Connorology
Avid Member
Good Evening All,
My Jackson's Chameleon is fairly sick from an abscess turned mouth-rot that developed very quickly over the holidays. I've taken him to the vet, and she gave me ceftazidime injections I need to give him every three days along with subcutaneous saline. I also need to swab his mouth with a dilute nolvasan solution daily. It's a whole process that my animal is (understandably) very unenthused about. I'm supposed to keep it up for three weeks.
I’m currently a week into the three-week course. Fortunately, he seems to be responding to the antibiotics, and his abscess and the associated mouth-rot are well on their way to healing. Unfortunately, the treatment seems to be stressing him out to the point where he completely refuses to eat, though he will drink unprompted. He has also been lethargic and spending about half the day sleeping. Whether this is a side effect of the drugs or just the stress from getting yanked out of his cage for a daily weigh-and-swab, I can't say.
So the issue at hand really seems to be keeping him alive for the duration of the therapy. I'm looking for any thoughts or suggestions on how to maximize the odds of success while minimizing stress. After he dropped about four grams (representing about 8% of his total mass, he's fairly small with his max healthy weight being 52 grams and typically around 50-51) I decided to start a round of gentle force feedings. I have been feeding him a bug smoothie (1mL per day), made up of pulverized crickets, superworms, and waxworms, with a little bit of pedialyte, egg yolk, and "Zilla Jump Start Caloric Supplement." He swallows it and his weight seems to have stabilized, but it's a little too soon to tell.
So my specific questions I’m looking for answers to: 1) Has anyone used ceftazidime for their sick chameleon? What was the animal’s reaction to the therapy? Is lethargy an associated side-effect? 2) Does this sound like a reasonable strategy for feeding? Has anyone else successfully used bug juice for force feeding? Any suggested alterations for my recipe? 3) Any additional suggestions?
Thanks for your help.
My Jackson's Chameleon is fairly sick from an abscess turned mouth-rot that developed very quickly over the holidays. I've taken him to the vet, and she gave me ceftazidime injections I need to give him every three days along with subcutaneous saline. I also need to swab his mouth with a dilute nolvasan solution daily. It's a whole process that my animal is (understandably) very unenthused about. I'm supposed to keep it up for three weeks.
I’m currently a week into the three-week course. Fortunately, he seems to be responding to the antibiotics, and his abscess and the associated mouth-rot are well on their way to healing. Unfortunately, the treatment seems to be stressing him out to the point where he completely refuses to eat, though he will drink unprompted. He has also been lethargic and spending about half the day sleeping. Whether this is a side effect of the drugs or just the stress from getting yanked out of his cage for a daily weigh-and-swab, I can't say.
So the issue at hand really seems to be keeping him alive for the duration of the therapy. I'm looking for any thoughts or suggestions on how to maximize the odds of success while minimizing stress. After he dropped about four grams (representing about 8% of his total mass, he's fairly small with his max healthy weight being 52 grams and typically around 50-51) I decided to start a round of gentle force feedings. I have been feeding him a bug smoothie (1mL per day), made up of pulverized crickets, superworms, and waxworms, with a little bit of pedialyte, egg yolk, and "Zilla Jump Start Caloric Supplement." He swallows it and his weight seems to have stabilized, but it's a little too soon to tell.
So my specific questions I’m looking for answers to: 1) Has anyone used ceftazidime for their sick chameleon? What was the animal’s reaction to the therapy? Is lethargy an associated side-effect? 2) Does this sound like a reasonable strategy for feeding? Has anyone else successfully used bug juice for force feeding? Any suggested alterations for my recipe? 3) Any additional suggestions?
Thanks for your help.