Puffy eyes

[Bernie]

Hi all.

I noticed a couple of weeks back that my Veiled Cham had puffy eyes. I checked him again soon after they were back to normal so I assumed he was maybe cleaning them.

I have checked on him just in his cage and both of his eyes appear to have puffed up again.

I haven't made any changes so I don't think this is an allergic reaction.

Could this be the start of a problem, or related to an underlying issue that I am not yet aware of?

If so, what problems could cause these symptoms?

Thanks.

 

[Lovereps]

It could be the start of a problem.
With my chams, persistently puffy eyes have been caused by vitamin A deficiency, infection or both.
Tempting as it might be to dose him with vitamin A yourself, excessive vitamin A can be toxic/fatal so it is safest to have a good cham vet administer it.
My chams' vet administers it via injection, since he wants the dosage to be precise.
None of us ever want to hear it but it might be wise to have a competent cham vet take a look at your cham (unless it was just a temporary puffiness from eye cleaning).

 

[Zach Valois]

It could be the start of a problem.
With my chams, persistently puffy eyes have been caused by vitamin A deficiency, infection or both.

Not to trying to call you out in any way here, just curious on how you know it is a case of hypovitamintosis A or [internal] infection?

I have been speaking with another vet, and she says that the only sure way to know if a chameleon is Vit a deficient is to do a necropsy and assess the condition of the liver.

 

[Bernie]

This morning his eyes are perfectly normal. I think I'm going to monitor this more closely

 

[Lovereps]

Not to trying to call you out in any way here, just curious on how you know it is a case of hypovitamintosis A or [internal] infection?

I have been speaking with another vet, and she says that the only sure way to know if a chameleon is Vit a deficient is to do a necropsy and assess the condition of the liver.

Zach, you'll notice that my advice was to see a vet if the problem persisted AND included a caveat about vitamin A.
The infections and vitamin A deficiencies were diagnosed by the chams' vet--not by me.
My pets are dear to me so, while I've read enough on cham health, husbandry, etc. to have been correct in making educated guesses as to what ailments my chams have had--I leave it up to the vet to make diagnoses and prescribe treatments.
For all I know (I'm not a vet) your vet may or may not be correct in that an absolute determination of vitamin A levels can only be made via a necropsy or liver biopsy--but I doubt that any vet would biopsy a cham's liver instead of administering a safe dose of vitamin A and seeing if it had a beneficial effect.

 

[Bernie]

His eyes appear to have puffed up again. This only seems to be happening at night whilst he is asleep.

Has anyone ever experienced this before?