Finding A Vet

[Nihil]

I live in a location where there aren't really any vets that even deal with reptiles and the nearest who specialize in reptiles and chameleons is a good 2 hours from me, on the other side of the mountains where it gets to be un-passable during winter months...

So my question is, what should I do in this situation? I'm just planning ahead right now, I don't need a vet at the moment, I'm still "shopping" for my chams but I thought I'd ask for advice on my situation, the only thing I can think of is lots of reading and knowledge to self diagnose...which even still, I wouldn't be able to do without proper equipment and know how, along with lack of being able to prescribe Rx's

Any Suggestions?

Thanks in advance

 

[Kent67]

Good thread, there's probably a number of people in your situation as well.

First, I assume you've already tried www.arav.com to look for other potential vets?

While you will probably need a specialist vet in the case of more advanced care (surgery, etc), I've found that most dog and cat vets are willing to work with you if you have good knowledge of your animals, their symptoms, and the recommended care when you walk in their door. Respiratory infections, other minor infections, parasites, etc can all be treated by a vet who is relatively inexperienced with chameleons. The major part of the care for these types of problems are done at home. I've found that if you walk in able to point out the symptoms to the vet and already know the recommended treatment that you want to give, most vets will help you with whatever prescriptions you need. In the case of an acute emergency, I'd say they're still better than nothing as well.

 

[Chameleons By Design]

Hey you can also try the herpvetconnection.com Good Luck

 

[Nihil]

Yep, I've looked through all the online sources, the city I live in is kinda limited to many things, I have the same problems with performance car stuff as well...online sites, shops and tech help is the best source for me, which makes things difficult with chameleons. I was just thinking about a vets knowledge on what to prescribe and when to prescribe and how much, say for parasite loads and infections, I wouldn't want to take an animal to a vet, have them diagnose, prescribe and send me on my way, then start treatment only to overdose an animal or something and finding any info online is pretty much nil to none, which is understandable, we wouldn't want people runnin around with meds, self prescribing their own animals with no knowledge...although people do that with themself with online Rx suppliers! ha

If I had to say, my guess would be one of the most common lizards would be an iguana? How close are diagnoses of an iguana to a cham? I'd assume parasites would be of the same type and treatments would be same as with bacterial infections as well? Only differences being size/weight and more tolerant to treatments? Just tryin to think of something for a vet to relate to as far as experience wise, if that makes sense?

Good thread, there's probably a number of people in your situation as well.

First, I assume you've already tried www.arav.com to look for other potential vets?

While you will probably need a specialist vet in the case of more advanced care (surgery, etc), I've found that most dog and cat vets are willing to work with you if you have good knowledge of your animals, their symptoms, and the recommended care when you walk in their door. Respiratory infections, other minor infections, parasites, etc can all be treated by a vet who is relatively inexperienced with chameleons. The major part of the care for these types of problems are done at home. I've found that if you walk in able to point out the symptoms to the vet and already know the recommended treatment that you want to give, most vets will help you with whatever prescriptions you need. In the case of an acute emergency, I'd say they're still better than nothing as well.

 

[PardalisGirl]

You are in a tough situation. I keep iguanas and chameleons and monitors and other lizards. Iguanas and chameleons are not similar as iguanas are strict plant eaters and chameleons eat mostly insects with plants as a secondary choice. This makes their entire digestive and urinary tracts different. Their blood values are different. Their lungs are different. Chameleon lungs are more similar to bird lungs than an iguana. A cat/dog vet should be able to do fecal parasite checks. Small mammals and chameleons get some of the same parasites. The medications are the same. The dosage is what's different but the dosage for reptiles is readily available on the internet to vets. If you have anything else going on with your cham I would post it as a question to this forum as a pre-screening tool. Anything serious is worth the two hour drive to a real reptile vet. This is my opinion, but it's only an opinion...........Hope something works for you

 

[Kent67]

There are a couple books that you can pick up as well with dosage information in them so that you could go into a dog/cat vet prepared. The ones that pop into mind right away are Linda Davison's book, and part two of the True Chameleons series by Philippe de Vosjoli. If your vet isn't familiar with the site, turn them on to http://www.vin.com.

 

[Nihil]

Awesome, thanks for all the advice guys, and come to think of it, I remember seein dosage info in my books, I've got the books by Philippe, guess I'll check all that out too, I just like to be prepared before hand, thanks guys!

 

[Will Hayward]

Reptile Medicine and Surgery
by Douglas R. Mader

View some of this forums thoughts on "Must have books" here...

 

[ChromaChameleons]

here is some good info:

http://www.anapsid.org/resources/rxdose.html

 

[Dave Weldon]

There are a couple books that you can pick up as well with dosage information in them so that you could go into a dog/cat vet prepared. The ones that pop into mind right away are Linda Davison's book...

Howdy,

Linda's book is real handy for lots of ideas and info but watch out for the medical doasge charts . I spoke with Linda about them and she agreed that the book got released after the editor (or someone) accidentally messed-up the charts. Some of them (Baytril) are 10x off.

I actually buy her book in quantities directly from the publisher (discount) and re-sell them at cost to new chameleon keepers who come by for a visit .