What to do after prolapse sutures

[Kapulei]

Afternoon!

I posted awhile back about my beardie Kapu and their chronic prolapses. Unfortunately it's still on going and I've been too a couple of vets about it.

First one seemed to think that they needed less free lizard time and more cage time(max UVB), but other than that had nothing to suggest other than time to heal. After a few months of trying that and the issue not improving(he did gain some weight, but otherwise no changes) I decided enough is enough and I needed a better answer because I felt like all this was doing was increasing inflammation and not healing.

My new vet is more of an actual specialist, and after blood work, fecal, xray, and ultrasound we learned today that Kapu's a girl! Aaaand we had some sutures put in place. Fingers crossed that between that, anti inflammation medication, and some deworming(just in case that isn't helping) Kapu can finally heal from this and we won't need to explore further surgeries.

So my question:what's good for her during this time? Greens and grubs? We have some stool softeners as well, but are there specific good greens to help with this? I've got a collection of bugs that I'm rotating(bsf, roaches and the occasional Superworm or hornworm),should some be avoided at this time? And are baths okay while there are sutures?

Also I noticed after picking her up from the vet that there is slight swelling below both of the shoulder blades. Is that normal after anesthetics?

Appreciate any help for my (currently very sleepy) little dude!

 

[Kapulei]

Oh also with the gender reveal we can(almost) rule out it being a hemipene. But we're still not 100‰ sure if it's the cloaca, gastrointestinal, or ureteral.

 

[RangoRocky]

@AHBD

 

[Kapulei]

After a night of rest the swelling is gone, so I'm thinking that was related to the anesthetics

 

[Kapulei]

First bowel movement today after the suture. Had another prolapse unfortunately, but we're only part way through the 2 week process of having sutures. Fingers crossed that her 2nd bowel movement goes better. Going to reduced the food she's getting, since I suspect that the stool softners can only help so much. I read on another conversation in here to try to feed baby food. Is that still seen as a good option to occasionally give during these? She refuses to touch any purees or if her food has oils on it, so I'm not sure if she'll take the baby food.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Poor girl. Are you giving just soft foods right now? Yes, you can simply use baby food for her. I do
think she would like the baby food. A lot of them tend to. You wouldn't need to use anymore stool
softeners if you are giving that type of food.
Has her beard been black at all, or normal color?

Tracie

 

[AHBD]

Sorry I never saw this , do you have any pics of the prolapse ? Does it come out for a bit + then go back in ? A rectal prolapse would look much worse than a hemipene prolapse and are difficult to get back in, they are usually shockingly large. If you haven't already, Google bearded dragon prolapse. And the swelling on the back may have been from giving sub -q fluids or an injection of some type, it may be on your vet bill.

 

[Kapulei]

She did take some big only if I dipped a bsf in it first(nachos).

No black beard(not even darkened), but she's always been like that. Even during some of more right prolapses. It's like she doesn't notice. I always feel like she must hate me when we're working on getting retracted, but nope.

Vet had me bring her back in this morning to remove the sutures. She's worried that if she's prolapsing with the sutures in place we're just making it worse.

So now we have to figure out which tissue it is for certain before moving forward. But it's going to cost 10k between CT scans, colonoscopy, and potential surgery. I've already burned all my savings on the 5 vet visits I've had so I'm a loss for what to do next. I'm beginning to fear her best bet is to be surrendered to a place that can fund her needs but I don't know if that really exists. I'd rather lose her but know she's gets a full life rather than have to put her down because I didn't know reptile insurance existed until too late and only had 3k saved for the vet.

 

[AHBD]

Wow, that sounds way excessive, sorry you're going through this. Please post some pics of her [ full body ] and also of her cloaca [ if you can]. For now don't feed her anything , just a little water via syringe for a week. And do keep her in the enclosure for the heat + uvb exposure, it actually IS important for a healing beardie.

 

[Kapulei]

Here's 2 pics that are both from the last few weeks. I have other better full body ones but they're a couple months old. She's at the vet atm.
The prolapse picture is older, from when I first posted here. But that's the only picture I've taken since. She poops everytime we go to the vet so they can see it first hand. But at this time the prolapse looks about the same, though with slightly more tissue(though that could also just be the same tissue more inflamed). That's why I took her to a new vet because I didn't think the first gave me good advice. While the max exposure will help heal, it's not really addressing the cause and the tissue is just getting more inflamed with each prolapse.

 

[Kapulei]

New item by Baeshraludrac

photos.app.goo.gl

Can't tell if the prolapse one actually tagged

 

[AHBD]

Is that as far as it comes out ? That does look more like a hemi-pene and whatever it is is not much. I think this is definitely something that can get better, I would run from the $ 10,000 treatment estimate ! Don't let them do all those tests for this slight problem. Although it is a problem all that invasive treatment is not necessary.

 

[Kapulei]

But how do I get this to stop? She's been prolapsing with every bowel movement for 4 months. Nothing I've tried seems to help. Additionally, her white blood cells are elevated, and they confirmed with ultrasound and xray that's she's female(or is a hermaphrodite) , and she's got slight liver abnormalities. So if she's got an internal infection, or even liver disease, then I don't know if I have much of a choice. The tests, they say, are mainly because the tissue is swollen enough that they can't tell for sure if it's colon or cloaca. And it gives them a change to maybe find the infection and take a closer look at the liver.

 

[Kapulei]

And it looks now like slightly more tissue, but as stated I'm not sure if that's just the same tissue but more irritated.

 

[AHBD]

How quickly does it go back , or do you put it back ? It may be something that will lessen as he/she grows , as time passes. Use a q-tip with honey on it to gently push it back each time . Be sure she stays well hydrated and feed her insects that are on the small side. Be vigilant with the calcium supplementation which not only strengthens the bones but facilitates all other body functions . I know this is stressful and that you will ultimately choose what you feel is best but that is what I would do.