Friends Sick CWD

[chelvis]

So I'm sure you have all been in this position before, you own reptiles for awhile so you must be an expert on every reptile. Well i got a message from out of the blue about a chinese water dragon that is having bloody stool. The local vet is not sure what it is and has called a specialist that can not do much with out seeing the animal. So she is reaching out to anyone that could maybe help. I've already said an obstruction that maybe ended with a cut in the GI tract, x-ray showed no current obstruction. Here is the message i got from the owner:
"Hey my friend Annette Goff suggested I ask you about my lizard, today I woke up and he was sleeping in a pool (literally so much that it was running down the glass off the ledge he was on) of his blood. He had pooped thick coagulated blood 3 times today and I took him to a nearby vet (I moved from SD to Mississippi and there are NO exotic specialists out here...) we took xrays which dont show any obstructions or foreign bodies-but its hard to tell on an xray unless its a metal foreign body. He did eat a plastic leaf a month ago and passes the leaf and the stem Ive since removed those plants from his tank. The dr I took him to had an over the phone consult with a specialist who said he was unsure what was wrong with him. We have him on Sucralfate, Metronidazole, Panacur, and Albon as of a half hour ago. I have not actually given the Sucralfate yet because he needs to absorb the other meds before I give sucralfate because it coats the throat, stomach and intestines which hopefully will allow any cuts he may have..? any suggestions? "

I have suggested bumbing the temp up (currently 88 i said 95) and giving fluids. Before you ask about cage set-up lets just say you would not be happy. Any input would be great.

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OK its starting to sound like this is a cronic issue:

"Yeah I actually got him as a Petsmart reject in CA, they had him in incorrect temp's with no UVA/UVB so he got metabolic bone disease, hes been rehabilitated, since Ive had him hes had a fractured jaw, blood in the stool 2 times (never this much and they always thought it was due to cricket legs-he has not had crickets in months this time) hes turned brown and limp for a week and was treated for that-still not sure what that happened, hes had lizard enemas because he randomly stopped pooping for weeks and SEVERAL other issues."

I'm now leaning towards maybe a kideny or liver issue from the years of MBD and other health issues. Organ failure maybe?

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

First thing that popped in my head was parasites with the bloody stool but. But with everything else going on and that it's already been through,.. it could be Liver or Kidney failure. Have they done any blood work?

 

[chelvis]

I don't belive so, i think it might be too sick to do so

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

I know its a hard decision for some people to come to. But if it's really that sick to where they don't want to risk taking any blood. Then the best thing may be to end it's suffering and put him to sleep.

 

[chelvis]

That's what i was going to suggest, i just wanted to make sure i wouldnt be too "cold" to the situations, having someone with an outside perpective makes it a bit easier to do.

 

[txrepgirl]

I could be wrong but maybe it's colitis.

 

[chelvis]

Sadly the lizard passed away last night. It sounded like a whole host of things were wrong. Thanks all for your help.

 

[La-Price]

unfortunately we've had similar luck with water dragons from petsmart. 2 died from some sort of genetic deficiency which caused them to die horribly of mbd before we realized that that was why they never ate or moved much. the other 2, 1 we kept is doing great, we rehomed the other and im not sure if hes still doing good.

 

[jumper123]

sounds like petsmart is not very petsmart.. that is a horrible situation, not just for the attached owner who wanted to help out the lizard but for the suffering animal. I had that problem rescuing a tegu. give your friend my sympathy.