Loki'smom
New Member
Hi all,
Apologies in advance for how long this is going to be, I just want to be sure I’m being completely thorough. I also want to point out that this is NOT a time-sensitive matter, as my cham has already passed, but I’m left with little closure in the way of answers as to what may have caused it. I’ve been going down the rabbit hole of “what ifs” and “could it have been this, or that” - and I’m curious to see if anyone had any insight into similar situations.
I inherited Loki from a colleague who said her daughter was not taking care of him, and that he’d become prey to their cats (his cage was once knocked over, which also contained *another* chameleon, who was killed by the cat). He made it, but in any event it wasn’t a good home for him. I took him in, and per usual obsessively researched ideal care, took him to his initial vet visit and purchased all of the necessities based on my research combined with the vet’s guidance (who was very thorough and helpful).
Loki was 4 when I took him in, he died last week at 6.5. Upon receiving him from his previous owners, he already had MBD and wasn’t being treated for it, nor did the previous owners even realize he had it. Over the course of the past 2.5 years his health has been hit or miss. Over the past 6 months however, he had gotten progressively worse. Over those 6 months, he’s been to the vet at least once a month, sometimes twice to asses his condition. Each time I’d leave with calcium glubionate to give orally to supplement his diet for the course of a month or so.
Since the moment I got him I realized he nearly refused crickets and most other bugs no matter how they were given to him, and seemed adverse to just about everything but worms. The vet suspected his previous owners may have spoiled him with them, which led to his stubbornness with his diet preferences. Ive tried letting him hunt them in his cage, I've tried the little cricket cups, and i've used tongs. I tried my best to incorporate other feeders into his diet - he would occasionally take a cricket (if fed with tongs). We’ve tried various other feeders but he was typically pretty resistant to anything but large meal worms and superworms and for that reason, admittedly, he got this more than anything. I’d spray them with water and douse them in calcium (each meal, and reptivite 1x a week) . When fed to him they were completely white and covered in calcium due to the water making it stick, so he was defiantly getting his calcium. In attempt to help supplement this I'd sometimes feed him omnivore mix through a syringe.
After several periodic rounds of the calcium oral meds provided by the doctor ( I wan’t to say there were a couple of times where he even administered an injection related to his MDB) - I’ve never seen improvement in his energy, strength or mobility. To be clear, from the moment I had him, he was always very slow moving, not the best mobility, wobbly while moving from place to place and would occasionally fall off his branches. His previous breaks, were healed when I got him but very noticeable in his deformed legs and he often times had trouble using his front right leg to effectively grab branches - it would just reach out into space. The falling became more frequent and given his weakness and bone issues, I downsized his cage by adding in a few of those reptile seagrass hammocks that extended just under his branches/plants to ensure if he fell, he wouldn’t have as far to go.
His appetite remained consistent even up until the day he passed (he ate around 2-3 large feeders daily (again, mostly worms unfortunately). His automatic misters were set to go off at 7am, noon and 7pm. After feedings, occasionally he’d take water from the hand-held mister as well. His poops always remained normal. He had around 3 sperm plug issues over the course of the past 2 years that he was brought to the vet for for removal (which he indicated was related indirectly to his MBD and inability/lack of strength to express them on his own).
There was an instance of an upper respiratory infection, to which he was treated with both an oral med for a period of time alongside an injection in his leg (I forget the name of the medicine) that I’d inject every 3 days until the doses were complete - this was several months prior to his passing. The day that he died he had no recent signs of any new developing issues - just his usual unsteadiness and slow movement - all else remained the same.
The day he passed I had just returned home to find him at the bottom of his cage (somehow bypassing his safety hammocks for the first time, and was sideways against the screen. From the time I left home to the time I arrived home he would have been alone for around an hour. I picked him up and he was entirely limp / no movement / eyes closed/ mouth open but he was clearly breathing (rather shallow and even sometimes erratically). I brought him to the vet immediately (so there was about a 20 minute span before we arrived and he was seen). By then his color had turned darker, his breathing slowed and he remained limp. Of course the second the vet walks in, his eyes open and he begins looking around, yet did little in the way of moving.
In an event, the vet was visibly concerned about his appearance and in so many words indicated that given the several years he’s endured his touch-and-go health, the obvious pain he had been in the last few months, even years, and the obvious deterioration of his health - it would be best to humanely euthanize. I’ve never found him in a condition even remotely like this, and I was told with how far gone he was, it’s unlikely we’d be able to bring him back from this state to live comfortably.
He did express that he was undoubtedly uncomfortable, and at that point I had him euthanized, as I’ve seen the continuous struggle he’d ensured for so long due to his MDB (which no matter the amount of treatment did not seem to be getting better in the least). The vet also suggested, having understood that the treatment wasn’t helping that perhaps he had a separate calcium condition that may be the cause of the calcium treatments being ineffective. The way I interpreted this, was that his body may have been rejecting the treatments for one reason or another. There was no conclusive decision as to what exactly caused his sudden condition (as he had been a bit more active the night before).
Things I’ve considered:
Anyways - would love to get your take on the whole ordeal and curious if anyone has dealt with anything similar to what I came home to on his final day. Thanks & again sorry for the never-ending read.
P.S. - The photo on the toilet was Loki several months ago (didn't have another one that showed him well enough - ignore the toilet) ; The second photo was Loki how I found him at the bottom of his cage.
Apologies in advance for how long this is going to be, I just want to be sure I’m being completely thorough. I also want to point out that this is NOT a time-sensitive matter, as my cham has already passed, but I’m left with little closure in the way of answers as to what may have caused it. I’ve been going down the rabbit hole of “what ifs” and “could it have been this, or that” - and I’m curious to see if anyone had any insight into similar situations.
