Chameleon died; looking for answers.

[Stygma]

Today, our Veiled Chameleon of two years died. She had a growth of some kind in her throat that was making it difficult to breathe or swallow. Compounding the problem was the fact that she was gravid, but unable to lay the eggs due to them clumping near her vent. The vet was going to remove them, but couldn't entubate her because of the growth in her throat. She took a culture of the growth and gave us Baytril and an anti fungal medication, but after determining a short while later that the infection was not fungus-related, she told us to stop the anti fungal and just continue with the Baytril. For weeks, our chameleon seemed to improve -- she was eating and having less trouble breathing, so it seemed like things were looking up. This morning when I last saw her, she was active and her color was good. Despite all these good signs, she passed this evening. I'm curious to know what exactly did her in, as it seemed like she was recovering. Any thoughts on the cause?

 

[Julirs]

Being eggbound certainly could have done it, or possibly organ failure due to Baytril-was she drinking plenty? Or the infection could have spread despite treatment-if it was some kind of infection. I would tend to lean towards being eggbound-was she huge and full of eggs?

 

[Stygma]

Yes, and they'd been there for months. The vet seemed confident she'd survive long enough to remove them, though. She couldn't lay them (despite trying very, very hard) because they'd fused together in a big lump, at least according to the vet. I suspected the same thing as you, but I figured it couldn't hurt to see if anyone had a different idea. It may very well have been the eggs; but you're right, the baytril is hard on them. Of course, we werent aware of these risks until after she died - the vet never warned us.

Edit: Oh and yes, she was drinking plenty; she had a drip she used and we'd had her on a liquid diet for about a month (as perscribed by our vet, since she was having trouble swallowing solid foods)