looking for answers

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Posted by Sheila /Burt on November 25, 2001 at 21:41:08:

This is a long one..........
About 2 months ago, my 5 year old iguana stopped eating and pooping, she was bloated and didn't move around much, and when she did she had a hard time catching her breath. Of course we went to the vet. His initial response was gravid female. He took an x-ray, which showed all of her organs were pressed to one side by a "critical mass". He extracted a large amount of fluid which looked like water. This eased the pressure on her lungs and she felt much better. The lab said the fluid was plasma with very little blood cells. A blood test showed her calcium level to be very high and urates low, but they didn't send a phosporus reading back. The vet said the possibilities were congestive heart failure, liver or kidney disease. After a week of consulting and research, he decided she was in a pre-ovulatory state and could not produce eggs, the solution to spay her. After giving her pre-meds (before surgery) she pooped. The operation found her ovaries quiet and her bladder was the mass we had seen on the x-ray, he drained the bladder and said everything else looked normal. I watched her closely as she recovered. It took a couple of days before she started moving around and eating some. I called the vet almost everyday with an update, he was still consulting and reasearching the problem. After a week of not pooping again, she started to swell up again. I was referred to another vet for ultrasound. The procedure showed that the organs from her heart to her liver were fine, but everything past that was abnormal, floating in fluid. The vet said she's having trouble regulating fluid in her body, which are signs of renal failure, although he could barely see the kidneys on the ultrasound. We went over diet, heat ,habitat, etc. He told me I was doing the right things, but her humidity could be higher. His suggestion was another exploratory surgery, into the pelvis to see if it's the kidneys or a mass obstructing the path. The car ride made her poop on the way home. This decision I had a really hard time with. I read as much information I could find, consulted with both vets, friends and family. I didn't want to put her though unnessessary pain or suffering. Hoping the surgery would give us a information on how to treat her and make her comfortable for as long as she has with us, I agreed. She had surgery on Monday, they spent an hour exploring everything and found NOTHING. There was no obstruction, mass, odd shaped kidneys, all organs looked normal, functioning properly. The doctors say they have not seen anything like this before. At this point, the only suggestion was to puree her food for ease in digestion, limit her activity while she recovers and do more research.
I'm writing this hoping to find some answers or direction, but also to share our experience with others who may encounter this situation. Iggy is doing good today, eating, moving around and responding to me, hopefully she'll poop soon, it's been since Monday (pre-meds seem to relax her).

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Answers will be difficult... JohnT 11/26/01 (0)
Re: looking for answers Roger 11/26/01 (0)

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: This is a long one.......... : About 2 months ago, my 5 year old iguana stopped eating and pooping, she was bloated and didn't move around much, and when she did she had a hard time catching her breath. Of course we went to the vet. His initial response was gravid female. He took an x-ray, which showed all of her organs were pressed to one side by a "critical mass". He extracted a large amount of fluid which looked like water. This eased the pressure on her lungs and she felt much better. The lab said the fluid was plasma with very little blood cells. A blood test showed her calcium level to be very high and urates low, but they didn't send a phosporus reading back. The vet said the possibilities were congestive heart failure, liver or kidney disease. After a week of consulting and research, he decided she was in a pre-ovulatory state and could not produce eggs, the solution to spay her. After giving her pre-meds (before surgery) she pooped. The operation found her ovaries quiet and her bladder was the mass we had seen on the x-ray, he drained the bladder and said everything else looked normal. I watched her closely as she recovered. It took a couple of days before she started moving around and eating some. I called the vet almost everyday with an update, he was still consulting and reasearching the problem. After a week of not pooping again, she started to swell up again. I was referred to another vet for ultrasound. The procedure showed that the organs from her heart to her liver were fine, but everything past that was abnormal, floating in fluid. The vet said she's having trouble regulating fluid in her body, which are signs of renal failure, although he could barely see the kidneys on the ultrasound. We went over diet, heat ,habitat, etc. He told me I was doing the right things, but her humidity could be higher. His suggestion was another exploratory surgery, into the pelvis to see if it's the kidneys or a mass obstructing the path. The car ride made her poop on the way home. This decision I had a really hard time with. I read as much information I could find, consulted with both vets, friends and family. I didn't want to put her though unnessessary pain or suffering. Hoping the surgery would give us a information on how to treat her and make her comfortable for as long as she has with us, I agreed. She had surgery on Monday, they spent an hour exploring everything and found NOTHING. There was no obstruction, mass, odd shaped kidneys, all organs looked normal, functioning properly. The doctors say they have not seen anything like this before. At this point, the only suggestion was to puree her food for ease in digestion, limit her activity while she recovers and do more research. : I'm writing this hoping to find some answers or direction, but also to share our experience with others who may encounter this situation. Iggy is doing good today, eating, moving around and responding to me, hopefully she'll poop soon, it's been since Monday (pre-meds seem to relax her).

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