Chronic loose, frequent stool without parasites or bacteria

[raisinjelly]

Hey guys, just figured I would try posting here since my vet is at a loss and I'm also feeling really frustrated and down.

So I first got my northern as a baby in 2015 and he has always been healthy. I've fed him the same diet and keep his cage parameters the same as I always have since then.
- Fed twice a week with wet dog food and greens in about a 50/50 mixture
- 5 x 2 foot PVC cage with side ventilation
- Basking spot 100-105, warm side low to mid 80s, cool side mid 70s F
- Water dish
- Reptibark mixed with soil

Around 2 months ago I was cleaning cages when I realized I was out of substrate, so I temporarily put my skink on puppy pads while I waited for a new shipment to arrive. It was during this time that I began seeing smears of thin, liquidy poop on the pads virtually every single day. I have no idea how long this had been going on for since it's difficult for me to see waste with the normal substrate that I use.

I then brought him into my exotics vet and had a fecal done, which came back clean of any parasites. He had a blood test which was normal. She also took some swabs and had it sent off to culture. The lab results came back showing pseudomonas. So he was put on Baytril for several weeks, then more samples were sent out. They came back clean.

The problem is, his bowel issues are still the same. Almost every single day I am seeing thin streaks of poop and having to change out pads, which I'm still currently using so I can monitor the stool easier. He doesn't have parasites or anything else wrong that is showing up, so my vet basically does not have any ideas as to what else could be done.

What's more, I recently put my second skink (house separately, same care) on pads as well to see how that one's stool was doing...and it has the SAME issues as the first skink. So obviously something is wrong, but how can I find out what? Am I doing something wrong with my husbandry after all?

[Janella]

Sorry to hear that your skinks are having loose stools. Sometimes they can have loose stools due to diet. However, since you haven't changed anything and have had fecals checked I don't have any other advice or suggestions. I would just keep talking to your vet and see what they say. Maybe this is just how your skink is now??

[raisinjelly]

Hello, thanks for the response!

The vet unfortunately has no other ideas I believe she's tried doing additional research and/or reaching out to other vets as well, but she had no suggestions for me other than trying a diet change. I'm just really confused and frustrated because there has to be something contagious going on since it's effecting both skinks, but nothing is showing up.

Aside from the health concern I really don't want to have to keep them on pads forever since they can't burrow in those, but with the frequency and consistency of the stool I wouldn't be able to keep a loose substrate properly clean enough.

[bluemingsar]

I know how upsetting it is to see your babies dealing with poor health like that. Since the vet is stumped too, the only other thing I can suggest is maybe trying a probiotic to see if adding good gut bacteria helps firm things up? It's definitely strange both are affected, so your instinct that something contagious may be at play seems valid.

[Janella]

Have you tried the probiotic? Also did they check for clostridium and champlobacter?

[raisinjelly]

Thanks for the suggestions, I hadn't thought to try a probiotic. Is there one in particular that would be best? I know Bene-bac makes a powder for bird&reptile that I used a few years ago for a beardie. Edit - actually on looking it up, it seems like this must have been discontinued or something, I can't find it in stock and it's not listed on the company's website anymore either.

I can't recall if the labs were looking for anything specific or if it was more of a general "let's see if anything odd shows up", or however the process works with that. I think I'll go ahead and make another vet appointment to discuss it.

[Janella]

The vet you go to can prescribe a probiotic. We use Sivomix at my work.