Coccidia Help! medication ok?

Unfortunately my cham's first fecal came back positive with Coccidia. I have no idea where he got it, because i have no other animals right now, typically cup feed, and haven't re-used enclosures.

Vet says they measure the parasite load on a 1-4 scale. He has a 2.

She prescribed Sulfatrim which she says is a "sulfa" antibiotic. Is this a good medication to use?

She has him on three weeks of it administering one dose every 48 hrs.

Thanks for any help, advice, etc.. this is my first bought with parasites. I hope my guy call fully get rid of these things.

By the way this is a male panther about 9 months old and 180 grams.

A new recommendation for reptiles has been the prescription drug ponazuril. Ask your veterinarian about this medication and he/she should look on VIN to see if other vets have done so and what the dosing is. I guess ponazuril is supposed to be more forgiving if there are errors in administration.

Coccidia and pinworms are common in crickets. Many reptiles have a small amount of each.

This is great info on Ponazuril. It is now the drug of choice for getting rid of coccidia.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/chameleons-coccidia-ponazuril-offers-new-hope-16409/

Okay thanks... I don't think the vet will be in until Monday -- should I wait to administer anything until I can ask about this stuff?

I would wait and talk to the vet about getting Ponazuril instead.

should I definitely try to get Ponazuril over this Sulfa stuff?

Do you think my vet will have this stuff in stock? What should I do if they don't have any? It's possible she doesn't even know what it is or have any.. I'm very unimpressed with her knowledge on chameleons, but unfortunately this is the only place around that will even take reptiles.

I would definitely request the Ponazuril. Some vets still aren't using it yet. If you read post #2 in this thread https://www.chameleonforums.com/coccidia-baycox-23394/, Dave talks about getting his local vets to order it from a pharmacy in Arizona. You could always send him a PM, he is very helpful!

If you just had a routine fecal done just to do one and not because there were signs/symptoms of illness, I wouldn't worry about waiting a few more days or weeks to start on ponazuril. If your vet gave you sulfa because there were signs/symptoms, I would start that immediately.
If your vet will not give you ponazuril, there is not much you can do. You were either prescribed Ditrim (Trimetheprim/Sulfa) or Albon (another sulfa), and as long as you give the dose as prescribed, it is fine. They wouldn't prescribe it if it killed chameleons. I have never witnessed a case at my clinic in 5 years of any deaths caused by sulfa drugs. However, ponazuril is just the new, more effective, safer treatment for coccidia.
Ask your vet to research on VIN (Veterinary Information Network). It is a website exclusively for veterinarians and they talk with other vets all over the world about new drugs, surgeries, treatments, etc. Any vet that treats exotic animals is usually always on VIN, and if not, they need to be, as exotic animal medicine is always changing. If you tell your vet you would like ponazuril and she says she is not familiar or comfortable with it, ask her to check out VIN and get back to you with what she finds... she will probably change her mind.
Don't worry about the coccidia, you sound like you are panicking, it is in low numbers, so don't worry. I almost always see coccidia in reptile fecals, so it's ok. You are such a good chameleon parent, you are so concerned, I love it!

thanks a lot ffstrescue. I am kind of freaking I don't want to see his health go downhill. Thanks for the reassurance, it's good to hear. I don't know if the sulfa (sulfatrim) is albion or not, but all i hear is that albion is harsh stuff and has pretty bad side effects for the chameleon.

Hopefully she will give me some ponazuril. If not, I will see if she is willing to contact that compounding pharmacy in Arizona to order some.

This was a routine fecal I guess you could say. I was noticing some lethargy--he would get into his bed spot and close his eyes sometimes before lights out at night. I also noticed he really wanted to eat dirt (i was thinking maybe to scrub parasites from his intestines..)So i took him into the vet right away. Other than that he is a pig (180 grams--9/10 months old), is maturing well and starting to color up nicely.

ChamOh said:

thanks a lot ffstrescue. I am kind of freaking I don't want to see his health go downhill. Thanks for the reassurance, it's good to hear. I don't know if the sulfa (sulfatrim) is albion or not, but all i hear is that albion is harsh stuff and has pretty bad side effects for the chameleon.

Hopefully she will give me some ponazuril. If not, I will see if she is willing to contact that compounding pharmacy in Arizona to order some.

