Senegal with an abscess?

My friend and coworker got a Senegal from one of the local pet stores a few days back. It has what I am guessing is an abscess. Here is a picture below.



Now for the fun part He got the chameleon and an exo-terra for $40 at the pet shop. He knows, and I have stressed the best thing to do would be to take it to the vet but that isnt going to happen and I personally dont have the extra cash to help him out at the moment or I would. This chameleon is better off than in the pet shop though. I have given him one of my screen cages with a schefflera, supplements, basking and UVB bulb for when it cant be outside, told him to get rid of the substrate and told him to get rid of the water bowl.

Here is my question. If it is an abscess should we just start putting antibiotic cream on it? It doesnt seem to be getting worse that we can see. Or, should I try to lance it and start putting the cream on it?

Please, before anyone wants to get on their high horse and start spewing moral crap......DONT! If that is all you have to offer in this thread stay out of it. As I said, this cham is better off than in the shop or in someones possession who doesnt have a friend with some experience with these animals. He isnt going to take a $40 cham he got with an exo-terra that cost more than that to the vet. This is last resort.

If you would prefer to PM about the situation or how to go about actually lancing this thing that would be great too.

Thanks

I would think it needs to be lanced and drained and antibiotic ointment put on it. A vet might want you to give oral or subq antibiotics, but I'm not a vet. We have a vet here on line that might answer you. Good luck with your little guy.

BocaJan said:

I would think it needs to be lanced and drained and antibiotic ointment put on it. A vet might want you to give oral or subq antibiotics, but I'm not a vet. We have a vet here on line that might answer you. Good luck with your little guy.

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OUCH! That looks painful, poor little thing! Definitely needs to be opened and drained. The problem with herp abscesses is, they don't drain on their own much if any. The infectious matter inside the abscess isn't liquid, it's more like cheese. The abscess's structure itself can isolate the infection from medications too. Without opening it up a topical med won't really do anything.

Thanks, guys. Im hoping Dr. Alfonzo can help me out on his FB page Thankfully I have never had to deal with this issue but then again Im not thankful I dont have any experience to help my friend. Sounds to me like Ill have to lance it myself because my friend doesnt want to if that is what it comes down to.

Ugh. After reading this http://www.anapsid.org/abscess.html It seems to be getting more grim I will send the link to him and see if that doesnt persuade him to be taken to a vet and let him know there is a good chance doing a "backwoods" operation may make it worse or kill it.

Still, any tips are more than welcome.

Thanks for the link, Dan.

Call the pet store and ask for the manager. Be nice but let them know your not happy that they sold this Cam in this shape and you are already in love with it. See if they will help with the vet bill. I got mine and after the 14 days found out it had mouth rot and they still picked up the bill after 16 days. You could try, it can't hurt.

That is looking like an abscess to me. I had a Quad with a similar looking one and it was surgically remove and she made a full recovery.

Hey how did the cham turn out? Was it an abscess?

What do you guys think of this? Do you think it's the same kind of thing? My lil panther is almost 5 months.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/spectrum-107238/#post985337