Case Study: A Tail and Two Stones

This 14 year old female iguana was brought  into our clinic for suspected tail rot. In an older iguana, death of the tail tip is very concerning. No matter the underlying cause, the dead part of the tail had to be removed which meant surgery. Before that, we needed to figure out the cause of the tail death to prevent it from progressing further. This girl also has a history of bladder stones and upon examination our veterinarian also felt a hard mass in her belly that seemed to bother her.

To better evaluate the mass, x-rays were done and two new giant bladder stones were seen.

Mammals need their bladders to survive but some reptiles can actually have their bladder removed safely if needed. These new large stones formed in just 3 years since her last surgery! Surgery becomes riskier the older an animal gets, so to prevent this from happening again we decided it was best to go ahead and surgically remove her bladder (cystectomy) along with the stones.

X-rays of her tail allowed us to see tiny changes in her tailbone. The red arrow indicates a space that should not be there, indicating a weak point. She could have accidentally injured herself, but neither we nor her owners know exactly how it happened. Luckily, there was no evidence of cancer or infection seen so surgery should fix her problem! The green arrow indicates location of the amputation site, removing the damaged portion of tailbone as well as the necrotic tissue.

Her bloodwork showed evidence of infection and/or inflammation, the rest was unremarkable so surgery was scheduled. We anesthetized, got her ready for surgery and removed her bladder, two huge stones, and tip of her tail between the vertebrae!

She won’t be making any more bladder stones at this point and we expect a full recovery!