paraplegic jackson

[luckystrike7785]

I have a male jacksons, that I purchased from craigslist. He seemed healthy although a bit skinny. I saw his previous enclosure, and figured i was doing the guy a favor as he was in a 10 gal glass tank. He is now in a 24x18x18 screen cage. he has all the proper lighting. his ambient cage temp hovers just around 75. Other than strange large bumps along his spine, he has been doing very well. about a week ago he slowly stopped using his back legs. they just dangle. I took him to a vet who sees my veiled cham. The vet could find no parasites, and no bacterial isssues in his tests. he said the bones feel good, and the cham is showing healthy signs, minus the limp legs. he gave me antibiotic shots as a long shot, but didnt think the cham would make it. This was 4 days ago. he shows no signs of being ill or suffering, and seems to still cruise the cage, but only using his front legs. He does still eat and drink, though its become more difficult to do without some assistance...is this kind of life humane for him? should his cage be modified so he cant fall as far? im really unsure what the right thing to do here is.

 

[dominicthechameleon]

I have a male jacksons, that I purchased from craigslist. He seemed healthy although a bit skinny. I saw his previous enclosure, and figured i was doing the guy a favor as he was in a 10 gal glass tank. He is now in a 24x18x18 screen cage. he has all the proper lighting. his ambient cage temp hovers just around 75. Other than strange large bumps along his spine, he has been doing very well. about a week ago he slowly stopped using his back legs. they just dangle. I took him to a vet who sees my veiled cham. The vet could find no parasites, and no bacterial isssues in his tests. he said the bones feel good, and the cham is showing healthy signs, minus the limp legs. he gave me antibiotic shots as a long shot, but didnt think the cham would make it. This was 4 days ago. he shows no signs of being ill or suffering, and seems to still cruise the cage, but only using his front legs. He does still eat and drink, though its become more difficult to do without some assistance...is this kind of life humane for him? should his cage be modified so he cant fall as far? im really unsure what the right thing to do here is.

You should try posting a picture dude.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Welcome to the forums! Sounds like the poor guy was in a bad way with his previous owner. What are these bumps along his spine? Could you post a picture of him?

 

[Trillian]

Check out Trooper Twister's story by HolyToledo, you could get some good ideas.

 

[luckystrike7785]

This is him hanging

 

[luckystrike7785]

Close up...his spine does seem to be looking more twisted than it was a few days ago....the vets final thoughts were that the bumps were parasites that migrated into the spine, but he was unable to get any evidence from trying to get a culture from a bump

 

[carol5208]

has he pooped at all? I remember there was a chameleon a ways back that was impacted and could not poop and it affected its back legs

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Hmm, does look like he has a spinal deformity. As to what caused it, hard to say. Could be poor care, injury, etc. Without actually opening one of those bumps it's hard to say what those are too. Could be infection, could be parasite, could be bony proliferation. Too hard to guess without more diagnostics. Like Carol mentioned there is worry about the internal structures being affected by the deformity. If he is otherwise eating, drinking, pooping and getting around well enough to bask and move lower to thermoregulate then I don't think it is inhumane to keep supporting him as long as you feel he is comfortable. The problem is those dangly back legs are going to be dragged around, over his branches, the screen and whatever else is in his cage. Eventually he might rub them raw and then if he gets open wounds or sores from that you can have complications like secondary infection, necrosis, etc. If his legs become damaged because he can't use them then you'll have a decision to make about his quality of life. If he ever seems painful, can't poop, stops eating, etc then same discussion. I would see how he does for now to guage his activity level and ability to compensate for his condition. Now without knowing what caused it to begin with there is always the possibility it could get worse or spread to other parts. Can't really say how likely that is without a better idea of what's going on internally unfortunately.