CPR For Chameleons

I ask my cham vet about this and this is what he told me. I wanted to share with everyone and maybe it might someday save a life.

The main, and possibly only, thing to do is to grab the chameleon firmly between your hands and it's head facing down and do strong strokes downward. This is the same method when assisting puppies at birth or after a c-section and the purpose is to get any water or foreign object from the chameleon's lungs. It is basically using gravity and g-force to force any obstruction out. It works quite well when it is a fluid issue and works so-so with solid stuff.

Thats great! Thank you for asking your vet about that!

Thanks for this post! I hope it stops a pets death someday

jannb said:

I ask my cham vet about this and this is what he told me. I wanted to share with everyone and maybe it might someday save a life.

The main, and possibly only, thing to do is to grab the chameleon firmly between your hands and it's head facing down and do strong strokes downward. This is the same method when assisting puppies at birth or after a c-section and the purpose is to get any water or foreign object from the chameleon's lungs. It is basically using gravity and g-force to force any obstruction out. It works quite well when it is a fluid issue and works so-so with solid stuff.

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Do you stroke the back or belly area?

ronnie said:

Do you stroke the back or belly area?

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I think she means moving the whole cham up and down.

JannB, I think a few of us are wondering the same thing

You said do long strokes downward. Do you mean that you gently press your fingers along the sides or throat of the cham OR do you sort of shake the entire cham while holding him/her in your hand, head down?

Great tip, jannb. Thanks for asking your vet and posting the information here.

I almost want to wait for the OP to respond, but from what I read don't shake the cham make a firm motion downwards with your hands, holding the cham in place.

I did a copy/paste directly from my vets email but my husband said you are going to want the effect like in a car accident when you stop real fast and everything goes forward.

With the cham in your hands you would move the cham straight down real fast and then stop real fast. Hoping this will cause whatever is in the throat to come out.

jannb said:

I did a copy/paste directly from my vets email but my husband said you are going to want the effect like in a car accident when you stop real fast and everything goes forward.

With the cham in your hands you would move the cham straight down real fast and then stop real fast. Hoping this will cause whatever is in the throat to come out.

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That would be the only way to use g-force like the vet instructed.

Somehow I don't think the vet means to shake it or move it rapidly downward.

Nothing 'Cardio' about that, 'CPR' is humerously inaccurate, brings to mind defibrilating a lizard, pumping its chest with one finger and blowing in its mouth. LOl.

Its more akin to a quasi 'heimlich maneuver' but in which slight g'force is at work.
Its done to get kittens/puppies (also lambs/livestock) breathing after birth, removes fluid from the lungs.
The animal is held flat between both hands, and swung in a downward and backward arc
until the fluid is expelled. No shaking involved.

Not sure how it might work with solids, but worth a try in the circumstances.

Note: shaking a lizard vigorously downward as described (like trying to get sauce from a squeeze bottle) cant be good and may simply cause hemorage (eyes).

Person shown expelling fluid from newborn kitten


video demo
http://www.ehow.com/video_2298859_clear-fluid-out-newborn-kittens.html

Thanks Jann and Dan very helpful in case any of us are in that type of situation.

What about a neonate though?
I remember reading in one thread a guy used the back (flat) part of a thumb tack and rubbed the throat of a neonate that appeared to be choking and somehow dislodged whatever was stuck in its throat.

A neonate (fresh hatched/newborn) cham is unlikely to be chokeing on a solid , but I suppose the same approach if you needed to get a newborn livebearer breathing for some reason *shrugs*, could be tricky.

jojackson said:

A neonate (fresh hatched/newborn) cham is unlikely to be chokeing on a solid , but I suppose the same approach if you needed to get a newborn livebearer breathing for some reason *shrugs*, could be tricky.

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Well it most likely would be choking on yolk, thats a thick liquid. But being that it is a neonate and its so small do you think it can handle the g-force? i think one might kill it trying to save it if they give the little neonate a full jolt

GooglezNvincent said:

Well it most likely would be choking on yolk, thats a thick liquid.

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Huh? How is it going to choke on yolk? Yolk is absorbed, not consumed.

Jann - Like JoJackson said, what the vet is describing is not moving strait down and stopping fast but rather like a swift, exaggerated chopping movement. This provides the g-forces without the sudden and jerky stop. G-forces are created when an object changes speed in any single direction. Because this angular motion is always changing direction rather then going straight down, it is constantly exerting forces which would push any fluid or obstruction away from the center of the circular motion you're making (your elbow or sholder). Its like if you ever played on one of those spinning things on the playground as a kid. When you sit on the outer edge, the spinning, angular movement pulls you outward.

Chris

Chris Anderson said:

Huh? How is it going to choke on yolk? Yolk is absorbed, not consumed.

Jann - Like JoJackson said, what the vet is describing is not moving strait down and stopping fast but rather like a swift, exaggerated chopping movement. This provides the g-forces without the sudden and jerky stop. G-forces are created when an object changes speed in any single direction. Because this angular motion is always changing direction rather then going straight down, it is constantly exerting forces which would push any fluid or obstruction away from the center of the circular motion you're making (your elbow or sholder). Its like if you ever played on one of those spinning things on the playground as a kid. When you sit on the outer edge, the spinning, angular movement pulls you outward.

Chris

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Thanks Chris! I wanted to try to help people with their chams but hated to keep bothering the vet.

I've always heard that you tilt the chameleon's head back, and stroke from the stomach to the neck until you feel something. Then you gently stroke the part of the neck where the object is located, trying to get it out. Finally, when you see the object, you use tweezers to pull it out.