This was a routine fecal I guess you could say. I was noticing some lethargy--he would get into his bed spot and close his eyes sometimes before lights out at night. I also noticed he really wanted to eat dirt (i was thinking maybe to scrub parasites from his intestines..)So i took him into the vet right away. Other than that he is a pig (180 grams--9/10 months old), is maturing well and starting to color up nicely.

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Then I would start with the meds today.

Off topic, but holy moly! 180 grams at 9/10 months old? How long is he from snout to vent and total length? Pan is only 129 at 10-11 months old and he's 15 inches total length, and 7.5 inches snout to vent!

be prepaired to give pedelite whenever possiable, i would wrap Knoknut up nites and give him a dripper drop per drop by hand while he slept, just under his lips to moisten his mouth. if u have ever had dry mouth due to side effects from medications im sure u dont want ur chammy to have it, blah.
the treatment is very harsh, kinda like heart worm in a dog, it made KnoKnutty turn dark brown except when he slept. He wouldnt eat for 3 weeks so i made baby food(organic) with ensure for protine and gave it to him nites is the best time for drip because days they just wanna get away from ya; per my experiences. It's a lot to handle but so worth it when u see them start to eat again.
I hope u have luck giving meds and hydrating, its important that u double hydrate during medication time.

thanks for the help everyone. Vet is researching the Ponazuril on the VIN right now -- at first she asked me if it was the deworming medication.. I didn't really have an answer. But like I said, she's looking into it so hopefully she finds some good info. fingers crossed.

Would it be a good idea to pick up some reptaid and hornworms to administer/feed during the treatment?

ponazuril/diclazuril

ponazuril/diclazuril are the drugs of choice for treatment of coccidia. (they are both the same thing, toltrazuril sulfone, its just a question of marketing trade names, and dosage) contact dave weldon for dosage. it normally comes formulated for horses or chickens, but if your vet will give you the scrip you can have the proper concentration formulated at http://diamondbackdrugs.com. (thanks to dw for previously taking the time to get me up to speed on that issue and providing the dbd link) much easier on the cham than sulfas. several cage sterilizations during the treatment process is strongly advised. reptaid has its place but i would be cautious about using it in conjunction with other drugs, unless under the advice of a bonafide herp vet. jmo

FFSTRescue said:

A new recommendation for reptiles has been the prescription drug ponazuril. Ask your veterinarian about this medication and he/she should look on VIN to see if other vets have done so and what the dosing is. I guess ponazuril is supposed to be more forgiving if there are errors in administration.

Coccidia and pinworms are common in crickets. Many reptiles have a small amount of each.

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slighly off topic as well, but how much is a "normal" amount of coccidia or pinworms?

I just adopted a female veiled and tech at the clinic I adopted her from said she had a "normal" amount of pinworms, but they gave her one treatment of medication to make sure it stayed normal... or something.

The clinic I adopted her from is not the one I normally take my reptiles to, so I'm going to bring a fecal to my regular vet next time I can catch a really fresh one anyways.

I'm basically just curious.

Lindsey...it should only take two treatments spaced the right number of days apart to get rid of pinworms...so I don't know why they wouldn't have just given you another dose to give the chameleon to complete the treatment.

yay doc approved ponazuril -- she wants to start at 20 mg every 48 hrs for three doses and then check a fecal. does the dosage sound right?

bump for any love from those experienced with this medication...

I need to call the compounding pharmacy (diamondback drugs in AZ) to pay for this stuff and want to be sure we have a good strength going..

just talked to the pharmacy -- vet actually ordered 3.5 mg per dose (which equals 1 ml of medicine) for 3 doses, each does to be administer 48 hrs apart.

kinyonga said:

Lindsey...it should only take two treatments spaced the right number of days apart to get rid of pinworms...so I don't know why they wouldn't have just given you another dose to give the chameleon to complete the treatment.

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I think its because the clinic I got her from don't normally deal with reptiles, hence my checkup at my regular vet when I get a fresh poopie. I will probably end up treating her then, but in the meantime she is super, and eating like a pig :-D

ChamOh said:

just talked to the pharmacy -- vet actually ordered 3.5 mg per dose (which equals 1 ml of medicine) for 3 doses, each does to be administer 48 hrs apart.

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I couldn't tell you if this is a normal dose or not, but I hope everything works out okay for your little guy!