Rescued Ambilobe

[danielle609]

So on Monday I get a call from a manager at the local pet store my sister works at. (He knows that I work with chams) He goes " Hey some customer just dropped off a beautiful male panther chameleon with an eye problem. He doesn't want to put anymore money into it, you want him?" So me being the person I am said 'give me 20 I'll be there!" So I get there and there is an amazing ambilobe panther. So even though it was obvious he needs help I decided to adopt him...the manager just gave him to me so it isn't like I am going to say no.

So I get back and set up a temporary cage for him and call my vet. I set up an appt. for him this morning. On Monday he wasn't opening either eyes and now his right one is open most of the time..I have been giving him showers the last 2 days. But the vet said he definitely has a pretty bad eye infection, and he also thinks he has a vitamin A deficiency. But other than that he said everything looks good. He looked at his corneas and said they didn't look good, but he thinks it may not be permanent. The vet wasn't able to do a culture because there wasn't any exudate coming from his eye at the time, so for now he is on a very wide-spectrum topical antibiotic (tobramycin) 3 times a day, and I have a re-check on Monday to see if that will help anything. He also gave him a sub-Q injection of Vitamin A. It was just a very small amount and he said that vitamin A is extremely important to the health of a chameleons eyes. I have heard horror stories of vit. A killing chams when injected, but I trust the knowledge of my vet.

This is the history that I was given of my new cham from the pet store manager.... His name is Eho, his father is Diablo from Screameleons, he is about 2 years old, his previous owner had taken him to the vet, but wasn't financially able to keep up with it. He is currently eating, but the cricket needs to be put into his mouth. I have not seen him drink on his own, but he has been given plenty of water through showers/drippers and I have also been given him a little bit of plain pedialyte just to make sure he is hydrated. I currently have a screen cage ordered through LLL, but until then the only cage I had was a 20 gallon, but he will be out of there by tomorrow, and I make sure that there is no standing water.


I am posting some pictures below. Any thoughts/ comments would be greatly appreciated. Do you think he should be able to make a recovery??

 

[christyo2o2]

Well i dont know anything about eye problems in Chams because i have never experiencedit. But i do want to say it was very kind hearted of you to take him in and give him the care that he needs and i wish you the best of luck. I hope he makes a full recovery!

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

He's a knockout. I would say it is fortunate for both of you that you found each other. In my short experience, the panther chams seem to really appreciate it when someone begins to take good care of them. He will probably be a good little buddy for you.

 

[danielle609]

Thank you christyo2o2. I hope he also makes a full recovery. Fortunatley my other male cham has had an eye infection before, so I do know at least the basics, I just hope it is enough! But if I wouldn't have taken him in one of the workers wanted to try and "operate" on his eye...so I really didn't have an option, I had to take him.

 

[Sporkthedork]

He's a knockout. I would say it is fortunate for both of you that you found each other. In my short experience, the panther chams seem to really appreciate it when someone begins to take good care of them. He will probably be a good little buddy for you.

Couldn't agree more. I would like to give kudos for both the original owner and store manager for giving up the animal to someone who could when they couldn't.

 

[nightcrawler]

if I wouldn't have taken him in one of the workers wanted to try and "operate" on his eye...so I really didn't have an option, I had to take him.

that is horrible, im glad you took him in.
watch he will make a full recovery and look even better after he is healthy,
and you would of got him for cheeper then you would, plus you saved
his life so that adds more to the value of him.

i hope it goes well.

 

[FOREVER ENDEAVOR]

good looking dude. good luck with the infection recovery. you have a big heart.

 

[danielle609]

Thanks for all of the replys! I do agree 100% with all of you, I give the guy props for knowing when he couldn't give it the help it needed. I see many people just letting their animals liger until they die not even attempting to take them to the vet, not only did he take him to the vet, but he also realized on top of that he wasn't going to be able to keep him alive. I just pray that he makes it through this, he is an amazing animal...not the nicest but who would be when your eyes hurt that bad! But I will keep you all updated! Thanks again! Feel free to leave more comments and let me know if you have any tips for me!! He has a 24 by 24 by 48 cage coming, he should be fine in that large of a cage right?

 

[Vibrant Chameleons]

Thanks for all of the replys! I do agree 100% with all of you, I give the guy props for knowing when he couldn't give it the help it needed. I see many people just letting their animals liger until they die not even attempting to take them to the vet, not only did he take him to the vet, but he also realized on top of that he wasn't going to be able to keep him alive. I just pray that he makes it through this, he is an amazing animal...not the nicest but who would be when your eyes hurt that bad! But I will keep you all updated! Thanks again! Feel free to leave more comments and let me know if you have any tips for me!! He has a 24 by 24 by 48 cage coming, he should be fine in that large of a cage right?

He'll probably wanna hump your leg for giving him a wonderful large home!

 

[chamlover]

What a beautiful guy. I can't wait to see what he looks like when he is healthy. He just might hump you. lol. Good for you taking him in and being smart enough to immediately take him to the vets. I'm sure things will work out well. I have never had any eye problems either so i can't help you there, but from all the reading i've done if that is the only problem he should recover, as long as he doesn't have any permanant damage done already. But even if he does, if he accepts crickets from you, it should all be good.

Good luck and keep us updated,
Debby

 

[danielle609]

He'll probably wanna hump your leg for giving him a wonderful large home!

LOL...hopefully he comes up with a better way to say thank you

 

[danielle609]

Thanks Chamlover. I think as long as we can get him through this eye infection he should be okay even if there is permanent eye damage because of the fact that he does hand feed. So we will see, I just put more eye drops in and in an hour or so he will have one of his daily showers... I will keep you all posted!

 

[danielle609]

Another Vet visit

So I just got back from another vet appointment. He isn't thrilled with his recovery so Tomorrow he has another appointment where he is going to lightly sedate him, and put some special solution in his eyes to see how damaged his corneas are. He wants to use steriods in his eyes, but says he will only use them if the corneas are intact. He is also going to do a gram stain/ culture to see if there is still an infection and what kind of bacteria. Other than his eyes the vet says that he is in great condition, but he may be blind for the rest of his life. I asked him if that would warrent him to be put to sleep, but he said no, he would be perfectly fine, just lazy because I would have to feed him. So that is where we are at with him. So far I have spent $110 and tomorrow will be another $160. I really can't afford it, but I would feel too bad if I just let him go. I just hope no one else brings in a rescue cham anytime soon because I really dont have the ability to say no

 

[CarolenRunsen]

Wow, He sertianly is a stunning guy, not sure if i would be able to commit that kind of money, no matter how much i love them (we people have to survive too). i sure hope he recovers and doesn't have to live blind for the rest of his life.
The best of luck to the both of you!

 

[danielle609]

Wow, He sertianly is a stunning guy, not sure if i would be able to commit that kind of money, no matter how much i love them (we people have to survive too). i sure hope he recovers and doesn't have to live blind for the rest of his life.
The best of luck to the both of you!

Thanks! I normally wouldn't want to spend that much...but I did so that just means less presesnts for me...I guess I will live. I just graduated last week from college so I got a nice chunk of change from my grand parents..which is now all gone

 

[CarolenRunsen]

Wow, you sure do love your animals. I graduated colledge about 4 months ago, was hoping to get another chameleon now that i'm making a bit more money. Too bad my roomate sqrewed me for rent, so thats no longer an option.
Oh well one day...