Fatty Liver Disease in AFT Gecko

I adopted this poor little girl last winter. Her name was "Pedro", and I was her 5th owner. When I got her she was already about 9 years old.



Poor little Pedro was really round in the tummy. She never seem to complain and had been like that since she was about a year old, so all her previous owners didn't think anything was wrong, she was just a little chunky. Her terrarium was set up for a leopard gecko, lots of sand and very dry. When I got her, I did my best to set her up the way she is supposed to be set up, and she didn't respond well to the change. She refused to eat for me. The whole time she was in my care, I was only able to get her to eat 1 cricket and some Repta-Aid (Flukers). I offered her all kinds of bugs, and she just wasn't interested at all.



I posted photos of her on another forum I'm on when I first got her, and lots of people thought that she was either badly impacted or was egg bound. One person thought it could be fatty liver disease, and that she probably wouldn't live much longer as it seems to cut their life expectancy in half.

I did bring her to the vet. My vet confirmed for me that she was in fact female (we weren’t quite sure at the time) and that she did have Fatty Liver Disease. She was not egg bound and she was not impacted. My vet also showed me how to "candle" your gecko. She got out one of the lights that they use for surgery. She said that anything over 100 watts would work, and held the gecko up to the light, with her back facing the light and her tummy facing me. Well she just lit up like a jack-o-laturn. That was the first time that I saw something like that, and it just amazed me.

While little Pedro was lit up, she showed me her enormous tummy, it was just filled with fluids - there was no substrate impaction. I asked about draining it, but she said that it would just fill up again over time, and would cause unnecessary stress on the gecko.
She showed me the geckos ovaries, and there were not any eggs present at all.
She showed me the geckos liver, it was twice the size that it should have been.

Basically, what happened to poor little Pedro, was that in her first year or so of life, her needs were not properly met, heating, lighting, food, supplementation, etc.... and her body responded to that by going into a semi-hibernation like state, and her liver started storing extra fats and her body never snapped out of it.

The vet gave her a shot of steroids in one of the muscles in her back near the spine. This was supposed to help her, but she just wasn't having it. She eventually passed away (starved). Everything except her tummy lost weight, her head, tail and limbs were thin, but her tummy was still very big and round.






I just thought I would share this, because I had a really hard time finding out anything about this when it happened to me.

hiya,
thats really interesting as i have some female leo's that suffer with it but have never become bloated like her, when i was researching it the vet told me it was 'hepatic lipidosis'(fatty liver disease) and my girls recieve a dog treatment for it Denamarin Chewable 1 crushed up tablet lasts 2weeks and all you need to do is mix a pinch of it with some hills a/d prescription dog/cat food and syringe it into them.

What treatment were you advised to give yours?

Thanks so much for sharing Pedros tragic story 5 owners and it took the very last one to look into problems. That makes me so mad, people don't think twice about taking their dog or cat to the vet but so many won't spend the money on a reptile. I have 6 little fat tails and they are so adorable and it would break my heart to see them suffer.

@ Samsleopardgeckos
When I brought her into the vet, I ended up having 2 vets taking a look at her. They had to look up the treatment options, and from the information that they had, they gave her an injection of some sort of steriod medication. The medication was injected into a muscle in her back close to the spine. This was supposed to help her snap out of the hibernation like funk she was in. I don't think it worked because I think she was very stressed out from the move.
I don't remember what kind of steroid medication they called it.

I was supposed to just start feeding her like normal after that, but she just wouldn't eat. She'd look at the food, give it a lick, then walk away. I'd hold her and offer her food, but she'd just turn away. I had a bit of better luck with the Repta-Aid (Flukers), but it would take ages to get her to eat any of it, and if she did it was only a few licks, and then she wanted to get away again.
I will make a not of the treatment that your vet advised, in case there is a "next time".

The vet I see is a "farm" vet, but they see all sorts of animals, and their practice is really expanding. They are really good to me and my pets and I really like going there. I have a good relationship with them, and I usually know what's going on with my animals before I go, and I ask/request about different treatment options usually to find out what is available. They like this about me, because I never go up to them with a sick pet and say "it's broken fix it".
We also have an "exoitcs" vet in town, but I rather cut off my arm and put down my whole collection of animals then ever go back there to see her.


@ Canadiangirl
Yes it is frustrating. I don't know why people don't bring them in if they get sick, it's not nearly as expensive as bringing in a sick dog or a cat. My vet charges $56 per pet per visit (cat, frog, gecko, etc..), they also have a discount for bringing in multiple pets. I think it only cost me $56+tax, as the drug that they gave her was such a tiny dose that it only cost one penny.
My mom always says that taking your pet to the vet is part of being a responsible pet parent, and if you can't afford that, then you have no business owning it.
I still really like AFT, and I want to set up a large terrarium and get a group of them eventually. Our Petsmart just got in a cute little male, but he sold really quickly

To avoid poor Pedro's tragic story, I highly recommend not buying your next ATF('s) from petsmart. They are generally not genetically too well off, and are generally sick with something unforeseeable. There's plenty of ATF breeders online and while it costs more, the health of the animal is at a much higher level.