Hi Electrocute,
I don’t know

Hi Electrocute,

I don’t know much about the Bearded Dragon- but I did find one discussion on VIN involving the liver and free abdominal fluid. I don’t really know why ascites would be present as “normal” just because it is a BD. The discussion on VIN was a female. 

Below is the VIN discussion. 

 

Board: Vet-to-Vet

Folder: Reptiles/Amphibians/Invertebrates

Discussion: bearded dragon with anorexia/hepatomegaly

Address (URL): http://www.vin.com/Link.plx?ID=6707218

 

 

 

1. Posted by Susan Power on 01-22-12 14:46 ET

 

Hello,  

I would love some advice on ‘Jack’ a 3 year old female bearded dragon.  

She presented last week with a history of being quieter than normal and going off her food for a week or so . She was still eating, but less than normal. She has been fine up until then, normally laid lots of eggs every year.  

 

Husbandry wise, temperatures are fine in the viv though she was spending a lot of time out of the viv where it was obviously not warm enough. Food wise she was being fed far too much up up until going off her food –  about 15 crickets a day, and salad which she was eating much less of. It is my understanding that adult beardies are largely vegetarian, with a few crickets 2 or 3 times a week being ideal. She has a good quality calcium /vit supplement dusted on the crickets. She was on calcisand substrate, with a UV light  less than 30 cm away from her in the viv. ( I cant remember if I’ve checked it was UVb or not though). 

 

On examination she was alert and very fat with a very chunky tail. I did a fecal exam which showed eimeria protozoa ++, lots of oxyurid eggs. Ultrasound at that time also indicated some free abdominal fluid, but I booked her back in for a few days later for bloods/xrays etc. In the meantime I instructed the owners to get rid of the calcisand, and use newspaper instead, thoroughly clean and disinfect her viv and furniture and started fenbendazole at 25 mg/kg weekly for 3 weeks.  

 

A few days later I did some further tests ( I’m at home so I dont have the rads or exact blood results) 

1) Xrays – nothing significant that I could see, bone density looked OK, heart size OK, lungs OK, some loss of abdominal detail which I expected with the coelemic fluid I had seen. 

 

2)Bloods. AST was high end normal 90 ( lab normal 93). Proteins fine. Calcium high ( about 2 x normal range). Phos, uric acid normal. Rest of biochem normal.  Wbcs and heterophils about 1/3 way up the normal range. Thrombocytes fine, no anaemia though they commented that there were some inclusion bodies in some of the rbcs which was compatible with anorexia. They also commented that there were 2 toxic azurophils seen. I tried to phone the lab to discuss as I was not sure how significant that was – 2 does not sound many but I wasnt sure how many that was out of – they were shut for the weekend but will discuss that next week.  

 

3) Abdo ultrasound. This was the first time I had ultrasounded a beardie but we have a great ultrasound machine so I got good detail. This showed – free coelemic fluid. A very enlarged liver running a long way along the ventral abdomen. I was worried I could be mistaking it for the fat pads initially but I did follow it from the cranial liver caudally if you see what I mean. Did not look particularly hyperechoic in density 

Kidneys looked OK . Some follicles developing on the ovaries but they were only small.  

I wanted to take a sample of the abdominal fluid but I couldnt easily get a clear route through to it due to the enlarged liver so I thought I’d wait for the blood results first. 

 

So I was worried about the hepatomegaly and free abdominal fluid. Particularly in view of how fat the dragon is I am worried about fatty liver. There is also the coccidia and oxyurids but I am thinking they are not likely to be the cause of the anorexia. So far I have also started the beardie on Toltrazuril (10 mg /kg daily for 3 ds) and instructed the owner to syringe feed critical care, alongside the bit of salad and few crickets she is eating. I am not sure what to do next 

1) Sedate to get a needle sample of the abdo fluid. I could also fna the liver but I find in dogs and cats this is normally unrewarding, though I suppose it may identify hepatic lipidosis. I am too scared to do a tru cut biopsy under ultrasound guidance.  

2) Ex lap to biopsy liver and check nothing else going on 

3) Treat the coccidia continue supportive care and see what happens…. 

4) Something else 

 

Any advice or thoughts would be gratefully received.  

Thanks very much 

Claire 

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2. Posted by Scott Stahl on 01-25-12 01:16 ET

 

Claire, 

Good work up. I would likely tap fluid to evaluate the consider endoscopy or exploratory surgery to biopsy etc. 

Suspicious there could be a repro issue  (even though ovaries seem inactive now) perhaps coelomitis from previous egg laying adventure with possible secondary hepatic lipidosis. 

Goodluck, 

Scott 

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