Poor Toby has a lump on his face

[Miss Lily]

Hi all! I noticed at the weekend that Toby has a swelling between his nostril and eye on the left side of his face. He hasn't been eating as much the last few days so I hand fed him yesterday and his aim was off too. This afternoon I had him outside int he sun and when I moved my hand he gaped a bit, so I took the chance to open his mouth so I could look inside and there appears to be a swollen area inside too. This would explain why his aim is off and I did notice that it takes him a while to chew too. It's only happened over the last week or so as photos I took at the end of March look completely normal.

I am hoping to get him to the vets tomorrow for 'open surgery' as there are no appointments left until the end of next week, which sucks. The reptile vet we see is only there for open surgeries on Tues and Fri at 5pm. I hate this part of cham ownership, as from experience, once they need to see the vet, it's the beginning of the end. He's only small still - he was a year old on 15th Feb. I haven't even had him a whole year yet.

 

[Miss Lily]

I managed to lift his swollen lip a little when I brought him back in from outside, and it looks like there is pus there too on his gum.

 

[MelissaB]

Poor little guy. Hopefully the reptile vet can see him, soon.

 

[Lathis]

Poor little Toby. He definitely has something nasty in there. Best of luck at the vet - hopefully they get it all cleaned out and get him some antibiotics.

 

[kinyonga]

Definitely needs to see a vet to have it cleaned out and a culture and sensitivity test done to determine which antibiotic is needed to get rid of it. So sorry for the poor little guy.

 

[Miss Lily]

Our vet isn't a chameleon specialist and I always feel that he should tell me what needs to be done rather than me go in and say I want this, this and this doing. I guess I'll see how it goes and what he suggests, which will probably be Baytril.

 

[Miss Lily]

Took Toby in to see our rep vet today as I saw pus around his teeth/gum this afternoon. The vet looked in his mouth and pressed on the swelling, which forced some pus out inside his mouth. The vet took the sample to send it off for testing and gave him an antibiotic injection. Safe to say that Toby isn't the vet's biggest fan - he struggled to get free and ran up my arm with his mouth gaping wide and hissing really loud! I have to wipe diluted tamodine on the area in his mouth once a day and go back for a check up on Monday evening. The antibiotic wasn't baytril, he did say but I don't remember what he said.

 

[carol5208]

Oh my gosh, I was just admiring him the other day in the pictures you took. Always something with these guys it seems. I have been having a problem with my chameleon Boomer's eye. I have had him to the vet twice already. Very frustrating. Good luck with everything!

 

[laurie]

Tiff did the vet not clean all of it out? I know nothing about this type issue but I would have thought it would all need cleaned out right away. I am hoping for Toby to be alright.

 

[OldChamKeeper]

Your vet seems to be in the "ignorant" category. Any chance you can find a real one for reptiles or at least birds.


Ming has had a bone infection for over a year, a combination of the right Herp vet and a old angry experienced cham keeper has kept him going.

It needs to be cleaned out if possible, infections in the upper mouth and nasal areas are not easy to get to.

daily antibiotics are a must as well, oral is better over the injections.

 

[Miss Lily]

The vet cleaned out what he could. Needless to say, Toby wasn't very cooperative! My vet is the one to see for reptiles here on the small Island where I live. There are only a couple of other options, one of which I wouldn't trust with chameleons again after my experiences with my first Veiled girl.

I have put the tamodine on this morning and tried to wipe away any pus, but there was nothing to wipe away. He seems more active today, which is good. We are going back on Monday anyway, but until we get results on the sample (he sent off all he managed to remove from Toby's mouth), I guess we don't know what we are dealing with.

It is very similar to what went on with Monty's mouth, except the lump/tissue look a bit different. Monty's mouth problem can be seen here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/mouth-issue-monty-125844/ Actually, looking back at that, whatever is going on with Toby looks very familiar!