Aspirating Liquid - what could happen? Also old spinal injury.

[GoodKarma19]

Okay thanks for letting me know about hydration! I gave him a little water by syringe and three silkworms this morning. Just trying to baby him.
When I gave him water I moved the syringe in farther, but honestly now I’m thinking he may have had a snot bubble yesterday morning and aspirated his breakfast BECAUSE of an URI he already had, and this was not started by aspirating liquid- just made worse.
So, I’ve got to spend time trying to get him healthy and figure out a way to set up his cage differently based on his special needs- so he can move to optimize his temperature without any struggling and hunt more easily. I think that’s another thread though...

I agree that he probably already had an infection - it's highly unlikely that he would have shown signs of a full blown URI hours after aspiration. I'm glad he's eating/drinking! That's always encouraging.

Make a thread and people will chime in re: his needs, I'm sure!

 

[Brodybreaux25]

 

[Brodybreaux25]

The previous owner said he can. I see him use it to puff his chin, so I’m hoping he will use it to catch food again.

Chameleons do not puff their chin out with their tongue. The gular sac has one part of the pulmonary sacs as a base. If it is inflated, the throat puffs up. Same with other parts of the body.

 

[MrsM]

Hmm... Does that go in health clinic or enclosures... it is kind of both.

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This is pretty helpful, thank you! I can try that out.

 

[MrsM]

Thank you for explaining, I kind of thought it was their tongue. Well, here is hoping his tongue works anyways!

 

[MrsM]

Just for example/reference here is a close up of Terry’s mouth and you can see his saliva is stringy. It forms a film when he opens his mouth on the sides. The vet listens to both lungs and heard a very faint clicking in one side.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Hmm... Does that go in health clinic or enclosures... it is kind of both.

This is pretty helpful, thank you! I can try that out.

Why would this have anything to do with enclosures?

 

[MrsM]

Why would this have anything to do with enclosures?

Oh sorry, I had started to draft a response to GoodKarma19's post #21, and then my computer shut down. When I replied to yours I did not realize it was still on there.
Basically I will be changing the enclosure and set up. I'm trying to change my setup to prevent any more URIs for Terry, and I made another thread for that.
Thank you so much for your help, this community is so amazing and everyone's expertise and kindness is appreciated.
I know there are a lot of people who get help just by reading and may never post. For a while, I was one of them.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Cool, I started as a lurker too.

I wasn’t trying to fuss you, just thought I was missing something!

 

[MrsM]

It’s day three of Baytril and Terry is still opening his mouth every so often looking sick.
It could be that he has warmer basking temperatures but man I’m impatient for him to be better. I have two more doses. His color is dulling, and he looks like he may shed soon as well.
On the bright side he hissed at me earlier, so he has some of his old self back.

 

[MrsM]

I gave the last dose of Baytril this morning. His color is good. He is alert. His temp is good. He isn’t open mouth breathing. He is moving and being feisty. MOST of the phlegm is gone. No clicking. Only thing is I still notice a very thin string of saliva on each side when he opened his mouth to gape and fuss at me for giving him medicine.
So I’m not sure if I should head back to the vet to ask for a follow up or more medication or just keep his temps up and keep an eye on it.
What do you guys think?

 

[KylieCham]

I'm practically dead after a graveyard shift and am preparing for bed, but the absolute worst case scenario with aspirating fluids is generally aspiration pneumonia, which would likely require a vet visit and an antibiotic. I've used Baytril to treat it in the past (my Benny bird aspirated water as a chick), but I don't see pneumonia all that often in reptiles so I honestly couldn't tell you what the treatment plan would be.

Keep a close eye on his breathing (crackling, labored) and if he seems to be struggling/is lethargic/etc over the next few days I'd bring him to an experienced reptile vet for a check up. Otherwise, he'll probably be fine. Make sure to keep his head down if it ever happens again to let any fluid drain freely. Happens with birds and oral meds alarmingly often!

Hopefully you'll get some folks chiming in that are more awake/coherent lol, I'm useless right now!

I know this is a thread from a while ago but how long should you hold the head down? I was worried my guy had aspirated and held him upside down for about 10-15 seconds and nothing happened. He was just angry