I inherited Loki from a colleague who said her daughter was not taking care of him, and that he’d become prey to their cats (his cage was once knocked over, which also contained *another* chameleon, who was killed by the cat). He made it, but in any event it wasn’t a good home for him. I took him in, and per usual obsessively researched ideal care, took him to his initial vet visit and purchased all of the necessities based on my research combined with the vet’s guidance (who was very thorough and helpful).
Loki was 4 when I took him in, he died last week at 6.5. Upon receiving him from his previous owners, he already had MBD and wasn’t being treated for it, nor did the previous owners even realize he had it. Over the course of the past 2.5 years his health has been hit or miss. Over the past 6 months however, he had gotten progressively worse. Over those 6 months, he’s been to the vet at least once a month, sometimes twice to asses his condition. Each time I’d leave with calcium glubionate to give orally to supplement his diet for the course of a month or so.
Since the moment I got him I realized he nearly refused crickets and most other bugs no matter how they were given to him, and seemed adverse to just about everything but worms. The vet suspected his previous owners may have spoiled him with them, which led to his stubbornness with his diet preferences. Ive tried letting him hunt them in his cage, I've tried the little cricket cups, and i've used tongs. I tried my best to incorporate other feeders into his diet - he would occasionally take a cricket (if fed with tongs). We’ve tried various other feeders but he was typically pretty resistant to anything but large meal worms and superworms and for that reason, admittedly, he got this more than anything. I’d spray them with water and douse them in calcium (each meal, and reptivite 1x a week) . When fed to him they were completely white and covered in calcium due to the water making it stick, so he was defiantly getting his calcium. In attempt to help supplement this I'd sometimes feed him omnivore mix through a syringe.
After several periodic rounds of the calcium oral meds provided by the doctor ( I wan’t to say there were a couple of times where he even administered an injection related to his MDB) - I’ve never seen improvement in his energy, strength or mobility. To be clear, from the moment I had him, he was always very slow moving, not the best mobility, wobbly while moving from place to place and would occasionally fall off his branches. His previous breaks, were healed when I got him but very noticeable in his deformed legs and he often times had trouble using his front right leg to effectively grab branches - it would just reach out into space. The falling became more frequent and given his weakness and bone issues, I downsized his cage by adding in a few of those reptile seagrass hammocks that extended just under his branches/plants to ensure if he fell, he wouldn’t have as far to go.
His appetite remained consistent even up until the day he passed (he ate around 2-3 large feeders daily (again, mostly worms unfortunately). His automatic misters were set to go off at 7am, noon and 7pm. After feedings, occasionally he’d take water from the hand-held mister as well. His poops always remained normal. He had around 3 sperm plug issues over the course of the past 2 years that he was brought to the vet for for removal (which he indicated was related indirectly to his MBD and inability/lack of strength to express them on his own).
There was an instance of an upper respiratory infection, to which he was treated with both an oral med for a period of time alongside an injection in his leg (I forget the name of the medicine) that I’d inject every 3 days until the doses were complete - this was several months prior to his passing. The day that he died he had no recent signs of any new developing issues - just his usual unsteadiness and slow movement - all else remained the same.
The day he passed I had just returned home to find him at the bottom of his cage (somehow bypassing his safety hammocks for the first time, and was sideways against the screen. From the time I left home to the time I arrived home he would have been alone for around an hour. I picked him up and he was entirely limp / no movement / eyes closed/ mouth open but he was clearly breathing (rather shallow and even sometimes erratically). I brought him to the vet immediately (so there was about a 20 minute span before we arrived and he was seen). By then his color had turned darker, his breathing slowed and he remained limp. Of course the second the vet walks in, his eyes open and he begins looking around, yet did little in the way of moving.
In an event, the vet was visibly concerned about his appearance and in so many words indicated that given the several years he’s endured his touch-and-go health, the obvious pain he had been in the last few months, even years, and the obvious deterioration of his health - it would be best to humanely euthanize. I’ve never found him in a condition even remotely like this, and I was told with how far gone he was, it’s unlikely we’d be able to bring him back from this state to live comfortably.
He did express that he was undoubtedly uncomfortable, and at that point I had him euthanized, as I’ve seen the continuous struggle he’d ensured for so long due to his MDB (which no matter the amount of treatment did not seem to be getting better in the least). The vet also suggested, having understood that the treatment wasn’t helping that perhaps he had a separate calcium condition that may be the cause of the calcium treatments being ineffective. The way I interpreted this, was that his body may have been rejecting the treatments for one reason or another. There was no conclusive decision as to what exactly caused his sudden condition (as he had been a bit more active the night before).
Things I’ve considered:
- He fell, became stuck and therefore stressed out and worked himself into the state I found him in
- Seizure / stroke (after falling or perhaps before which caused him to fall)
- His MBD alone took over
- Possible infection we weren’t aware of (though no obvious signs of one)
Anyways - would love to get your take on the whole ordeal and curious if anyone has dealt with anything similar to what I came home to on his final day. Thanks & again sorry for the never-ending read.
P.S. - The photo on the toilet was Loki several months ago (didn't have another one that showed him well enough - ignore the toilet) ; The second photo was Loki how I found him at the bottom of his cage.
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I hope Loki rests in peace. I have my own baby named Loki who is 6 months as well. I have no insight on what happened with your cham. Loki is my first chameleon so I haven’t experienced any chameleon deaths. Again so sorry. R.I.P Loki (((
))) Sending you a virtual hug 
