Before I go to the vet in a complete panic...

[Mr Wilson]

I woke up this morning to a phone call from my parents saying my dog is dying. If that wasn't bad enough, I come home to see Layla limp on her perch, with, what looks to me, like poop... but I really don't think it is.

I plan on getting her to the vet as soon as I can. But has anyone even seen this/had this happen to them before who can maybe give some insight??

 

[Echoezra]

That looks like it has veins in it & stuff to me.. Keep it moist and haul ass to the vet!

 

[Mr Wilson]

Yeah that's what I figured. Ugh... lord knows what this is going to cost. What a great freaking day.

 

[Echoezra]

I don't know for sure of course, but I'd search posts on prolapse. They all say keep it moist, if a part dries up the vet has to cut it off, if you can keep it moist sometimes they can shove it back in, whatever part it is? Usually they say use ky jelly.

 

[Julirs]

That is a classic prolapse. She needs to go to the Vet ASAP-but unfortunately there is rarely anything you can do with this kind of prolapse. Please don't let her suffer.

 

[Mr Wilson]

I figured that is what it was. I made an appointment. The earliest they can see her is 2:15. I don't have any KY, is A&D ointment safe to use? I keep misting her.

 

[Mr Wilson]

Anyone know what can usually cause this? I did a search before posting this, by the way. She does not over eat at all. We don't over feed any of our chameleons.

 

[Julirs]

No A & D-that will burn. Keep it moist. Sometimes there really is not a reason-it could be weak muscles, constipation, etc.

 

[Mr Wilson]

Just found this at the bottom of her cage. I've personally never seen this before. No idea what it could be. We're going to bring it to the vet and show him. No A&D, got it. Are we OK with constantly misting her with warm water?

 

[melric]

They look like undeveloped eggs.

 

[Julirs]

I can only see the pictures on my phone, but yes, they look like eggs, and several that are fused. This is probably what caused her to prolapse. Is your Vet experienced with reptiles?

 

[Mr Wilson]

Yes he is. I can't believe it. We had a place for her to dig and she never got interested in it. She has never gained weight, never looked gravid, never roamed around her cage... nothing. We had removed the bin and placed it in our older female's cage because she is quite large and older than Layla.

Ugh... I hope by us doing that we didn't kill her. This is terrible. To possibly lose 2 pets in one day is just heart breaking. So please, do me the favor, who ever reads this. Please spare me the lectures about how we should not have taken the bin out... how we should have been more careful. Lectures is really truly the last thing I need right now. The damage is done, I know we did the incorrect thing, so I just ask for everyone reading this to please be respectful during the time and just pray that her, and my dog, will both be OK.

 

[Dez]

Don't be too hard on yourself! There are a lot of things that can go wrong in a chameleons body especially a female. If for some reason something wasn't developed right inside her, it can have bad results. It is not necessarily anyone's fault.

Had she ever laid a clutch before?

 

[pssh]

Well, if they are underdeveloped then they probably weren't ready to come out yet, which leads me to believe that the laying bin wouldn't have made a difference.

A previous vet said to use vaseline, but that's more of a last resort kind of thing.

 

[Julirs]

No lecture here-it can happen with a laying bin.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

I was going to post after seeing the first pic that I thought that an undeveloped egg was attached to the end of the tissue. Then you posted the pics of the eggs. Was she ever mated? Either way something was just not right probably. It really sucks bro but the longer you keep females the more you see things like that. I just hope she didnt suffer.

 

[fluxlizard]

Things happen- you do the best you can.

Guess she was straining to lay eggs and prolapsed.

Until you get her to a vet don't let that tissue dry out.

My big tortoise prolapsed a few years ago and I saved him myself. Thought he was a goner- had a prolapse as big as my fist. Checked with my vets (my father and my brother both very good vets) and kept the prolapse sugar coated and wrapped in syran wrap and the tort on a low powered heat pad in a dark room so he would sleep and not move around. Every 2 hours day and night for 3 days and nights straight I woke up and rinsed and changed the sugar and syran wrap. The sugar shrinks the tissue, syran wrap keeps it from drying out which will damage it. Eventually it shrank enough that I was able to push the last little bit back up into the tortoise (edit- well push isn't quite the right word- it eventually started contracting and pulling back in when I touched it and I was able to sort of prod/coax it back in) and kept him dark and quiet for several days before feeding him and getting his bowels going again. He's done great ever since and it's been a few years time now since that happened.

I'd definately recommend getting her to a vet asap, but meanwhile you might try something similar to what I did for my tort. I really thought he was a goner when I saw the prolapse and am still kind of amazed he pulled through.

At the time I couldn't find any definite answers on the net for the cause of such a prolapse, but calcium plays a role in muscular action, and possibly hydration could play a role as well. My tort was outside for the summer when it happened, but it was still early in the season- could be the diet change caused him to strain or something. In your case- looks like a reproductive problem made her strain, but could have been entirely beyond your control...

 

[kinyonga]

I was told not to use vaseline or any cream that would promote healing...so I have always used the KY jelly.....which I know you said you don't have.
There are lots of reasons this can happen...parasites, reproductive issues, overfeeding, constipation, etc....hard to know what did it for sure.

 

[Hoj]

really sorry to hear about what going on with you, try to keep your head up and do what you can

wishing you the best hoj & Camo

 

[Mr Wilson]

Thanks for the helpful info everybody. Just a quick update, We brought her to the vet and obviously he was concerned it was a prolapse of the intestine or even the reproductive organs. Like We thought It was undeveloped eggs, and she did "overlay" or "overduct" forgot exactly what he called it. Basically he was able to tie off, remove, and reinsert it back in. He said the rest would dissolve inside. Thankfully it wasn't the reproductive organ or the intestine or we would have had to euthanize. So for the next 48hrs we have to keep an eye on her and make sure she can pass stool and she doesn't continue to prolapse or we'll unfortunately have to euthanize her. Unfortunately we'll never be able to breed her, But since there has been something wrong w/ her since she came from the breeder we kind of figured we would never be able to breed her anyway.

keeping my fingers crossed for the next 48