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So I finally got the necropsy done on my deceased beardie. Her liver looked a little suspect. There was severe hemoraging in the lungs. so the final conclusion was death by pulmonary edema caused by an RI. I had never seen an ri in a dragon before. Her conditions were correct (now RI in snakes are from too cool temps). And she was very plump. One side note the difference between a seemingly healthy dragon that has passed on and that of a sick dragon that has passed on is amazing. I saw the necropsy done on both of my dragons that died this year. One was very skinny, she had a colon abcess, thought the skininess was due to breeding. But she didn't gain weight back after laying and went downhill quickly. This one went without any signs of sickness. When he cut her open she had a huge fat store in the bottom section of her abdomen and another one on the top section. I couldn't believe it I would say close to 50% of her abdomen was made up of fat stores. Well now I get to start some females on antibiotics because they were in contact with her, and might have underlying ri without showing signs of it. I am glad to know what it was though. I am attaching a pic of her.

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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

well at least now you know the cause, with reptiles as with birds RI can be very serious, sorry you lost her, she was beautiful.

>>So I finally got the necropsy done on my deceased beardie. Her liver looked a little suspect. There was severe hemoraging in the lungs. so the final conclusion was death by pulmonary edema caused by an RI. I had never seen an ri in a dragon before. Her conditions were correct (now RI in snakes are from too cool temps). And she was very plump. One side note the difference between a seemingly healthy dragon that has passed on and that of a sick dragon that has passed on is amazing. I saw the necropsy done on both of my dragons that died this year. One was very skinny, she had a colon abcess, thought the skininess was due to breeding. But she didn't gain weight back after laying and went downhill quickly. This one went without any signs of sickness. When he cut her open she had a huge fat store in the bottom section of her abdomen and another one on the top section. I couldn't believe it I would say close to 50% of her abdomen was made up of fat stores. Well now I get to start some females on antibiotics because they were in contact with her, and might have underlying ri without showing signs of it. I am glad to know what it was though. I am attaching a pic of her.
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>>Derek Affonce
>>DeKeAff Exotics
>>dekeaffexotics.com
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reiko
photos

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Life is what happens when you are making other plans.......

There were no signs at all? How scary. So sorry you lost her, must have been hard.

Peter

I couldn't tell by your post.
Were the fat stores a good thing or a bad thing?
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TheClassyLizard

Vet said normal for a plump dragon. I thought she was a little plump but pretty normal for a well kept dragon. He says what he considers a "normal" dragon I would consider skinny. As what he sees is obviously not in the same health as mine. Unfortunate but true. Alot of vets and people that deal with dragons with medical issues see mostly the bottom of the barrel. I was joking with my vet when I brought her in that all I bring him now is dead animals and poop. In a way I guess that means I have improved my care, but also bad as I have had a few dead dragons. You know what just popped into my head while I was showering (after a night out with the people from the lab) that maybe this dragon aspirated meds from treatment for coccidia. Pulmonary edema (inhaling the meds = fluid in the lungs) this could have been the cause of the RI. I really didn't see any signs that she was sick at all. If I had I would have brought her to the vet asap. I have no problem dropping money on the vet. He is a good guy gives me a good deal and amuses me all at once. Now I kick myself in the butt believing that the meds I administered for Coccidia may have been the issue? Guess I will never know the answer to that one. Who says people don't admit to their screw ups? I feel I do.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

of aspiration in the lungs.... its VERY noticible, the bleeding is an indication that it was something deeper than the introduction of matter into the lungs from the outside like you would have with aspiration.

You get bacteria and fungus in abundance with aspiration, it usually takes a few days and you see other signs. From my experience, any animal that aspirates, the dying process is long, even when you know what it is and are trying to help.

I was thinking more along the lines of she ingested a good amount of fluids into the lungs. "Coughed" it out and had the rest swept out. This is basically what is known as a saline lavage. It washes out the lungs of everything (one being surfactant). when surfactent is washed out it basically causes a condition that is similar to emphashyma. Saline lavage is used as a model for emphsyma in animal models, it is terminal and if it does too god of a job washing out the lungs can be terminal in hours. It is a pretty gruesome model causes airways to colapse and reopen and leads to alveolar destruction and thus blood filling of the lungs. Don't think it would be that noticable and that would have been quick. I don't know though just a thought. I did not send out samples from the liver as the lungs where clearly the cause on this one. I still plan to treat some of the other girls with antibiotics just incase it was a RI.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

Its hard to accept... but it also shows how easy something can happen to them, even with the best of care. Its like our kids, you can feed them well and take care of them, but they still can catch the random bug.

RI are hard to spot in reptiles, if not almost impossible at times and they can it them fast and hard.

Derek, you said the live looked suspect... what did you mean and was any tissue sent for further pathology of it?