Rapid Weight Loss

[Damieboo]

I'm starting to get really worried. My 5 year old beardie Damien stopped eating cold turkey about a week ago. Not interested in anything. I just got her to drink water from a syringe about 2 days ago. I didn't think much of it because she often goes days without eating and she's been stressed from our new rescue beardie who has a habit of headbobbing near her cage (I've since covered up Damien's cage). But I was holding her on my bed this morning and petting her tail when I realized I could feel her bones. I don't really know how else to describe it but her tail muscle feels grainy? It looks plump but if you squeeze it, you can press all the way to the bone. Her skin is wrinkly in appearance but she's not dehydrated because I've been giving her 1-2 CCs of water twice a day. I'm guessing it's excess skin from her rapid weight loss. She shouldn't have gotten so skinny from a week of not eating. I was thinking impaction but she's having normal poops, and I wondered parasites but they're not runny or bad smelling. I'm thinking of getting a fecal with my next paycheck.

The GOOD news is I went out and got squash baby food which she gulped down enthusiastically, only because she recognizes the syringe as water. So she ate about 3 CCs of squash. After that she'll look at her greens but still makes no attempt to eat them.

Cage info:

40 gallon breeder
100w Powersun
Repticarpet
Basking spot 106, Cool side 78-82 (she has a cat hut that is around 74)

Her diet was mainly superworms with the occasional dubia I could sneak in and bok choy/collard greens, bananas as a treat. For the past month she's been crazy active, running all over the apartment. Then she just stopped eating. Since she hasn't eaten and is losing weight so fast, her movements are pretty slow and a little shakey. She perked up a tiny bit from the squash but I'm still concerned about how skinny she is. Also noticed the fat pads on her head deflated.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That is too bad she is losing weight to that extent.
I would most definitely get a fecal done on her though, in case it is a parasite causing weight loss.
If her fat pads are sunken in then I consider that an emergency, really. Has she ever laid eggs?
Also, if possible, getting a blood test would be helpful too just so you can determine her liver & kidney functions.
At least she loves the squash baby food that helps out. You could add some chicken & or turkey baby food also to help with some weight gain.
Do you have any pictures of her?

Tracie

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....the first thing I thought too was that she's possibly gravid. Can you weigh her at home , and also post a few pics to show her condition ?

 

[Damieboo]

I've been feeling for eggs every couple of days but I can't feel anything. I made a post a few weeks ago about her being hunched over, remember? She's kind of doing that again without the spasming. Her belly feels pretty tight, but she relaxes if I hold her in my hand for a minute. It can't be impaction because she's been passing mostly white urates but one or two with regular poo (because she's not eating, so nothing to pass really) and isn't straining. She was really active but she wasn't scratching or digging around in her cage so I didn't suspect eggs. Here are some pictures, the overhead was taken 2 days ago, she's not THAT skinny but that's when she was sucking her sides in. She's like that 70% of the time. The fat pads on her head aren't that bad but hers are usually really puffy, almost like a frog, so they look fairly flat. Her legs are really small too, you can see the wrinkles/folds of skin. It's like she's losing muscle mass too but she can still walk around and hold herself up.

The last pic shows her tail which still looks pretty plump, which is why I didn't think anything was wrong until yesterday when I felt it. I fed her another CC of squash this morning at 10am, she wasn't as enthusiastic about it today but she kept licking instinctively until it was gone. Won't look at worms or lettuce. I'm wondering if I'm going to be able to get a fecal since it's been 8 days since her last solid food...Would they be able to test urates?

 

[AHBD]

She still looks a good weight, but I know you can see the difference since you see her all the time. She actually is built like a male [ don't be offended ] with her wide head. And look at those spikes, really a spikey dragon that you don't see too often any more . Anyway, she may still be a bit upset from seeing the other dragon....and as for being impacted, they can be and still pass urates, but it's not likely. The urates can be taken in for an exam because they will still contain any bacteria or parasites that a regular poo would have. I do remember your thread now about her hunching over....I can't remember the specifics.

