Posted by TandQ on July 31, 2000 at 10:17:11:
In Reply to: Chunky fruit posted by Dishy on July 30, 2000 at 13:23:32:
Hey Dishy,
I saw varying throat problems with my Q, both
from his kidney damage and the intususeption which
took him a few months ago. I'm hoping your iguana's
difficulties are just a couple of isolated
incidents, but just in case, let me ask a couple
of questions.
Has this iguana had a blood test to check his
phos/cal levels? With Q, his kidney's dysfunction
caused swelling of the throat. Look into your
iguana's throat (while he's not eating), does the
passage look as large as usual? Do you see any
signs of swelling? Also, is the iguana pooping
normally?
I don't want to be an alarmist, there is probably
nothing wrong with your iguana's throat.
With Q, who LOVED melon, he would often continue
to take bites even though he hadn't swallowed the
last one. It seemed like he had a holding
area in his throat and didn't want to waste time
swallowing when he could be getting more melon.
Then he'd pause and take a big swallow before
scarfing more melon.
Your iguana may not have been having as much
trouble as you think. It's kind of hard to choke
an iguana with solid food, because they don't
need their esophagus to breathe. And they don't
need to breathe as often as we think. Since they
can hold their breath for so long, it helps them
pig out on their most favorite foods with out
stopping for a breath.
Hopefully, all is fine. Let us know if you
continue to see problems.
T&Q