Why did my beardie die?? :(

[Lilly]

I took my beardie to the vet yesterday and I was quite worried*, but the vet said she had constipation and was otherwise "in perfect health." I was so relieved. He sent us home with laxatives and said that if that doesn't work, I should take her back in in a week so they could force the poop out of her via enema. Nothing pressing, just something we needed to watch.

At the vet, she turned very pale - like white/yellow, and her beard was black. I thought she was really stressed but when I dropped her off and came back from work, she was still very pale. I tried to comfort her all I could and gave her the laxatives.

This morning, I gave her a bath and some fresh fruit before heading out. I decided to take her back to the vet tomorrow for the enema since she was still pale, and I thought maybe getting the poop out would relieve some stress. When I got back from work earlier tonight, she was curled up in her rock and dead .

I'm heartbroken and I don't know what went wrong. The vet said she would be fine. Should I have gotten the enema yesterday? Was she so stressed out it killed her? I don't know what went wrong and I feel horrible that whatever I did for her was apparently not the right thing. Does anyone know what happened?

I miss my little girl - she was such an angel and I wanted her to live for a long time.

* I posted about what was wrong here: https://beardeddragonforum.com/threads/beardie-keeps-peeing.20107/#post-145844 The vet said she was just constipated.

 

[BeardedHippy]

Hi, so sorry to hear that your beardie passed. Sometimes these things just happen with no rhyme or reason, but yes, stress could have been a huge factor when you look at the timing of what happened. You did everything you were supposed to do, you did nothing wrong and the only way to find out the actual cause of death would be by having a post mortum performed. Did the vet say 'constipated' or 'impacted'? and were you using sand or similar as your substrate?.
Sounds like your beardie had a good life with a caring owner, dont beat yourself up for something that was probably out of your control. Also, dont let this sad incident put you off trying again when you feel up to it.

 

[PatsyB]

Was the vet an exotic vet? There really is no way to know what happened without doing a necropsy. When you brought her in to the vet he should have done an X-ray. If he suspected that she was impacted, an X-ray would have confirmed it. If she was of breeding age, she may have had reproductive issues going on. A blood test would have helped to check kidney/liver enzymes and give a baseline for future blood tests.

 

[Lilly]

Thank you both.

I used newspaper for her tank and the vet didn't use either "constipated" or "impacted," but he did say there was just a big piece of poop rather than a potential foreign object. He did a check for eggs too and that came out negative. However there was no x-ray or anything like that, so it's just an educated guess. He's an exotic vet that's taken good care of her and our rabbits.

I was really freaking out last night but after mulling it over, she probably had organ failure or something like that. The vet called today and said that the amount of poop stuck in her was not enough to kill her, so it wasn't constipation or impaction. He said it was probably cancer. In any event, aside from oral medicine, I don't want to do anything to my animals that they wouldn't understand like putting them through the stress of frequent vet visits or surgery. I wanted more time with her but so is life. The vet also offered a free postmortem but I think I'll just let her rest in peace.

There's probably not going to be another beardie in my future but in case there is, it's good to know everything about their care. These past six years have been a huge learning curve for me.

 

[KrissyLeigh]

I'm so sorry hun. You did all you could, it sounds like she had a wonderful life with you. Xoxoxoxo

 

[Hdrydr31]

It is very possible the stress had a big factor in this, also it is very possible your dragon had some liver issues.. but no way to know unless a necropsy was done.