Being a paranoid and over protective owner, all i have been able to think about lately is my beardies current health situation and what i am going to do about it. I am cautious to use aggressive treatements (i.e antibiotics) unless i absolutely have to. I am just wondering what everyone else would do, and why, if they were in this situation?
Here is the rundown on whats been going on:
About 1 1/2months ago i noticed my beardie wasn't defecating. After trying all the at home remedies (warm water soaks, tummy massages, squash, and mineral oil) and going over and over my husbandry to make sure it was all squeaky clean, i brought her into my work (a vet clinic) to be seen. At this point it had been about 2 weeks since her last bowel movement. Upon palpation the vet discovered urate stones, during palpation she passed 3 stones and defecated all over the floor. Needless to say, i was exstatic. We ran a fecal and discovered a superinfection of pinworms. We also took xrays to see if there were any stones left, and drew blood for a full blood panel. We started her on panacur for the pinworms and waited for the blood work to come back. The vet said her urate stones were probably caused by dehyration and that i should continue soaking her every other day to keep up her hydration. I steralized her tank before putting her back in. And continued soaking her.
Close to two weeks later i hadn't seen a fecal movement again. I brought her back in to the hospital and we took more xrays. The doctor couldnt see anything and said that quite frankly, she was stumped. She sent me to NH to see Dr. Guerrino, who has been working with exotics for years. Dr. Guerrino looked at her and said she looked awesome, my husbandry was great, and that upon palpation her colon didn't even feel too full. He looked at her blood work and saw slightly elevated calcium levels, and a slightly elevated WBC count. He said the calcium levels could easily be from the dehydration at the time of the blood draw. He advised me to not worry, and continue feeding her as normal. He attributed her lack of defecation to a reproductive cycle that had caused her to produce follicles and then reabsorb them. He did, however, tell me if she wasn't defecating normally in two weeks to call him back and we would run her on a course of antibiotics, in case the elevated WBC count meant there was a small internal infection.
I felt much better upon leaving the vet in NH, and two days later Hanny passed a small bowel movement. I ran another fecal which showed the panacur had worked and the pinworms were gone. But we did see some coccidia (aprox 1 oocyst per 3-4feilds under 40x). I called Dr. Guerrino and he wanted to treat her with Albon (which is essentially an antibiotic). I was hesitant to treat since all my reading had stated to not treat coccidia unless the levels were higher. I was worried though, that the stress of all she had been through recently was causing the coccidia to get the upper hand and multiply, maybe we were just seeing the begining of a superinfection and i should treat after all? I decided to wait and see how she did, and test her next fecal to see if the coccidia levels appeared to be rising.
Well, it had been about 1 week, maybe 1 1/2, and today i saw another small bowel movement. Unfortunately the clinic is closed and i wont be able to test it till monday, so im not even sure if it will be any good by then?
I did order some parazap and have started her on 3cc of parazap twice a day for two weeks, hoping this will give her a boost and lower the coccidia levels if they have risen.
What i am toying with though, is wether i should treat with antibiotics or not? She is on parazap, so i would think if i was going to do it now would be the best time as the parazap works sort of like a probiotic, from what i understand. As of now i have tentatively decided to send out some more bloodwork to see where the WBC count is now. If it is elevated at all, i am thinking of going with dr. guerrinos adive and doing some antibiotics (probably ceftazadime) for three weeks. and keeping her on the Parazap at the same time.
Im really worried because she is still not going regularly, and the few times she has gone its been very small comparitively. And the urates still appear to be pretty solid, which im not sure why that is because she is very well hydrated right now.
My questions for you all are....
1. What would you do in this sitation?
2. Should i treat with albon for the coccidia, or should the parazap be good enough to lower the levels, and instead run Ceftazadime for a potential infection?
3. Will my fecal sample be useless by monday if its kept refridgerated?
4. How solid are your beardies urates? Im wondering if Hannys are still too hard or if i am just being paranoid. Hers are firm, but crumble like chaulk when they are squeezed?
Sory this was so long, but i am hoping for the best advice possible here.
Thanks
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake
1.1 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Anerythristic Corn
0.0.1 Red Tegu
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats
Give her a beard rub for me!
) Oh, also Dr. G's practice is open all weekend if you want to get the fecal done while fresh.