2 Mo Old Nosy Be in Recovery (I hope!)

[YogiGirl]

Hi, I have a 2 month old nosy be panther chameleon named Yogi, that I have had for about 6 weeks now. (He was tiny when we got him!)

He seemed to be thriving for the first month, but suddenly took a turn for the worse about 2 weeks ago. He wasn't eating as much as usual, seemed to have stopped growing, and would puff up his throat and open his mouth wide (as if hissing) quite a bit. He never did that before.

I took him to the vet, and they determined that he had parasites. They prescribed a medicine called "Flagele", as well as a liquid calcium supplement to give Yogi.

I faithfully gave him his meds twice a day if lucky (it is very hard to make a baby chameleon open its mouth!) and ended up having to force feed him baby food, as he wasn't eating.

He seemed to get worse before he got better... but after about a week of this, he was doing MUCH better.

He's now eating on his own again, though still not as much as he used to. And I took a fecal sample to the vet yesterday, and it turned out negative for parasites :-D

However, I'm still concerned for the little guy. He continues to do the puffing throat/open mouth thing, makes weird "popping" noises through his mouth sometimes, occasionally sleeps with his head lifted straight up as if having trouble breathing, and has now developed some weird flaky stuff around his eyes and possibly nose. Also, the turrets on the top of his head are either just developing or are swollen... I don't know if that would signify something or not.

Anyway, can anyone think of any reason he would still be experiencing these symptoms?

The vet doesn't seem to think he has a respiratory infection, though that was my initial thought. She also advised me to keep the temperature 'nice and warm' for him...

Any thoughts?

 

[CleanLineChameleons]

Wow a 3 month old with parasites...thats rough. It can be tough to determine URI in youngsters because their mouths are so small. If you see your guy taking deep breaths and popping either on the way in or out...its probably that he has a URI. The vet is probably thinking it is the flagyl causing the popping because it is is a little thick. But if you see labored breathing then I would ask your vet to look again. Have you notified the breeder of the parasites? Also how much are you watering him?

Chris

 

[YogiGirl]

Yeah, giving him his medicine and food was a bit of a challenge to say the least.

He's no longer on the med's, since the fecal sample test didn't show any parasites now... so it's definitely not the flagyl causing the popping noises. It's weird because he was actually doing that before I ever gave him medicine, and that was one of the reasons I originally took him to the vet...

He doesn't seem to be experiencing labored breathing all the time, but does seem to be taking little gasps of breath occasionally. And again, he sometimes sleeps with his head lifted upwards.

I haven't notified the breeders of the parasites, but I suppose I should...

Since the vet said he looks dehydrated (dry skin and sunken eyes that won't seem to get better), I have been watering him many times each day. I work at home for most of the day, so I usually mist him and his cage with warm water about once an hour. Sometimes more if he looks like he needs it.

I've also been keeping the temperature higher, per the vet's suggestion, and Yogi seems to like it. He spends the whole first half of the day under his basking lamp, except for moving around to go eat or drink.

 

[Chameleon Caretaker]

Uri?

It sounds like a URI and if that's the case I would cut back on the misting and have your vet take a nother look.

 

[CleanLineChameleons]

Yes definitely stop watering him as much. Many times over watering babies can create URIs or breathing issues. Mist him 2 or 3 times a day, no more. Can you post a pic of your cham?

Thanks,

chris

 

[boothy]

yea he deffenatly has a URI upper respitory infection thats why he is sleeping on that angle at night to breath , and as for the eyes thats the infection spreading when you goto the ve see if they can administer you some Ceftazidime iv used it 3 times now and seen results in the first day , my female veiled had a URI and i took her to the vet and they injected the needle with Ceftazidime into her upper bicep toward the shoulder in the skin and then gave me 3 other to give to her when she was home and with in 3 days NOT even a single sign that she had it , it then came back after 3 months , witch i found out she was geting a draft from the door thats why she was geting them , i then took her again geting just one more needle so the total was 5 and she was fine again with in 2 or 3 days and she went on for another 1.5yrs and then died of being egg bound on her 10th clucth of eggs she was a old girl almost 4.5 yrs old so she sucommed to her old age and died so very weak of trying to lay her eggs being restless but sorry about the story i gave you just saying that the Ceftazidime worked for my chams and there URIs and my vet said its better to administer this to a young cham also because baytril tends to dehydrate your cham so see if you can get it i swear it will work

