partial blockage

[Chizzow]

Hi everyone

After reading all the stories on impacted tegus, I have a simliar problem but with a twist.

My tegu is wiggling and pushing quite often to defecate, however everything is coming out as liquid or small pieces, quite a bit of liquid feces and urine. What made me worry was the fact that it would even roll a bit onto one side and strain heavily. After going to the vet, I had a fecal done for parasites which came up negative. Vet suggested that it may be one of two things. Partial blockage (duh) or bacterial infection. I was recommended to use laxatives, and just starve it for 5 days in case it is bacterial. I am currently feeding it papayas with mineral oil. Any other suggestions!?

some specs:

basking temp is 100
ambient is 85
cool zone is 78

[Jimjones]

No!!! try putting him in a warm bath tub for like 10-15 minutes. Water usually helps my tegu go!! And your basking temp should be atleast 10 to 15 degrees higher, more like 110 0r 115 is where it should be!!!

[Chizzow]

just to add. I've been bathing him two times a day

[Johelian]

Starving it isnt the way to go when dealing with bacterial infection, he would need a course of antibiotics...what kind of a vet IS he? The mineral oil should help to lube up anything in there, and the warm water soaks should also help, so keep them up.

[Chizzow]

Starving it isnt the way to go when dealing with bacterial infection, he would need a course of antibiotics...what kind of a vet IS he? The mineral oil should help to lube up anything in there, and the warm water soaks should also help, so keep them up.

my thoughts exactly, in my experience I have never heard of starving a reptile to treat for bacterial infections. As of now, Im just feeding lots of papaya with a bit of mineral oil mixed in. Hopefully it'll work.

[tupinambis]

I've seen that kind of behaviour in animals with renal calculi. You really should take the animal in to get an x-ray. The sooner you treat something like that, the less chance it will develop into something serious. If it is calculi and you let it continue, it will require surgery to extract. Try palpitating around posterior abdomen and under the hips, if it seems overly firm or even hard, you have serious blockage problems and sitting around and waiting for it to clear are only going to make things worse.

[Chizzow]

I've seen that kind of behaviour in animals with renal calculi. You really should take the animal in to get an x-ray. The sooner you treat something like that, the less chance it will develop into something serious. If it is calculi and you let it continue, it will require surgery to extract. Try palpitating around posterior abdomen and under the hips, if it seems overly firm or even hard, you have serious blockage problems and sitting around and waiting for it to clear are only going to make things worse.

thanks for the help. His entire underbelly is fairly soft, vet checked it as well and said it feels normal. Basically at the end of the visit, the vet did not seem overly worried about his conditions. Im stumped :(

[Chizzow]

update:

So after $50 dollars for a vet visit and half a papaya, my tegu finally passed the blockage...it was a toilet bolt cap that he ate 2 months ago. Becareful of the tegu's environment if you let them free roam.