still not eating after vet treatments

[faz]

Hi all,

My beardie (9 months old) stopped eating about 6 weeks ago, he's been back and fore to the vet and had various samples taken. They've treated him for an infection (antiobiotics) coxcydia and worms as these showed up on his tests. I'm feeding him every 3 days with cat food as he won't eat himself... it was every day but the vet has suggested cutting down in case feeding him is stressing him out.

I'm just getting really worried about him as he doesn't seem to be getting any better. He ignores any food I put in his tank and spends most of his time just sleeping. He only livens up when I take him out to give him his calcium and food and bath every few days.

His tempratures in the tank are within the right amounts, he has a repti-carpet (no sand) and he lives on his own.

Can anyone recommend anything else I can try? Is he lonely? Does he want some sand to dig in?

ANy help or advice much appreciated

 

[H31d1]

sorry to hear your having problems, i just have a few questions for you.
i have not heard of beardies eating cat food before, what was his diet like before he stopped eating?
what are the basking temps and what do you use to measure them?
lastly, what UVB light do you use and how old is it?

If your beardy has been taking medication then you might want to give him a bath with warm water just up to his armpit and see if he will drink he may be dehydrated. make sure you watch him at all times.

good luck with your dragon i hope someone else can give you more answers

 

[ataraxia]

is he still in the course of treatment for either problems?

if has went through anti parasite treatment..has another fecal been done to test for parasites?

what antibiotic was used and regiment?

what anti parasitic was used and regiment?

also need the question from the post above answered.

 

[faz]

i have not heard of beardies eating cat food before, what was his diet like before he stopped eating?
what are the basking temps and what do you use to measure them?
lastly, what UVB light do you use and how old is it?
If your beardy has been taking medication then you might want to give him a bath with warm water just up to his armpit and see if he will drink he may be dehydrated. make sure you watch him at all times.

before he had locusts, mealworms, various vegtables. the cat food was actually given to me by the vet as it's a special high calorie one to make up for the fact that he's not eating anything else.
the basking temps are 22c in the cold end going up to 35c in the hot end. There's stick on themometers on the walls but I also have another one I use to test the actual basking place where he sits.
the UVB light is about 8 months old and is due to be replaced, think it's 10.0. I've been told the make isn't great (exoterra if I remember right) so need to get a better one.
he has baths twice a week at the moment. it was more frequent when he was on his meds.

is he still in the course of treatment for either problems?
if has went through anti parasite treatment..has another fecal been done to test for parasites?
what antibiotic was used and regiment?
what anti parasitic was used and regiment?

he hasn't had his final dose for worms, that's a week friday so the second fecal hasn't been done yet.
can't remember the name of the antibiotic, it was an injection every 3 days and think there were 6 of them.
the other meds were Baycox and Panacur. Baycox has finished, Panacur has one more dose to go a week friday.

thank you both for your responses so far!

 

[BeardieGrandma]

Hi - I've had a similar story.

10 mo old started to slowly stop eating. took her in for fecal, she had pinworms and coccidia. treated her with albon and panacur. During treatment, bathed her frequently (the meds dehydrate them) and gave her acidophiliz+ to restore the good flora in her digestive track (this also is supposed to stimulate eating again).

the meds are really hard on their system. Did all that back in May. After meds completed, she stopped eating entirely. My concern mostly was weight loss and getting calcium in her system for the short term, so I took small syringes and have been feeding her with babyfood spiked with calcium so she gets it a few times a week.

Everyday she would get offered greens and feeders. If she snubbed them, out came the babyfood, just enough to get the calcium down and a little something in her stomach. So this has gone on since May. In July, she finally ate a bug. This past week she's had 3 bugs. Had her fecal rechecked and she was clear of the parasites. So now I've got a persnickety dragon who's lost about 35 grams through this whole ordeal who is slowly coming around (let's hope).

Keep in mind this age they change their eating habits on top of all the other crap you are dealing with, so puberty doesn't help the process at all.

I'd make it a process of elimination and a test of patience.
Make sure you have a fresh UVB in there (8 mos is kind of old).
Make sure he's clear of parasites.
Offer feeders and greens everyday like a mental patient.
keep him well hydrated.
Keep his cage fanatically clean so the coccidia doesn't come back.

I've never heard of feeding them cat food - i'd check the label and make sure there isn't any wheat products in there (they don't digest that well). Many folks use baby food since it doesn't have much more than what it says on the label. I feed my girl green beans and squash, with a little chicken in it for some protein (when she's refusing the bugs).

good luck to you and let us know how things go.

 

[diamc]

Hi, I'm sorry to hear that your beardie has been so sick. As you know, antibiotics are very rough on their systems and destroy the good gut flora. Have you been giving a probiotic to help restore the gut flora? If not, I would recommend using one right away and twice a day. You could use Acidophilis, Benebac gel (package says for birds & reptile) or even SOY yogurt that comes in peach and another flavor, I think blueberry. You could try putting any of them on his nose to see if he will lick it off or even stir into a little bit of baby food like squash or fruit like applesauce, pear/pineapple, etc. Part of the reason he isn't eating could be because he feels nauseous or even having stomach cramping from the antibiotics that can stay in their system for quite some time. Chicken and squash baby food are also very helpful to keep them from losing wt while they try to recover.

You mentioned that your basking temp goes up to 35 celcius which is equal to 95 farenheit. A basking temp of 95 is the absolute minimum that it should be to help digestion, etc but I would recommend 101 (38.3 C) or up to 103 (39.5 C) to help boost him immune system. The stick-on thermometers are inaccurate and can be as much as 20 degrees off. Does your other thermometer have a long wire & probe end? If it does, make sure the probe is actually resting on (touching) the basking spot and that you wait about 45 min for the temp to stop rising before getting the final reading.
Your cool side temp is too cool also at 22 celcius which is equal to 71.6 farenheit. It should be 75 farenheit (24 C) to 85 farenheit (29.5 C) with 80 (26.7 C) being ideal.

Is your UVB a strip fluorescent, coil, compact or mercury vapor bulb? Please look at the bulb itself and let us know the brand name and % of output. The fluorescents need to be changed every 6 months and the best in the U.S. is the Repti-Sun 10.0 tube. That particular bulb should be 6 to 8" from the beardie's basking spot.

It's good that you have been giving frequent baths because the antibiotics are very drying. If you could get some oral fluids into him, that would be helpful. You could even use flavored Pedialyte and dilute to 3 parts water, 1 part Pedialyte and see if he will lick drops off his nose.

Please keep us updated on him and let us know if you have any questions.

**Beardiegrandma, I started typing this then didn't finish so some of our info overlapped but perhaps it will help the member to read some of the same info twice. :wink:

 

[faz]

thanks all! there's a few things i can try then.

will look to get some different food for him, some pro-biotics, change the uvb light (it's currently an exoterra 10.uvb strip) and maybe get a stronger bulb to increase the temperature a bit.

Can't find the bro-biotics mentioned so would this be good for him? http://www.bluelizardreptiles.co.uk/reptilehealth/other/5029411231105

i'll give all this a go and keep you posted on how little Reggie gets on