Diagnosis and Successful Medical Management of a Colonic, Urate Enterolith in an Argentine Black and White Tegu (Salvator merianae)

Abstract

A 5-yr-old female Argentine black and white tegu (Salvator merianae) was presented for a lack of fecal output, anorexia, and lethargy. Several weeks prior the tegu underwent a rapid diet change to whole rodents. Computed tomography revealed a mineral-dense calculus in the distal colon, causing gastrointestinal obstruction. Because of poor response to enteric fluid therapy alone, transcloacal enterolith removal was elected. Under sedation and neuraxial anesthesia, saline-infusion cloacoscopy was performed and the calculus visualized and destructed using a dental burr on a low-speed dental handpiece and grasping forceps. Recovery from the procedure was unremarkable. Fluid therapy and oral lactulose therapy were prescribed postoperatively. The tegu began to defecate several days later. Transcloacal calculus destruction with a low-speed drill under cloacoscopic guidance should be considered a noninvasive option for management of colonic and cloacal calculi in larger lizard species.