Panther cham not eating

[HarleyGirl]

so for my female cham, Peach, how often should i dust her food with my calcium with D3?

 

[jannb]

so for my female cham, Peach, how often should i dust her food with my calcium with D3?

Twice a month. I hope all goes well at the vet today.

 

[HarleyGirl]

Twice a month. I hope all goes well at the vet today.

thanks. i'm glad i have this kind of support

 

[HarleyGirl]

If you're still having trouble with humidity, you can wrap a towel around the cage. Another trick I discovered is that if your cham is in a room near a bathroom with a shower, run the shower for a bit with the door open and the fan (if it has one) off. My bedroom is right next to the bathroom and for some bizarre reason, the bathroom does not have a fan. So I usually leave the door open a little to air the bathroom out when I take a shower. It raises the humidity a lot in my bedroom. I had to run out and buy a humidifier because 30% humidity was killing me and my chams and even with that it seems dry in here. Other ways I've been told to raise humidity is to boil a pot of water, but that won't help unless he's near the kitchen.

You could try giving him some pedialyte to see if that helps hydrate him, but I would maybe wait to see what the vet says. If the vet suggests it, they'll tell you exactly how much to give him. Good luck with your little guy!

do you mean children's pedialyte? that's ok to give chameleons? i'm bringing him now, so i will wait to see what the vet says, but I have given him polytonine-A in the past...it's usually for chickens, but I was told it's a good electrolyte for my female when she needs to hydrate during clutch time

 

[pssh]

I hope the vet can help him. Mine was a veiled. He was impacted the month before he died, but I don't know if that had anything to do with it. I knew he was getting old, but one day he was too weak to stay up in his tree so I rigged up a small hammock for him and set him on it to sleep. He never woke up, but at least he died up in his tree. That was earlier this year.

 

[jannb]

do you mean children's pedialyte? that's ok to give chameleons? i'm bringing him now, so i will wait to see what the vet says, but I have given him polytonine-A in the past...it's usually for chickens, but I was told it's a good electrolyte for my female when she needs to hydrate during clutch time

Yes, pedialyte just like you give babies.....mix it 50/50 with water.

 

[HarleyGirl]

I hope the vet can help him. Mine was a veiled. He was impacted the month before he died, but I don't know if that had anything to do with it. I knew he was getting old, but one day he was too weak to stay up in his tree so I rigged up a small hammock for him and set him on it to sleep. He never woke up, but at least he died up in his tree. That was earlier this year.

sorry you had to lose your little guy

 

[HarleyGirl]

Yes, pedialyte just like you give babies.....mix it 50/50 with water.

is that only in this instance? or whenever they need rehydration?

what would it mean if his belly feels liquidy or possibly full of mucus...ChromaChameleon asked me if he had this symptom...what would it mean if he did?

 

[HarleyGirl]

I am at the vet now and because he has been losing weight slowly over a period of time, she thinks he may have cancer

 

[HarleyGirl]

I think the reason this chameleon is so dear to me in particular is bc his birthday is the same birthday as my uncle who passed away from cancer, and now Picasso may have cancer as well--talk about ironic! It's heartbreaking to feel helpless

 

[jannb]

Will the vet run test?

 

[HarleyGirl]

Will the vet run test?

yes...there were 2 options...hospitalize for two days...or supportive care and bring him back tomorrow.
The problem is that she said he looks really bad and if I hospitalize it's REALLY expensive and then what if I'm not there if something happens to him? So she took blood work and gave him a wellness screening and an injection to rehydrate him and give him vitamins. She says it's also harder for them to fight it at such an old age, since the reason why he probably got a problem in the first place is because he is older. When she said that, it's making me lose hope... if it is cancer or liver problems, then how can he possibly fight it? She also said an xray won't do much unless it's something really easy to detect, otherwise it's hard to see anything...so really cancer in general is pretty difficult to detect until it's too late. How does a cham get cancer in the first place? Is it a natural occurence?

 

[eisentrauti]

As I told you, the vet can't do anything

 

[HarleyGirl]

As I told you, the vet can't do anything

i guess that i felt the need to try at least. if it is cancer then there was nothing i could have done anyways

 

[OOOst16]

well im sad to hear that....it is truley his time to go. and theres nothign rong with that everything passes. im glad you gave him a good life

 

[HarleyGirl]

is it common for chams to get cancer?
i know all pets can get it, but wow even in chams? do you think they just develop it naturally or did he develop it from something in the environment?

 

[HarleyGirl]

picasso is now sleeping. He's still on his favourite spot on his branch.
here he is from today...

the thing that worries me is the area around his mouth getting darker...the vet said he may have a bit of jaundice in his mouth because it is probably his liver that is failing. I wish there was something I could have done, but it went undetectable until now. I even had him at the vet about a month and a half ago and they didn't even find anything at that time.

 

[jannb]

I am sorry to hear that the vet visit was not good. I have had dogs and cats both die of cancer. I have seen other chams on here with it. Dave Weldon lost one to cancer not long ago. Keep him hydrated and eating and happy for as long as you can. I'll be thinking of you and Pisacco.

 

[Carlton]

It isn't impossible for chameleons to get parasites from feeders that are NOT wild caught. Do you buy your feeders from a pet store? I'm asking this because one of my females got parasites from the crickets I got at a dirty local pet shop once.

Parasites are so common in insects any cham can get them from cultivated feeders from most sources. Parasites can become a health issue IF the cham is trying to handle another health problem in addition to a parasite load. There are probably no captive chams who are parasite free and really, they don't need to be.

 

[Carlton]

i guess that i felt the need to try at least. if it is cancer then there was nothing i could have done anyways

Sure, most living organisms can develop a cancer with very very few exceptions. Animals that live to older ages are more prone to it (if you think about cancer as a cellular misprint or error. The templates for cell division get old and worn). Most cham species don't live to this age in the wild. In captivity more are living past what might be a "natural" age and we may see more cancers.