Constipated axolotl

[Chloenichola]

Hi,
I’m a bit worried about my axolotl Morbo. The other day I noticed some clear signs of constipation - raised tail, enlarged cloaca. I moved her into the fridge and have been monitoring her closely and doing water changes daily. She’s passed a little bit of food, her tail is less raised but her cloaca is still quite enlarged. I don’t think it could be an obstruction as she’s in a sand-bottom tank with no pebbles. She’s been on axolotl meat cubes composed of various aquatic meat. I’ve attached some photos of her cloaca, they’re not the best quality and I’m trying not to handle her too much. She also doesn’t have any signs of stress, such as a curved tail or folded gills, and she’s still quite active. I have not fed her since I noticed the constipation, about five days ago.

please let me know what you think, whether I should do anything else other than fridge her. I’ll be calling some vets today but I’m not sure if we have anyone experienced with axolotls here in South Australia.

 

[AMurry24537]

It almost looks to me like some kind infection, like it's inflamed as well as enlarged. I don't personally have any experience with this kind of thing, but I would recommend continuing to do whatever you can to find a vet so they can give a true diagnosis. For now, I would say to treat it as an injury.

If it is some kind of infection, you may want to avoid having her poop too much (as this could irritate the area). Fridging can help to slow down her metabolism, meaning you won't have to feed her as much and she won't poop as often. I would still recommend feeding her if she's interested in food, but less often while fridging. Proper nutrition is very important in the healing process. Fridging has to be done carefully, however, so I recommend looking up guides on that so as to get the temperature and timing correct.

As well as proper nutrition, clean water is extra important while she's healing. You could also try black tea baths (these help to soothe the skin--again, there are guides, even on this website) and others likely have other suggestions for at-home treatments.

Sorry I can't help more and I hope you find a vet who can help!!

 

[Chloenichola]

It almost looks to me like some kind infection, like it's inflamed as well as enlarged. I don't personally have any experience with this kind of thing, but I would recommend continuing to do whatever you can to find a vet so they can give a true diagnosis. For now, I would say to treat it as an injury.

If it is some kind of infection, you may want to avoid having her poop too much (as this could irritate the area). Fridging can help to slow down her metabolism, meaning you won't have to feed her as much and she won't poop as often. I would still recommend feeding her if she's interested in food, but less often while fridging. Proper nutrition is very important in the healing process. Fridging has to be done carefully, however, so I recommend looking up guides on that so as to get the temperature and timing correct.

As well as proper nutrition, clean water is extra important while she's healing. You could also try black tea baths (these help to soothe the skin--again, there are guides, even on this website) and others likely have other suggestions for at-home treatments.

Sorry I can't help more and I hope you find a vet who can help!!

Thank you so much for your reply. I've managed to find a vet that has a lot of experience with axolotls and was very helpful. We did an x-ray to look for any blockage or buildup of poop and there was none, he also swabbed the area and examined the cells under a microscope and found no parasites or bacteria. So we don't have a clear diagnosis, and won't unless I go for a very expensive biopsy, however, we think it could be one of a few things. It could be 1. some inflammation from prior constipation that she's managed to pass but hasn't recovered from the pushing and straining, 2. that she had a minor prolapse that has reverted but still left some inflammation behind, or 3. something more sinister, like cancer. The vet was so helpful and is going to contact every other vet he knows that might be able to help. For now, he has recommended continuing with the fridging, and soak her in some salt baths for an hour every other day. He also recommended I try to feed her a little bit too if she's interested. I am also cleaning the water she is in every day to prevent any ammonia buildup. So you were actually quite spot on with your recommendations! I'm really hoping that this will be a case that will clear up on its own, but I will keep sharing how she goes so that others can perhaps understand what might be happening with their sick axolotls.

I'll attach a photo of her x-ray since it's quite interesting to see!

Please note: the salt bath regime I have been recommended by the vet is quite strong, so please do not subject your axies to an hour-long salt bath unless under vet recommendation.