Vet is away!

My vet is away and just want to know what you all think I should do?

Quick rundown on why... After reading all the great information on here I took all the gravel out of Aussies tank 10 days ago. I wish I had found this site before and instead of trusting the pet store!!!!

About half an hour later he vomited up 3 pretty big rocks and a few hours later there was two smaller ones (not sure how they came out). He has been active and eating well since and I have been keeping a very close eye on him. Yesterday afternoon there was another medium size rock in the tank with a fresh poo. I am guessing that one passed out the back end? I rang the vets to get him checked up and our good one is away on holidays for a few weeks. I don't know whether to trust someone who is not that familiar with axolotls or not?? Any advice??

I have been reading a lot on here on similar situations and solutions of fridging. If the vet was to find another rock in his stomach is that the treatment the vet would recommend anyway or are there different things they can do??

Really appreciate any advice..... THANKS

Hi AS,

Its good you found out the problem now. Fridging will definitely help with destressing the axie as well as faciliate the passage of ingested gravel. However, it depends on how impacted it is (size of gravel). Smaller gravel can be passed out, but larger ones can ultimately even cause cloacal prolapse, which is a fatal condition.

Your vet would be able to use diagnostic imaging (radiographs/ultrasound) to check for impaction. If the impaction looks small, fridging alone might suffice. However, larger impactions might require surgery. Some very skilled vets can actually 'massage' an impaction out. However, this is a skill that requires practice and experience which in under the wrong hands can prove detrimental.

I have attached a listing of australian herp vets who are familiar with axolotl medicine.
http://www.caudata.org/axolotl-sanctuary/vets.shtml

Cheers.

Thanks Rayson,

Ah... the magic list. I saved a copy of it when you put it in my other post and it is very useful!

I have an appointment for tomorrow morning so I will keep you posted about the outcome. Fingers crossed that Aussie is ok and the new vet is as good as our usual one. Good to hear that there are ultrasounds and that sort of stuff for my peice of mind and I suppose that the vet would know what to 'feel' for.

My little battler is still eating fine and is active but I just want to make sure that nothing else is in there that I don't know about. Better to be safe than sorry!

Many thanks.

UPDATE.....Took Aussie to the vet yesterday. Vet introduced himself to me and apologised that I had been told that he knows about axolotls, to be honest to me he said that he has never treated one. His partner (which I already knew) is the expert and on holidays, no-one else in the area specialises in them but he could give me numbers for other vets in Sydney. I told him I already had a list and some were local, he didn't know that. Apologised again that the receptionist had given me the wrong information and offered not to charge me for the visit.

He asked why I was there and told him about the rocks and showed them to him. He said that he could have a feel of his belly but couldn't be 100% sure what he was doing. He said it felt ok. I was a bit worried that he didn't fully wet his hands first, as the axie vet had shown me how to hold them. He asked me what I wanted him to do. I suggested the ultrasound as Rayson had mentioned it and I wanted to put my mind at ease. He thought that was a good idea and went off to to get the machine. Thanks Rayson!

Aussie was so still while it was being done and the vet and I had a great time looking at all the internal bits and pieces. Very fascinating! The vet was guessing what organs were what and he mentioned that what he thought was the liver looked very large. Is that normal??

He said that it didn't look as though any more rocks were in there. There was 4 tiny 1mm white things near the heart but he didn't think I needed to worry about them. He didn't know what they were but considering the size of the rocks that Aussie had passed, vet said that if he could pass those, then these tiny things shouldn't be anything to worry about if it was gravel.

So I was grateful for his time and the ultrasound and offered to pay him for his help and he still refused to charge me. How nice! Back home and I gave his tank a good clean and test. Fixed it all up and he (if that is what sex he/she is?) is happy to be home. Now I need to do lots of reading and ask lots of questions to get a bigger tank setup for my little Aussie. The fun begins......

Hi AS,

Thanks for the update. Glad everything went well. It is a learning curve for everyone. Please don't feel embarressed to voice your concerns as vets are there to help you with your pets and would be glad to do something for the benefit of the animal. Ideally, its best to give the hands a good rinse and wet them before handling axies.

Enlarged liver (hepatomegaly) is subjective on ultrasound. This is because we are limited by the visual field due to probe placement and thus cannot fully appreciate the entire architecture. We are only viewing small sections at a time although considering the size of the axie, it is possible the probe picked up the entire liver. The vet would use landmarks such as other internal organs like the heart and stomach and evaluate the relative positions of them. An enlarged liver would compress or push other internal organs out of their normal positions, or extend beyond the boundaries of particular ribs etc.

The vet will be able to study the brightness (echogenicity) of the field. A very bright field can indicate that the liver is fatty, while irregular patchy areas of different brightness can indicate inflammation, growths or changes in tissues or cells. An enlarged liver can indicate many things, from inflammation and cancers to benign conditions like being fasted for a period of time. Usually a blood sample can be taken to study for liver enzymes which would help in diagnosis.

Have a look at this link. http://www.axolotl.org/biology.htm

I would recommend anyone bringing an axie to a vet to print off the anatomical diagram and bring it along. It would assist the vet. You can also refer the vet to this site. Although i am more of a feline, canine vet, i learn a lot about axolotls from here. That link will also show you how to sex axies.

As for the 4 white 'things', i suspect they are harmless air bubbles within the digestive tract (oesophagus). Organs and tissue appear grey or black on ultrasound while air appears white. This is opposite to radiographs.

Cheers.

Hi Rayson,
Sweet, your explanation about the liver and white things has put my mind at ease once again, I feel like i should be paying you for your advice. Thanks so much!
I did say to the vet that I had found this site and posted questions and he thought that was really good. I know it helps me heaps. I will print that diagram, it is good to see it all like that and even better that I have seen it all on ultrasound so clearly. I was amazed how good the picture quality was and the vet was lovely and showing me the various things that were there.
Many thanks again,
Amy