Coccidia

cryogen

New Member
I checked my phone after class today and had a message from the vet saying that our male panther, Joker's fecal test came back positive for coccidia again. When we first received him we took his first poop in for a fecal since he came from the same place where we had bought our first panther who died from a severe parasite load, so we didn't want to take any chances. He tested positive for coccidia and another parasite (can't remember the name now but can look it up later). We decided after hearing about Dr. Alfonso on here to take him over to his office for treatment. We were able to get him in a week later and he had a fecal done there and it came back negative for anything. Dr. Alfonso said that since the results showed low levels in the first test that he could have just cleared it all out himself and to get him tested again in a week or so just to be sure. Well now he's positive again and I'm going to call the vet back first thing tomorrow to schedule an appointment for treatment. :(

I was just wondering if anyone else has had this experience of them testing positive, then negative and then positive again all within a month? Is this normal for coccidia? I've searched on here some and it seems that Ponazuril (sp?)is the recommended treatment so I'll make sure to bring that up with our local vet (Dr. Alfonso is a bit too far and he said that our local vet would work out just fine). Is that correct? It seems some people have had bad experiences with Albon so I don't really want to try that. Joker is doing just fine, seems healthy as can be - eating, drinking, active all the time, only sleeping at night so I'm guessing his load is once again not very heavy with the coccidia so hopefully his treatment won't be so bad.

Another thing, most likely I'll have to take him to the vet alone and get him out of his cage by myself. Last time my husband got him out (after quite a long battle of wills!) and I'm a little nervous of being bitten, seeing as how Joker isn't exactly one of the nicer chameleons. He tolerates your hand being in his cage if your cleaning or putting feeders in but as soon as you go near him he puffs up and opens his mouth at you. He just bluffed with my husband and never bit him but I'm not sure if I'd be so lucky. Any suggestions on getting him out of his cage in the least stressful (for both us) way possible?

Sorry for the long post. I feel like I only ever post on here about sick chameleons. I'm not a horrible owner, promise! I've learned a lot on here and from Dr. Alfonso so I know my husbandry isn't bad. We just seem to have bad luck (and learning the hard way why you should buy from reputable breeders and not from pet stores). :(
 
They often clear up and then re-infect. I would not use Albon. It made my guy stop eating on the 3rd day of treatment and I stopped treatment and still had to force feed for awhile. My guy looked great both times when he had coccidia. I cleaned just about daily and he still re-infected. I drive two hours to Dr. Alfonso. He's one of the best if not the best cham vet in the US.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/chameleons-coccidia-ponazuril-offers-new-hope-16409/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/coccidia-cleaning-need-advice-tips-please-42444/
 
Thank you very much for your help.

I'd love to go to Dr. Alfonso again but my husband and I both have crazy schedules, which involve driving out to Orlando multiple days for classes and since you can't take your chameleon to class with you (even though that would be cool!) we just don't have the room in our schedules to drive him out there and back for an appointment and then back to Orlando for class, so long story short, its much easier to go to our local vet. I had asked Dr. A questions about coccidia treatments while we were there last time, that way I wouldn't be completely clueless if we had to go to our local vet for treatment. I'll definitely steer clear of the albon.

I'll have to look into those links, I think I read the first one already but I'll double check again.
 
You can arrange for Ivan (Dr Alfonso) to keep him for the day while you are in class. He is very willing to work around what people need. just give him a call as he isn't there tomorrow. he is worth the drive.


Thank you very much for your help.

I'd love to go to Dr. Alfonso again but my husband and I both have crazy schedules, which involve driving out to Orlando multiple days for classes and since you can't take your chameleon to class with you (even though that would be cool!) we just don't have the room in our schedules to drive him out there and back for an appointment and then back to Orlando for class, so long story short, its much easier to go to our local vet. I had asked Dr. A questions about coccidia treatments while we were there last time, that way I wouldn't be completely clueless if we had to go to our local vet for treatment. I'll definitely steer clear of the albon.

I'll have to look into those links, I think I read the first one already but I'll double check again.
 
Jann, where can I find information on Doctor Alfonso? I also live in Florida, and want to have a good vet available just in case.
 
Jann, where can I find information on Doctor Alfonso? I also live in Florida, and want to have a good vet available just in case.

I am not Jann but here is the info. Sorry the only phone # I have are home & cell. Can't give those out but you can look up the office #.

Kirkman Animal Clinic
5633 Metro west Blvd
Orlando FA 32811
United States of America
 
I just made the appointment with my local vet for tomorrow. I'll see what they say and if I'm not comfortable with how they want to treat him then I'll just tell them no thanks and go to Dr. Alfonso. I'm going to print out the discussion that Jann had linked to me about Ponzuril and bring it with me to show them.

I hadn't thought about leaving him at Dr. Alfonso's office while we are in classes. Thanks for the info on that.

Any suggestions for getting him out of his cage? I feel like he's more comfortable with me than my husband since I'm the one who takes care of him everyday so I'm probably just worrying about freaking him out for no reason. :eek:

I read the link about how to clean everything for coccidia. I do have one question though. It sounded like (from what I can remember, I read it last night and was tired) everyone said not to use the peroxide on the fake plants and branches and to boil them instead, but I don't have a big enough pot to do that - is it ok to soak them in a tub of peroxide instead?
 
I am not Jann but here is the info. Sorry the only phone # I have are home & cell. Can't give those out but you can look up the office #.

Kirkman Animal Clinic
5633 Metro west Blvd
Orlando FA 32811
United States of America

Thanks again Laurie :)
 
Turns out we didn't need an actual appointment since he was already an established patient from doing all his fecals through them, so the vet came out and took him to the back and weighed him and gave him the meds. He told me what he was treating him with and I didn't recognize the name so I gave him the printout of the topic about Ponazuril that was posted on here. I told him I only wanted him to be treated with that and not Albon. He said that he never uses Albon anymore and said that what he had was the same thing as ponazuril, just a different name. He went and double checked for me. I believed him since I know human meds have all kinds of different brand names for the same med. I hope I didn't make a mistake and that's true in this case. :confused:

I'm suppose to take another fecal sample in to them in 3 weeks he said.

And man is Joker fast! I'd never seen him move as fast as he did when I was trying to get him out and put him in his travel box. He was so pissed at me and came very close to biting me multiple times...I don't think I'm his favorite person today. :(
 
Phew...I just googled it and it looks like I don't have to worry about it. The vet called it Marquis, which is Bayer's version of it. I'm so relieved now.
 
The best part of it was that he didn't charge me for it since it was such a small dose. I was dreading the vet bill since we just went out and spent a bunch of money on supplies to make him a new cage.
 
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