Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

I have a 3 year old black and white. She was loose in the living room a couple of nights ago, and after some serious straining she suffered a prolapse. I got her to the vet the next morning and $230 later she is better. However, when the vet did xrays, she informed me that there was some sort of blockage that may have caused the prolapse, and that it looks too big for Katie to pass naturally. As far as I know, the blockage could be one of three things.
1. Bones of a chick, which she should naturally digest.
2. Beef jerky (which she was NOT supposed to have, but discovered while out last week and had a bit before I took it away)
3. Shredded coconut bedding. She is fed outside the enclosure and I have never seen her eat bedding, but if this is what is blocking her up, I don't know if she can digest it.
Surgery would be hundreds and hundreds of dollars (which I really can't afford). Currently, she is home, on oral antibiotics, and I'm giving her fresh figs and grapes which should be easy to digest.

The vet I took her too (the only one in my town who does reptiles) has treated tegus, but not many, and honestly admitted she wasn't really sure what to advise. I guess I am asking for general advice on care at this point, and specifically if there is some sort of laxative or something I could give Katie to help her.

Thanks for your time!

It's really touchy to give that sort of medical advice over an Internet forum. The problem is that if she's already suffered a prolapse from straining, she may be apt to prolapse again.

That said, this is about all I could recommend....

Daily warm water (just lukewarm) baths of 15-20 minutes to stimulate a BM. I would make sure the basking temp is about 115 to facilitate proper metabolism and peristalsis of the intestinal tract. Also, some free roaming time and exercise will help move things along.

You don't want to give a strong laxative but provide something that would work naturally. If she will eat ground turkey, then I would sprinkle one teaspoon of plain metamucil fiber on her daily feeding portion. Also give her cod liver oil mixed in with the ground turkey at a ratio of one tablespoon to one pound of meat. Make sure she gets calcium without phosphorous or D3 with this diet. The cod liver oil already contains plenty of Vit D and you don't want to overdo it.

You never know what they will pass without surgery. It could be a hairball or feathers mixed with all sorts of things. I have a tegu that eats all sorts of weird things. If I don't keep her fiber high then she will eat cypress mulch and she does like to get into the back yard and eat silver dollar sized rocks. She really had me worried time, but passed a rather large stone within a few days.

Thank you for the advice. I realize asking for medical advice on the internet is generally a terrible idea, but under the circumstances I thought it wouldn't hurt to know what people have tried with similiar problems. I really don't want to get risky, extremely expensive surgery, especially if the blockage is something she will digest.

I will try the cod liver oil and ground turkey. She is already getting daily soaks and is out every evening in the living room with us. She has a proper basking spot which she spends most of the time in since she came back from the vet. I am currently keeping her on clean, wet towels (changed everyday or more if she messes it, the laundrey bill is going to be astronomical!) in her enclosure rather than her normal coconut bedding to make sure she doesn't eat anything funny or get an infection.

Thanks again for your advice.

Just thought I would let you know that I took your advice, and my tegu is okay now. The blockage was a compact mass of bone, which could only be chick bones. It worries me that she couldn't digest it better and I added another basking spot to her enclosure, but she is fine now.

Thanks for the advice!

Thanks for the update! I'm glad everything worked out well for you and your tegu.