Char in the Hospital

M

MegaWattz

Member
Hey all, a recap for those unfamiliar: https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/need-help-please.174374/

So unfortunately my boy took a turn for the worse, still not eating, eyes sunken in and shut during the day.

Took him to an animal hospital that also does exotics. Nothing close to a cham specialist anywhere near me in Southern MI.

They treated him overbight and vet said no improvement after just fluids. Nothing showed up on x-rays. They did ask if there was potential for tongue injury.
He has a couple of times accidentally caught the feeding tongs with his tongue and then I have to sort of slowly let him pull his tongue with the tongs in without hurting him with my strength or panicking and droping them, thus also injuring him. This did happen sometime within the past 2 weeks.

She said she did note a small red spot on his tongue.

Possibility of tongue injury if so what should I recommend to the vet? I am just beside myself that I may have hurt my baby and any help is appreciated.
 
Did you take him to a different Vet? Are they able to run a fecal to make sure it is not a parasite issue?
 
MegaWattz said:
Different vet, yes, he hasn't passed anything so they can't confirm. Prior vet said the fecal came back negative.
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What does this Vet think about the antibiotics the prior vet had you giving? I know some meds can really make them feel bad and make it so they do not have an appetite.

Has the new vet run blood work?

Personally while I do not use tongs due to the risk I don't know if this would be major enough to cause such a drastic decline. There was not extreme damage to the tongue where he could not pull it in at all. I would not be so hard on yourself about this. Beman has hit my finger right when a hornworm moved and got stuck to my finger... Things still can happen even when not using tongs.

Honestly the only thing beside parasites which have now been ruled out that I saw in your husbandry was the repashy calcium plus. We have seen in the forum chams that seem to not respond well to it even though they have been on it for a while.

I am sorry your going through this. Nothing worse then this feeling. Hopefully the new vet will be able to figure out the issue.
 
Beman said:
What does this Vet think about the antibiotics the prior vet had you giving? I know some meds can really make them feel bad and make it so they do not have an appetite.

Has the new vet run blood work?

Personally while I do not use tongs due to the risk I don't know if this would be major enough to cause such a drastic decline. There was not extreme damage to the tongue where he could not pull it in at all. I would not be so hard on yourself about this. Beman has hit my finger right when a hornworm moved and got stuck to my finger... Things still can happen even when not using tongs.

Honestly the only thing beside parasites which have now been ruled out that I saw in your husbandry was the repashy calcium plus. We have seen in the forum chams that seem to not respond well to it even though they have been on it for a while.

I am sorry your going through this. Nothing worse then this feeling. Hopefully the new vet will be able to figure out the issue.
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They haven't indicated much with regard to the antibiotic. They were going to follow up with a specialist they know in Toledo and try to do blood work this afternoon. I didn't let them do blood work last night b/c I wanted them to get some fluids in him first.

When they called this morning they indicated he was dehydrated despite the fact I can regularly spot him drinking so there's a hint there. Also yes I agree on the all in one. I have already ordered the calcium with lod version and will just do d3 twice a month like before.

Yes very frustrating, I love these creatures so much but they really lose at the Darwin awards it seems.
 
MegaWattz said:
They haven't indicated much with regard to the antibiotic. They were going to follow up with a specialist they know in Toledo and try to do blood work this afternoon. I didn't let them do blood work last night b/c I wanted them to get some fluids in him first.

When they called this morning they indicated he was dehydrated despite the fact I can regularly spot him drinking so there's a hint there. Also yes I agree on the all in one. I have already ordered the calcium with lod version and will just do d3 twice a month like before.

Yes very frustrating, I love these creatures so much but they really lose at the Darwin awards it seems.
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Just note you will not need to add in anything additional if you are using the calcium plus LoD each feeding and the T5HO fixture with a 5.0 bulb. I think blood work is a really good idea. Hopefully that will give them a better picture of what the issue is.
 
So the vet is readying him for discharge, they are getting the blood drawn before he leaves but no certainty they will get a good enough sample. They said it will take about a week for results.

At this point they sound pretty sure its a tongue injury and have stated that if there is not significant improvement within the next 3 days I need to seriously consider a quality of life decision.

For those of you that have dealt with this kind of injury before, thoughts?
 
So an update, not much has changed, still not eating on his own, still very thin and lethargic.

But, noticed this lumpiness on the left front wrist during feeding. It appears new, and no breaks showed up on the x-rays. A remaining fat pocket?, new sign of injury?, thoughts?
 

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MegaWattz said:
So an update, not much has changed, still not eating on his own, still very thin and lethargic.

But, noticed this lumpiness on the left front wrist during feeding. It appears new, and no breaks showed up on the x-rays. A remaining fat pocket?, new sign of injury?, thoughts?
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Actually scrolling back thru old pics it looks like it probably is a fat pocket or something else, seems like his wrists were always chunky but I am just noticing the left b/c the weight loss.
 

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