First Vet Visit, any advice?

[SilverWolf]

For those of you who did not see the previous post, I was concerned with my Jackson Chameleon, Tricky; He had been sleeping often during the day, and then stopped eating. He still has not eaten for a week, and last he did eat, that was his first and only cricket for that day, without eating for the two days prior. So, Tricky has gone almost ten days eating only one cricket.

Other than sleeping during the day, there was no other concern. He had no other bad signs, his limbs were fine, colours were right, behaviour was fine, ultimately he seemed perfectly healthy. Now my thought, honestly, was an impaction. Still could not be totally sure so I decided to hake him to the veterinarian today, and sure enough that was the diagnosis.

This was both my first vet visit, as well as, Tricky's. The way she handled him was nerve racking to me. The way she felt of his sides and stomach to see if he had "a full stomach" was also rather concerning to me, as he obviously didn't enjoy it, squirming around. She also could just not get him to open his mouth. I was also nervous because he had some dead skin on his neck and head that he never seemed to get off but I never bothered to remove them myself because I had read that's rarely ever a good idea. She did though, but he didn't seem in pain and he looks a bit nice now. There's still some around his horns, and one on his back that have been there for months. Interestingly after be handled so rough he was breathing rather hard when he came back on my hand when she left again for a moment, but did not have any stress colours at all. There was just one dark line on his side but I am not so sure that's even there anymore. I will include that in the photographs. And I had thought just putting him in the container to check his weight was rather harsh

She said she felt it mostly "in the back" and that she would give him an injection to get some fluid in his system, to break up the contents of his stomach. When she came back from giving him his medicine (I did not see her do it) he had his eyes closed and seemed...fuller. The area around his mouth was wet and there was a black spot under his chin. he did open his eyes, then would close them, then open and gape, exhaling hard, then close. He would gape and exhale occasionally on the way home as well. Putting him back in his enclosure was more difficult than I thought, he just seemed to week and walked in with his eyes closed a bit (I sort of had to help his footing). Then he climbed up to the top, and slept. I will show you some pictures of how he looked after the vet visit.

Before that though, I wanted to ask about giving him his Lactulose. She said to give him 0.05 twice a day. It's a little squirty thingy. She said it would take two people to give it to him, one to restrain him and the other to supply it. She also said I would have to lightly pinch under his chin to get him to open his mouth. She said to stop doing it if he gets too stressed, that I should just try my best and in the next couple of days he should defecate.

I think I can give him his medicine without forcing his mouth open though. He opens his mouth to let me squirt water in his mouth, or sometimes just licks the water as the drops come out of the nozzle. I think I can put the medicine in his mouth while he is drinking water then, but what do you think?

 

[jannb]

Poor Tricky. Did the vet have any chameleon experience? If he's not eating then it's normal not to poop. Personally, I would not give the lactulose. Where do you live? I might be able to recommend a chameleon vet.

 

[Lathis]

My Jax is a clamper, too... the more you need him to open his mouth, the harder he clamps down. He took the vet visit like a champ, though - sounds like Tricky did, too. I haven't found a secret way to get him to open up. If he will take water from you, definitely try to administer meds then.

A long while back, my Jax was fighting a temporal gland infection what didn't present any of the traditional symptoms for a long time. He was just "off"... not eating, lazy - he seemed lethargic. First visit to the vet didn't find anything. The reason I bring this up is that it could be a low level infection somewhere that is bringing him down.

In the second photo, it looks like he has a lot of saliva. Have you noticed thick or stringy saliva, or even just more than usual? That's a classic sign of an upper respiratory infection.

Is she sure it's constipation? Did she thinks his belly felt hard or unusual? Did she listen to his lungs when he breathed?

Keep an eye on him for the next few days...if you find a giant poo, he might perk up and start eating. If you can get a hornworm in him, they are very juicy and good for getting things "moving".

 

[SilverWolf]

Poor Tricky. Did the vet have any chameleon experience? If he's not eating then it's normal not to poop. Personally, I would not give the lactulose. Where do you live? I might be able to recommend a chameleon vet.

