I wanted to ask about your experience with the vet. I would like to know how much a vet can help when a cham is sick...
All the best
Filip

All vets are different and have varying experience with chams so you might want to call a few to ask about their knowledge and experience with chams

__________________
1.1 ambilobe panther

Well, first of all, we called ALL OVER the Puget Sound area to find vets that were experienced with chameleons. There were several, so that was good.

For his first visit, Guido went in because he was restless, had lost interest in food, and had fallen off his vines a few times. The vet handled him as though he handled chams all day. He was very familiar with their anatomy, how they stored fat, etc. He found Guido to be in good health, with strong grip, but that he had reached sexual maturity and was experiencing something of a male estrus. In other words, he was wandering around preoccupied with looking for a mate. He did prescribe panacur, to be taken as prevention, since Guido came from a pet store and had not been treated for parasites. We did not have a fecal done, and now I don't remember why. Anyway, Guido was fine, and the diagnosis appeared correct. We purchased a chameleon shaped beanie baby on eBay, gave it to Guido, and they settled down to wedded bliss.

The next time he went in (2 years later), his symptoms were also quite vague, but he was recovering from an impaction he had passed weeks before. The symptoms were occasionally sleeping during the day, a slight chronic eye problem, and basically laying around on his belly with his chin resting on the perch. His vet was on vacation, so we took him to another herp vet up north. Again, the vet handled him as though she saw chams all day, said he was in good health, just a bit overweight (which we already knew and had already cut back on his food). The vet told us how to adjust his diet, and prescribed an antibiotic for mild systemic infection, did a blood workup and fecal. The fecal was clean. The bloodwork showed an imbalance of the Calcium vs phosphorus, which possibly caused the eye problem, and the other issues.

So, we adjusted his diet to get a better balance, gave him the course of antibiotics, and he rebounded incredibly fast, back to his old rambunctious self.

So, I would say that both trips to the vet were well worth it. Of course, we learned with each visit, and now there are some problems we will be able to avoid, or treat by ourselves. The first trip to the vet was perhaps unnecessary, but we did learn about panacur. The second trip to the vet probably added years to Guido's lifespan because of the changes we made in his diet.

The one thing I did not like, was that at the second vet's the assistants wanted to hold Guido, who was shedding at the time, and they kept pulling bits of shed off of him. (I thought it wasn't good to tear at a chams shed skin because you can cause problems if it is still attached to unshed skin.) I asked them not to do that, but they said it was OK and persisted. So, be forewarned, just because the vet has experience, a new assistant may not have the same degree of experience.

__________________
http://www.chameleonsnorthwest.com 360-893-6207

I would consider my local vet VERY herp savy, but he couldn't help 2 of my panthers, which resulted in their deaths. He said it was parasites; not specific at all and just diagnosed some medicine for it. Medicine got rid of the parasites but ruined their appitite and dehydrated them....

Parasites came back and finished them off.

Some problems just can't be diagnosed in such small animals that we really don't understand...

__________________
Heavy F'in Metal, a great excuse to kick stuff!

I'd say the answer to the question is - It's all about what vet you go to.

If it's the right vet you can't really go wrong.

If it's the wrong vet it will always be a waste of money.

Well it's a difficult situation, How do you compare?
I think I've been alright so far
Perhaps even, fortunate to have a specialist of sorts in exotics

That doesn't mean that I haven't lost a few
but each one has been a learning experience
and I've made sure to never make the same errors again.

Even before I got my first Chameleon.
I remember going to his clinic and seeing several chams in the backroom
All under lights by the window rehabbing from their owners poor care.
Even then I was enamored with these creatures.
Since that time, Dr. Jenkins has taken care of all my chams
Including filming male mating behavior using some of my panthers
for his presentations and lectures for other vets.

__________________
"In Target earlier today I learned there is really no good way to answer a 5-year-old asking you why you are looking at his mother's butt so much..."

Hi everybody,
Royden summed it up very well!!
My add-on: When a Vet doesn't know what he's doing, not only is it a waste of money, it could lead to potential death for a Chameleon if misdiagnosed!!
It happened to me with my past Panther who was diagnosed with a URI by my first Vet but it turned out to be a Vitamin A deficiency! If the Vet had properly diagnosed him and given him a Vitamin A shot plus me adjusting his diet, it could have saved my Panther!
However, there are so many factors that can play in making a Chameleon sick like diet, lighting, generalized stress...etc. so even bringing your Chameleon to an experienced Vet who makes the correct diagnosis, it's still can be a 50/50 chance that a sick Chameleon can recover from an illness!!

Christine

__________________
Me and my Veil writing to you from South OC, CA