Can Baytril cause problems with catching food?

[Nightoff]

I have a year old female jackson's that developed an absess in her lower left jaw area. It was cleaned out and cultured and came back with psudomonis. The infection had invaded her jaw bone so during the cleaning, a piece of her jaw with about 8 teeth came out. The jaw is still structurally intact but she is missing the teeth now. She was put on a liquid calcium supplement twice a day for a month (she's still on it for another couple of weeks) and received 8 doses of Baytril (intra-muscular) over a two and a half week period. Yesterday was her last treatment. She is doing well and her mouth looks good. THE PROBLEM: When she shoots at her food, if it is more than an inch or two away, she misses completely. She shot twice at a silkworm that was 3 to 4 inches away and missed by more than an inch both times. It is as though her brain and her tongue are not in sync. I asked the vet and he looked at her eyes and at her jaw and can't see any reason why she would have trouble. Has anyone ever experinced this with Baytril? I can't help but wonder if the Baytril is affecting her perception of where the food is. If I put the food close to her she eats it so I know she's hungry but tends to give up if she misses a couple of times. Also, she hit a silk leaf once, that I saw, and was almost pulled off the branch when her tongue didn't come back because it stuck to the leaf. I don't want her to hurt her tongue or fall because her aim is bad. Any insight is truely appreciated.

 

[Chameleons Canada]

In my experience I've seen Chams vison affected when given baytril. I remember a few years ago I was treating some Quad babies with it and they couldn't see, they went blind. They recovered their vision once the medication was asimilated. I am not a Vet, so I guess is better to ask your Vet if he considers this to be a possibility and if Baytril's side efects might be temporarely blindness.

 

[Nightoff]

Thanks for the reply. It is interesting to hear that you have seen vision changes. I know she can see because she will eat if the food is close but maybe she doesn't see real clearly. She is off of the Baytril as of yesterday so I'll have to see if her aim gets better in the next week or two. I had crickets in her cage up until a few days ago but took them all out because she didn't seem interested and I got tired of feeding the crickets in her cage. Maybe in a few days I'll start putting them back in and see if she can catch them or at least tries to catch them. Thanks again.

 

[Chameleon Company]

While anything is possible ...

My experience tells me that it more than likely is not the Baytril, or at least that with all the thousands of chameleon owners who have treated their animals with Baytril, this is not a commonly noted side-effect. With the infection, collateral damage, etc., there is a host of possibilities to have helped cause this. Hopefully she will improve over time, and whether due to getting off Baytril, or some other healing/adjusting, you may never know. Good luck.

 

[Eric Adrignola]

baytril has a ton of possible side affects - but that does not seem like one of them. A portion of her jaw was removed? My guess woudl be that something mechanical is the cause. Swellings or abcesses in the jaw often cause the tongue to fire improperly, sometimes wiht a twist to its motion. Removing of the bone could have thrown the process' mechanisims off a bit.

 

[Chameleons Canada]

Just to clarify, for what I saw, I think it was more caused by an overdose than the baytril itself, I was treating babies, so giving them the right dosage was very difficult, even when it was only a drop. I think baytril has proven to be safe, but have to be administred correctly and with care.

 

[Lancecham]

I would have two agree with the two prrvious posts. In my 10 plus years experience with baytril, I have never had any related problems with vision. From what you described, it is a mecanical issue as the above post mentioned. The cause of the tongue issue could be a lot of things. By the time the cham completes the medication, I hope everything is back to normal.

 

[Clifford]

Is it possible the chameleon is lacking in vitamins A or B? Perhaps the jaw trouble and medication have reduced her food intake such that she isnt getting sufficient Vitamins? Or perhaps the jaw issue has made her tongue accuracy defective (rather than it being eye related).
Could you cup feed her?

 

[Nightoff]

Thanks for all of the replies. She is now off the Baytril, having completed her treatment, so if that's the issue then it should soon be out of her system. Although it sounds like it is unlikely the culprit from your feedback. I assume the tongue connects pretty far back in the throat for it to be the tongue but if she still has some swelling or scaring I could see how it might affect the mechanical shooting of the tongue.

While her jaw has been healing and she wasn't very interested in eating, I've been feeding her wax worms, meal worms, and now I have silkworms that are big enough to be worth while to feed her. I think she has occasionally caught a cricket that has been dusted but otherwise the worms aren't dusted. Do silkworms have enough vitamin A and B? Otherwise I can dust a cricket each day and feed it to her. I've developed a good technique for opening her mouth to feed her. She has gotten enough food through this ordeal but most of it was me directly feeding her rather than her eating on her own.

The last couple of days she definitely is trying to eat but she can't hit the food on a regular basis and she gives up easily. She is extremely shy and will only eat off of the screen or leaves. Any kind of dish seems to scare her. She also doesn't pursue her food much these days so I've been trying to put it real near by where she can see the food moving.

Thanks for all of your ideas. Please keep them coming.

 

[Nightoff]

Her tongue is still out of wack

Pickles has been off of Baytril for a week now. She is hungry and shoots at the silkies and the pill bug that I see every few days in the cage but her aim is WAY off. Even up close she usually misses. I suppose she could still have some swelling but I think the infection has cleared up. Any ideas on what to do? Thanks.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Poor Pickles (love the name). Has a vet had a look at her tongue and eyes? Can she grab bugs directly with mouth if cup fed?