 

[jmyeager]

yea he deffenatly has a URI upper respitory infection thats why he is sleeping on that angle at night to breath , and as for the eyes thats the infection spreading when you goto the ve see if they can administer you some Ceftazidime iv used it 3 times now and seen results in the first day , my female veiled had a URI and i took her to the vet and they injected the needle with Ceftazidime into her upper bicep toward the shoulder in the skin and then gave me 3 other to give to her when she was home and with in 3 days NOT even a single sign that she had it , it then came back after 3 months , witch i found out she was geting a draft from the door thats why she was geting them , i then took her again geting just one more needle so the total was 5 and she was fine again with in 2 or 3 days and she went on for another 1.5yrs and then died of being egg bound on her 10th clucth of eggs she was a old girl almost 4.5 yrs old so she sucommed to her old age and died so very weak of trying to lay her eggs being restless but sorry about the story i gave you just saying that the Ceftazidime worked for my chams and there URIs and my vet said its better to administer this to a young cham also because baytril tends to dehydrate your cham so see if you can get it i swear it will work

You are right that ceftazidime (fortaz) works very well in reptiles. It is long-acting and has a fairly broad spectrum of activity. I think that your vet and you were both giving the injections IM (intramuscularly), not IV (intravenously). Hitting a tail vein in a chameleon can be challenging for even very experienced herp vets, let alone trying to hit a vessel in their front limbs! Fortaz is typically administered IM in reptiles

The benefit to fortaz over baytril (enrofloxacin) would be that you don't have to administer it as often, baytril can cause tissue necrosis when given SQ (subcutaneously) or IM multiple times, and baytril does not cause dehydration, but can be hard on the kidneys if a patient is already dehydrated. Baytril is probably considered a "bigger gun" antibiotic, however, and also has a slightly larger spectrum of coverage than fortaz. Both are appropriate for treating a respiratory infection in chams. Hope this helps

 

[YogiGirl]

Thank you guys for taking the time to respond and offer your advice!

I took these 2 pictures of Yogi today, and in one of them you can kind of see the crust around the top of his eye. It looks a lot like dry skin, and could just be that... He obviously looks a bit stressed since I'm holding him, but has actually been looking pretty well today besides the apparent breathing issue.

Yogi has been very dehydrated, which is why I've been watering him so much... So I'm a bit confused as to how I should treat his URI, as well as his dehydration... Any suggestions?

I'm going to call the vet tomorrow and tell her the situation. I definitely think he's too small for an injection...

Oh and one more thing -- today he was literally blowing spit bubbles through his mouth!

 

[CleanLineChameleons]

I personally feel it is not a hydration issue. His eyes aren't perfect but I doubt it is hydration, more like some sort of illness or infection. When health is not optimal at that age their eyes are the only thing that really show it. I personally think that your vet saw his eyes, while he had parasites and initially thought hydration. His tale and body fat looks to be good...that is why I don't think hydration is an issue. Water him 2 or 3 times a day and get that infection taken care of, my personal preference is Fortaz, especially with animals that young.

Chris

 

[YogiGirl]

what humidity level should I have him at while we're treating the infection (and just in general)? currently it's around 30-40%, with misting several times a day...

 

[boothy]

i would mist him no more then 3 times just because im thinking he has a URI and keep the humidity around the 50% mark if you can and get to a vet asap and get him on his medications , minutes are hours with chameleons the longer you wait the more his chances of survival decreases , not saying hes going to die in a second, just saying that when they are sick it can knock the crap out of them in just 24 hours but good luck with your fella he looks very nice lol he seems like he has some personality

 

[YogiGirl]

So I just got home from the vet -- took him this morning. Turns out he doesn't have a URI, or any type of infection for that matter. She did a cotton swab test of his saliva, and everything looks ok.

She still thinks he's just a little dehydrated and for that reason has excess saliva. The crust around the eye is just dry skin she said. So I'm going to get him a cold air humidifier (she said it really can't get too humid with a screen cage for a baby) and hopefully that will help keep him hydrated. Also will get a dripper.

Still think it's weird that he keeps puffing up and popping bubbles, but guess he's OK!

 

[bbing]

sounds weird but i have heard the same thing. Sometimes adding hydration is better to treat URI. Seems counterintuitive but it was one of trhe first threads I have read here.