I currently have a 5 month old panther who has recently lost a foot to gangrene and another two are infected. Even though I have probably stopped its progression she is in a very bad state and is pure black in colour now (used to be red and white) and very unresponsive. I'm taking her again to the vet tomorrow but it would be great for a little input into the causes of gangrene in chameleons as there isn't much information about it. It's strange that it started in three feet at the same time.
gangrene causes?
- Thread starter h4nk0
- Start date
Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
There has been discussion in melleri circles about "ulcerative pododermatitis" which is an aggressive infection of a cham's foot pads. I don't know that much about it, or whether that term is just a descriptive name for the symptoms rather than a disease in itself (kind of like stomatitis or mouth rot...not a specific illness, just the resulting symptom).
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but gangrene is basically tissue death and decomposition and it isn't specific or different in chams. If you have some sort of tissue damaging injury (like frostbite for example...sorry all, I just finished reading Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air) that gets infected and isn't treated or cleaned away, more and more tissue can end up dying. The area becomes gangrenous.
Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
Do you use biovine or other artificial vines (can get moldy if it never dries out)? Sandblasted grapevine (soft surface and very prone to mold)? Have you ever scrubbed or sterilized her perches? They do need to be cleaned or changed out periodically. And, once she gets some sort of infection she can spread it to her other feet. There could be tiny cuts on her feet from rough wire or even fiberglass screen if she walks the mesh a lot or wedges her toes through the mesh. Hard to say.
carol5208
Chameleon Enthusiast
When you first noticed the infected or injured area, how long did you let it go before you got medical help? Or did you try any at home treatment? The reason I ask is I have an adult panther (will be 3 in Nov) and he got these sores or cuts on his back feet on the pad underneath. I put neosporin on and still did not like they way it looked after a few days I got him into a vet. He looked at the feet and told me there was no infection or bacterial looking issue but he thought he had cut his feet on my outdoor enclosure as I was using chicken wire which I just changed out to coated wire.. I have had him on Baytril and topically applying silver sulvadene. It is clearing up thank god, but it is slow to heal. I was just wondering how long it took for gangrene to set in...
i think you have a point. i also used soil substrate which was always moist, never seemed to dry which i believe could of been another cause. (it had been in there only 2 weeks though)
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