 

[Damieboo]

Yup, we named her Damien because we thought she was a boy. Then I left her unattended in a room with another beardie for 5 mins and came back to find them trying to do the dirty :roll: She was way too young at that time though so I separated them before they got anywhere. Found out our male (damien) was actually a girl, and our female (Salem) was actually a boy. Good times! We think she's a german giant because she's so big and wide.

Anywho yes, for 2 days she was hunched over and twitching with her eyes closed like she was in pain. At that time I did think she was impacted so I gave her baths and rubbed her belly, then she just perked up the next day and was totally fine. A day after that she was pooping just fine again. It was about 4-5 days after that incident that she stopped eating so I think they might be a related issue.

 

[AHBD]

Has she ever laid eggs ? The reason I ask is because males will mount other males, and some females will even dominate and mount a submissive male, so their actions would not rule out her being an actual male.

Anywho....I don't know what the problem could be. Maybe she had a chance to ingest some type of foreign object ?

 

[Damieboo]

Nope, never laid eggs...I checked her tail in a dark bathroom with a flashlight a couple times and she's got nothing. I've never had a male to directly compare but all 3 of my beardies look like the picture on the right side, Damien's is even less noticeable. Are eggs sometimes unable to be felt? It would explain why her belly feels so tight all the time...

She's so submissive to the other lizards. Even my baby frilled lizard, not kidding. He's the size of her food and he frilled up at her one day and she started slow bobbing. She could take on all of them but she's a big baby. :roll:

 

[AHBD]

Aw, I'm sorry if I insulted your pretty girl ! She sounds like a real sweetie. But yes, it's possible that infertile eggs can't be felt, especially a small clutch. If she continues to act oddly and refuses food you might inquire at the vets about a radiograph or ultrasound.

 

[Damieboo]

No offense taken! She looks tough but she's a little cuddle bug.

So I went out and bought some meat baby food but for the chicken & turkey options, they were all meat + broth. Is the broth part okay? I got chicken & broth. Ingredients say it's just finely ground chicken and chicken broth. Will I have to heat it up or is it ok to give to her cold? She was a little more active today after having more squash and she had a poop! A real one, not just urates. No idea where it came from, she hasn't eaten solid food and I don't think squash from yesterday would pass so fast. I bagged it up and hopefully I can get a fecal test at the vet tomorrow. If I keep it refrigerated, how long will the stool sample be good for?

 

[AHBD]

The fecal sample will be fine the next day if kept damp in the refrigerator. And the baby food can be given right from the jar, then of course you refrigerate it. Once it's cold though you can heat it just slightly.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

She does have a wider head. So she is definitely a girl then. LOL
I agree, if she continues this behavior I would try to get her to the vets to have an x-ray in case she is carrying infertile eggs. It is hard to always feel them though.
The chicken/turkey baby food with broth is fine, does she like the flavor? Hopefully you can get her fat pads up too.
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

 

[Damieboo]

She seemed to like the chicken when I mixed it with the squash. I mixed it together in a bottle cap and she licked some out of the cap too. Well, vet might be out of the question...Called and asked about a fecal float and they'll only do it if I agree to a $65 physical exam for it being my first time at the clinic on top of the $30 fecal test...And they won't have any evening appointments available until March 13th at the earliest. That's a bummer. For now she's been a little more active, before I started feeding her the squash, she laid with her chin on her log all day but now she's alert and looking around. Not so shakey when she walks either. She's still not eating as much as I'd like (1-2 cc's of baby food 3-4 times a day) but it's an improvement.

 

[AHBD]

Well that's good news, it's easy to give meds. [ when necessary ] when your beardie likes baby food. It may be that her tummy is sore or queasy for some reason and the baby food smells appealing + is easy to digest.

 

[Damieboo]

Still not eating...although she looks at food now. Bananas are her favorite and she looked at it hungrily but didn't go for it. I got a half a spoonful of squash baby food in her this morning. She's running around my bedroom with a slightly dark beard. I spent most of the morning reading about egg bound symptoms and enlarged organs so I'm going to see about getting an x-ray. She's been really regular since I started feeding the baby food, although her poos are kind of weird...tacky, light brown. I get paid Thursday so the earliest I can get an x-ray is Friday if they have an open spot. Fingers crossed...