far as syringe feeding goes, that can be tricky. I've found it helpful to offer something that they enjoy the taste of. I've had good luck using baby food squash and sweet potato. Might be worth trying out a few flavors of baby food and see if she likes any of them. I probably wouldn't give her big meals or any bugs for at least a couple of weeks to make sure she can pass everything smoothly.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

So sorry she is not feeling 100%. That's great the sugar water bath seemed to help her.
I agree, try some baby food, they usually like several flavors. It would be easy to digest & is
helpful with getting some nutrition into her also.
Keep us posted on her progress.

Tracie

 

[bmcalinden29]

Hello,

So sorry she is not feeling 100%. That's great the sugar water bath seemed to help her.
I agree, try some baby food, they usually like several flavors. It would be easy to digest & is
helpful with getting some nutrition into her also.
Keep us posted on her progress.

Tracie

Hey! She’s doing a little better. I still have to really syringe her to eat. She slightly prolapsed again yesterday but I saw her old substrate come out which was why. . It went back in on its own by the time I got to the vet. They prescribed a laxative to help soften everything in her intestines and make it easier for everything to pass.
Starting yesterday she is scratching the heck out of the carpet and in her closure. They didn’t feel any eggs or see any on the x rays. She’s never been the type to pass them she just always absorbed them.
I offered the baby food before syringing it to her. Wasn’t interested. I can tell she likes the baby food taste better then the critical care stuff though.

 

[bmcalinden29]

Hello,

So sorry she is not feeling 100%. That's great the sugar water bath seemed to help her.
I agree, try some baby food, they usually like several flavors. It would be easy to digest & is
helpful with getting some nutrition into her also.
Keep us posted on her progress.

Tracie

This is my girl. Had her for almost 13 years. . She lost some weight and didn’t realize it until she got weighed I
in. Parasites can do that apparently. She’s not really eating either. I’m having to make her a bit.

 

[CooperDragon]

Almost 13 years is a great run so far! You must be doing an excellent job caring for her. She looks nice and healthy based on that photo. I'm hopeful she'll bounce back from this and recover quickly.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

She is lovely, the normal morph coloring is terrific.
How is she doing today? That is a great age indeed, what a lucky girl.
Let us know how she is coming along.

Tracie

 

[AHBD]

She looks really good for her age, nice body structure and she seems pretty alert in that pic. Did the vet give you Lactulose / Enulose ? How often are you giving it ?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Keep us posted on your girl, I hope she is doing better!

Tracie

 

[bmcalinden29]

Well. Not much news other then I thought she was doing better sadly. She had a really good day. The antibiotic for her GI I thought fixed the problem. I gave her wax worms and she ate those fine. But won’t eat her greens. Still syringe feeding her. She will go 8 hours without feeding herself. (Vet said to try it this way to get her to eat).
She seems nauseous now after eating the wax worms
and hasn’t pooped since which is not like her. Her eyes are closed again. Just a never ending vicious cycle for her which I feel awful for. Vet told me if we can’t get her to eat on her own soon. We need to have a different discussion ?. Im heart broken and exhausted for my old girl.

 

[AHBD]

If she hasn't eaten for a week after the prolapse except by syringe, that's O.K. It's actually better that they don't eat very much , that gives them time to let the prolapse heal because with so little food intake they won't need to have a bowel movement too soon and possibly prolapse again. She doesn't need a laxative, that is possibly causing G.I. problems + cramps because of the urge to poo with very little food in her. Just syringe feed her and offer a little water and see how she does. Hopefully she'll make her way through this !

 

[bmcalinden29]

That’s actually reassuring!! So that makes me feel better.
She hasn’t had a bowl movement in 2 days. Which is unusual for her. I do worry of her next one being too big though.
Hoping for them to keep in the stitches a little longer.
It’s definitely been over a week with this for her for the syringe feeds. Almost 2.
Sees vet tomorrow for check up and maybe some blood work to make sure we are not missing anything.

 

[AHBD]

I really do hope she can pull through, it's actually a good sign that it only partly came out but went in on it's own ! She doesn't need too much food now when she doesn't feel too well. I don't think I'd put her through the stress of a blood test at her age, but you'll have to make that decision. Even if they found something you might not want to aggressively treat her but just let her be comfortable. She looks good though, body condition is visually great for 13 years old.

 

[bmcalinden29]

I am happy to report she is 100000xs times better today! She ate on her own even with greens ?! The anti nausea meds and GI antibiotic I think did the trick for her. Plus time.
She hasn’t had a solid bowl movement yet but I’m hoping that goes okay for her! So happy to see her back and alert again.

 

[AHBD]

Glad to hear that she's doing better ! It just took some time after the prolapse to feel more normal, hopefully she won't have the problem again. Best wishes to her going forward !