suddenly sick leo--help!

Deepest condolences - unfortunately, I think many of us have been there and to have no explanation and no opportunity to help makes it that much more painful.

I think its very strong of you to have the necropsy done. I believe my last "mystery" was from irreversible organ failure. This could be the case with your little guy...its so undetectable.

Again, I am so sad for your loss - he was such a beautiful, smiley little guy.

I send my condolences, sorry for your loss.

well i got the word from the vet on the necropsy--and i'm a little confused. he said that all of his internal organs looked fine except that his liver was very pale and there were excess red blood cells in his intestines which means that he was anemic. he said that this could be caused by internal parasites, but that he didn't find any. he also said that he could have had an infestation of single cell parasites but that those would not be visible after death so he suspects that was the cause of death. i told him that i hatched this leo myself and that he was never in contact with any other geckos and the vet said that he had probably eaten the feces of his parents and if the parents had these single cell parasites then that is how he got them. when i told him that he was never housed with his parents he said, "well then i don't know." ?!?! does this sound right to you all? i don't know a whole lot about the internal workings of leos but it just doesn't sound right to me. how could anemia kill a gecko overnight with no outward signs at all until less than 24 hours before death? and why would it cause the external bruising? i'm very confused at this point. :/

did he maybe eat some of his own fecal? i dont know. im just as confused as you are.

if he ate his own fecal material and there were parasites in it that would mean that he already had them, so that doesn't make sense either.

Okay...
this kind of thing happens in people too..(nurse here) and when there is "blood in the intestines", it's called a GI bleed. This may be caused by trauma, overgrowth of bacteria, or by administration of 'blood thinners". Anemia can kill overnight if the bleed was severe enough because of resultant lack of oxygen (blood transports this from the lungs to the body and back to the lungs for more oxygen and to get rid of carbon dioxide) and blood volume loss...it would take too long to explain volume loss and its effects here, so I'll use an analogy. Say you have a garden hose, and it is on. It springs a leak. Although you are getting water, you just don't have enough to say wash your car...pressure is too low. This is blood volume loss. Your little critter probably was already in deep shock when you were holding him for the pic; not enough pressure to perfuse his organs and brain. This is the probable reason for the pale liver; the liver gets I think 75% of its blood from what's called the hepatic portal system; goes from the gut to the liver to filter the nutrients the gut puts out. (I think; I'm reaching way back here) and blood loss from the GI tract would thusly DEFINATELY impact the liver. I'll add to this as I think of more...
I am aware that reptiles have different systems...I just am not sure how different they are from our own, but this halo of symptoms in a human is not uncommon...just that you cannot see bruising through the belly in a human.
The bruising also represents blood loss...it could have been the blood present in his intestinal tract you were seeing as bruising...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but since parasites are environmental, I believe I was taught that they can find their way into reptile habitats in many different ways when the temperatures, etc are right for them to thrive (I mean, they're relatively all around us, including some symbiotic relationships and some where the goal of the parasite is to kill the host).

I'd double check the parents/others just to see - many things can go unnoticed in fecals due to parasite life cycles, etc.

Do you think he might have had an internal systemic or viral infection instead of parasites? That seems to be a direction I might go in...if we can get sick, especially if we have a genetic defect or weakness, they can too. (Do leos use white blood cells to fight off evils like mammals do? I can't remember...)

Oh, and also I forgot to add that low volume from blood loss causes multiple organ failure...think of the garden hose and pressure.

I'm probably regurgitating stuff you already know...just so sorry for your loss - wish I could help with something more insightful as to why.

omg, i just thought of something...when you have a problem clotting your blood, either from blood thinners or from some blood dyscrasia, you could leak thru the GI tract as well as get those petechiae (just like those bruises on his belly) on your skin...I wonder if he somehow had a problem with blood clotting brought on by either a deficiency or something else?