Need advice! Veiled with eyelid growths

Phillips

Phillips

New Member
My chameleon has a problem on her eyes, as seen on the pictures. Two vets have both said they are not abscesses. One suggested putting her under anesthezia but I'm affraid the cham won't be able to handle that. I took her home from the pet store I work at seeing as how she kept getting worse and wasn't getting proper care and nutrition while there. So now she is mine and I want to get her better. Anyone ever seen this before?
Thanks
 

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You need to find a vet that deals with exotics, preferably chameleons. She looks to be in very poor condition. Those eyes look terrible. Is she eating and drinking?
I wonder if she is able to see enough to even eat? And her casque looks rather sunken.
I would suggest a complete check up ASAP.
Where are you located?
 
Hi welcome to the forum. Those eyes dont look good. It sounds as if She is in a better place now with you. Could you copy and paste the how to ask for help page at the begining of the health section so we can see if we can advise you. Please be specific about brand names:)
 
The vets I saw did deal with exotics, and both had experience with chameleons. She can't see to eat, but I have been successful in hand feeding her every morning and night. I mist her a few times daily and make sure to hit tip of nose so she can get water that way. There is also dripping water and I saw her go towards it and drink, I think she has just memorized where it drips from.
I'm outside of the lexington, ky area. The owner of the pet store (who has vet experience) took off one of the bumps (she told me this the other day) and said if it didn't come back to bring the cham in and she would take off the others. Is that a good idea?
 
That looks like a really bad infection.

Did you vet give you any antibiotics, orally or drops to put in the eyes?
 
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Female Veiled, not sure of age, at pet store when i started 4 weeks ago and is in my care as of 3 days ago.
Handling - Only when I have to (warm baths for skin, she wasn't shedding properly)
Feeding - gut loaded crickets twice a day (about 3-5) and occasional mealworm.
Supplements - I think its Zilla gut-loading food for crickets
Watering - She is drinking. Drip system set up that falls on leaves, mist minimum 2 times daily enough to get enclosure wet. I use warm water for misting, she seems to like it better.
Fecal Description - Not been tested. One dropping in there when I took her home, appeared normal.
History - Was not getting proper care from pet store. Misting, food, water dripping was all done wrong. In the wrong enclosure for a time too (all glass aquarium with frogs and geckos).

Cage Info:
Cage Type - All screen enclosure, not very big, but enough to provide temperature differences.
Lighting - 12 hr on/off fluorescent and 24 hr heat bulb at top of enclosure. Not sure the brands right now, sorry. I'm away from home at this time. Maybe ZooMed or Zilla?
Temperature - I'll test when I get home. Top of cage near bulb is around 90F.
Humidity - Need help here. All screen cage doesn't do well holding humidity. I mist as often as I can.
Plants - No live plants at this time.
Placement - Located at back of bedroom away from high traffic. top of cage maybe 6.5 ft high.
Location - Outside Lexington, Ky in Nicholasville.
 
Phillips said:
No eye drops, but did get pain medicine and Carnivore Care for nutritional supplement to be given orally.
Click to expand...

yea, those things arnt going to help much. that looks like a severe eye/sinus infeciton, which NEEDs antibiotics.

i would talk to your vet agian, or find another vet.
 
We are looking for another vet, we have heard bad things from the one we went to. the Carnivore care was just for her malnutrition. Where she can't see, she was not able to hunt the crickets and no one would hand feed her. So she is real skinny right now.
 
Phillips said:
We are looking for another vet, we have heard bad things from the one we went to. the Carnivore care was just for her malnutrition. Where she can't see, she was not able to hunt the crickets and no one would hand feed her. So she is real skinny right now.
Click to expand...

good idea.

yea that looks really bad, baytril is a general antibiotic, but a vet will probably have to do a culture to dtermine which antibiotic will work best for the type of infection it is.

does she hand feed, drink water?
 
Oh my...that looks just awful! I've never seen chameleon eyes that look that bad. It could definitely be a severe infection as camimom said, but I'm worried it may be some kind of growth, like cancer. If the lumps are in a position where they can be removed without damaging the underlying eyeball then you should have a vet (not the pet store person) remove one with proper analgesia and send in to have it biopsied to determine what it is. They would be able to tell if it was cancer, just benign growth, or a deep abscess. I sent in a few lumps on one of my chameleons recently to determine what it was. As I'm a vet he was fully anesthetized so he didn't feel any pain from cutting them off. Otherwise you're just shooting in the dark for what it may be and won't know how to treat it. If they are related to sinus infection then surgery will probably be needed anyway to clean out some of the pus since reptiles make very thick pus that antibiotics alone often can't get rid of - it has to be scooped out.

Does it seem painful to her? I can't imagine that it's not just looking at the pictures. A blind chameleon may be able to have decent quality of life without some help (and it sounds like you're the perfect person for the job so far!), but if she is in pain then I would have to suggest that you consider humane euthanasia. Living with constant pain is just no way to live, even if she is being sustained with enough food and water. But if she seems comfortable then it would be worth it to try to figure out what's causing it and if it can be treated!

I just can't see how the underlying eye structures are still intact and functional, but sometimes reptiles surprise us like that. I have a box turtle that just had a fleshy pit for an eyeball for 2 years - I was positive the eyeball was gone - and then one day her eye just popped up in the socket and was perfectly normal!

Thank you for taking her in and trying to get her the care she definitely needs! That was really great of you!
 
What are some of the signs that she is in pain? I'm not sure what to look for, and as sad as it would be to euthanize her, I'd hate to see her live in pain.
 
It can be hard to tell if they're in pain since reptiles hide it so much better than mammals do. Things that I'd be looking for - lots of eye movement, like if she's trying to blink or squeeze her eyes in, staying in the same place without moving much for most of the time, or conversely frantically running around the cage, not eating or drinking well, or anything else that you think might be interpreted as pain. If she seems comfortable - moving around like normal, eating well, drinking well, not much eye movement - then maybe try to give her a chance and see how she does for some diagnostics.
 
Thank you everyone for your help! She is my first chameleon, so some things like 'normal movement' does not mean too much to me. She moves positions, but does stay in on place for a long time. Do they usually move around a lot? She eats twice a day and I see her drinking. So maybe there is not much pain. I will pay more attention to her eyes.
 
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