Southern California, and the veterinarian seemed to have chameleon experience. Based on what she said, she has worked with other chameleons before. And it may be normal for him not to defecate because he's not eating, but the fact that his stomach seems full to both her and me, and that he hasn't defecated in possibly a week and a half, is evident that he has an impaction.

 

[SilverWolf]

My Jax is a clamper, too... the more you need him to open his mouth, the harder he clamps down. He took the vet visit like a champ, though - sounds like Tricky did, too. I haven't found a secret way to get him to open up. If he will take water from you, definitely try to administer meds then.

A long while back, my Jax was fighting a temporal gland infection what didn't present any of the traditional symptoms for a long time. He was just "off"... not eating, lazy - he seemed lethargic. First visit to the vet didn't find anything. The reason I bring this up is that it could be a low level infection somewhere that is bringing him down.

In the second photo, it looks like he has a lot of saliva. Have you noticed thick or stringy saliva, or even just more than usual? That's a classic sign of an upper respiratory infection.

Is she sure it's constipation? Did she thinks his belly felt hard or unusual? Did she listen to his lungs when he breathed?

Keep an eye on him for the next few days...if you find a giant poo, he might perk up and start eating. If you can get a hornworm in him, they are very juicy and good for getting things "moving".

Yes I'm aware of what saliva is a sign of. He gapes every now and then, not too often but he used to sometimes after drinking lots and lots of water at once. It was then that you would occasionally see one or two strands of saliva from top to bottom, but very thin, and they're not always there anyway. Is that a bad sign?

As for the second photograph, there was a LOT of saliva and VERY thick. As I wrote, he gaped relatively frequently here and there, and the saliva gradually seemed to stop being so abundant. However, I have NEVER seen his saliva so thick at all, and that was only after she returned from giving him his medicine.

 

[OldChamKeeper]

Southern California, and the veterinarian seemed to have chameleon experience. Based on what she said, she has worked with other chameleons before. And it may be normal for him not to defecate because he's not eating, but the fact that his stomach seems full to both her and me, and that he hasn't defecated in possibly a week and a half, is evident that he has an impaction.

Visit Dr. Greek in Yorba Linda. Easily the best Reptile Vet I've met. He has helped me keep my Male Quad alive for over a year on meds. He has performed surgery on one of my boas, he also helped amputate a badly damaged horn for a Mnt Meru that fell and broke it.

I've been around a lot of Vets working back in the Pet industry and before that, Dr Greek is the best. However you might have a lot of time with how long this problem has been present, time is a big deal with chams.

Tell him the guy who owns Ming the Quadricornis chameleon sent you.

 

[SilverWolf]

Visit Dr. Greek in Yorba Linda. Easily the best Reptile Vet I've met. He has helped me keep my Male Quad alive for over a year on meds. He has performed surgery on one of my boas, he also helped amputate a badly damaged horn for a Mnt Meru that fell and broke it.

I've been around a lot of Vets working back in the Pet industry and before that, Dr Greek is the best. However you might have a lot of time with how long this problem has been present, time is a big deal with chams.

Tell him the guy who owns Ming the Quadricornis chameleon sent you.

In the future I will consider that but for now I am going to have to rely on the current veterinarian. She requested that he come back for a check up later this week. How much does Dr. Greek charge?

So you've had a chameleon's horn been infected - Tricky's horns have always seemed rather dark at their tips. Is that a sign of anything? I could never find much documentation on horns.

 

[OldChamKeeper]

Doc Greek has been consistently affordable for the work done. I can't say what you would be charged, but I feel you would be charge fairly based on what I've experienced.

I didn't say my fellow's horns were infected, he fell and broke one. His horns look fine in the photos.

 

[jannb]

My advise to you is to take your chameleon to Dr. Greek. I would not return to the previous vet. I have met Dr. Greek and talked with him and he is very knowledgable about chameleons. Many of the forum members that live within driving distance go to Dr. Greek. He is a highly respected reptile vet.