Bearded Dragon on antibiotics

Question
I recently took my bearded dragon to the vet because of a swollen toe. The vet said he has an infection. My bearded is very young, perhaps 2-3 months. The vet prescribed him smz-tmp, an antibiotic. I was wondering if I should call him to get probiotics because I have been reading that these antibiotics can kill the 'good' bacteria that help with digestion. My beardie usually poops every morning, but he has not pooped this morning. Maybe the medicine is interfering with his digestive system. What do you think?

Answer
I think the vet is probably wrong unless there was an open wound in the toe or he
did a culture for bacteria. Vets and doctors in general have a bad habit of knee jerk
prescribing antibiotics. In this case it could be making it worse. My first suspicion for a swollen toe
in a young Beardie would be a fracture or possible pseudo-gout or gout. You should double check your husbandry
and make sure you are using the proper diet and uvb lighting. Did the vet even do an x-ray, because this
would tell in either case? If it is gout, the antibiotics you are using could make it worse because that
antibiotic is a sulfa and sulfas are hard on kidneys and gout is already an issue with the kidneys.

I recommend you give extra hydration and everyday soakings, and yes I use probiotics. I recommend
BeneBac powder for birds and reptiles. I also recommend talking to this vet again about his diagnosis
and stopping those antibiotics as soon as possible if he has not done an x-ray of the toe nor a culture or
gram stain at least. In other words evidence of infection. And another thing, it doesn't sound like he is
very experienced with reptiles, because reptiles don't typically get localized abscesses that can be
penetrated with antibiotics. Reptiles get caseous exudate abscesses that almost always require removal after
an incision. They can't be aspirated. Therefore what I am saying is that treatment of localized infection
using systemic antibiotics is not what an experienced reptile practitioner does unless it is preparatory
to surgical debridement. I have done many such procedures here to remove abscesses.