Swollen Hemipenis- some guidance requested

[PardonM3]

Hi, I am new to the forum seeking some advice for a 4 month old Jackson chameleon (male) which was diagnosed with a swollen hemipenis today. Their is no prolapse present, however the vet suggested I give him a dose of vitamin A. Further, she stated that if the vitamin A does not work, then it is probably an infection that would require surgery ( because the pus in a chameleon is not removable by any other means).

My question(s) are: Have you heard that chameleons require surgery when fluid builds up due to an infection?

Question 2: I cannot afford a 600-900$ surgery. What suggestions does anyone have regarding fixing the problem myself. I simply cant afford any operations at this time seeing that my daughter was born 2 weeks ago.

I would rather try and help the chameleon without simply letting it die due to a lack of money if surgery is suggested by the vet.

Thank You!

 

[carol5208]

so did she say 100% there is infection? Can you see any pus present or coming out of his vent? How is Vitamin A going to help a swollen hemipene? Did she expalin what the Vitamin A was supposed to fix??? If an infection was suspected why not prescribe an anitbiotic?

 

[PardonM3]

She is unsure if their is an infection present. Here is an article that may explain the connection to Vitamin A:

http://animal.discovery.com/guides/reptiles/iguanas/vitamina.html

No pus is present at this time.

 

[PardonM3]

No mention of anti-biotics whatsoever.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Can you post a picture of the problem? That sounds a little strange to me just from your description. With a picture maybe we can help you come up with options.

 

[PardonM3]

Pics

Here are some photos. The swelling has gotten a tad worse since the vet opened the area attempting to look if their is a sperm plug issue.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Ah, that does look bad, poor guy. They can get impacted sperm plugs or impacted infections around the hemipene like the vet said. It's probably gotten a little bigger just from irritation to already inflammed tissue. The problem is that reptiles make very caseated, or solid, pus instead of the liquid pus that we are familiar with in mammals. It can be thick like cheese or even rock hard after a while. Because of this antibiotics don't have much of an effect on already abscessed areas because nothing circulates through the harder pus to kill whatever is growing in it. So that's why surgery is often needed for reptiles when they have pus from an infection.

 

[PardonM3]

The price seems really steep. I will wait and see if she thinks that is pus and an infection. If so, I may just need to call around and get a better quote. Thanks for the quick response.

 

[Dr O]

the pricing is ridiculous.

did he poke around in there with a instrument or evert the hemipenes manually? if he did, what did he say he was seeing? if he wants to give vitamin A, fine, but at the least he should be on a disinfectant rinse for his hemipenal pocket and probably systemic antibiotics. even if nothing wound up making it better (doubtful), you would still have a better surgical field than you did prior. and unless you have the father of all champions, just amputating the hemipenes is quick and easy, and if its not both hemipenes he can still breed anyway. major surgery is not called for here.

find another vet.

p.s.–everything ferret wrote is 100% about it being a surgical procedure, but that pricing is just way off base for what it is. did he poke a needle into it or anything?

 

[PardonM3]

She wanted to charge me $150 to poke a needle, attempt to get some fluid, just so it could be sent in to a lab. I felt it was ridiculous to pay that price when she stated the chameleon is probably too small to successfully get fluid anyways.

He is still eating, but I dont think he is defecating. I will call some more vets in the SF area today.

Any other suggestions I should go forward with? I would hate for the little guy to die because of money.

 

[PardonM3]

She did mention attempting to see if she could find any sperm plugs, but none were present. Thats all the probing she did.

 

[PardonM3]

Today, the pus came to the surface through his skin. I got some sanitary tweezers and removed what was present. could this be something that is a good sign? Wasnt this the pus they would have removed during surgery? I would like to clear the area myself today.. just to give him a fighting chance.


Any suggestions on cleaning techniques?

 

[laurie]

Send a pm back to the 2 vets who have been on this thread. They are the best qualified ones to answer that. It sounds like a really good thing to be, but I really know nothing about it. Good Luck.

 

[Dr O]

i would gently squeeze out as much pus and debris as you can, just like a beautiful big zit. you're going to want to flush through the hole in the skin 1-2x daily until it closes. keep it sterile and the body will heal. so you're going to need some flushing syringes (curved tip ones are great and you can trim the end to make the opening larger) a bulb syringe, or some other squirting apparatus that you can clean after every use.

i would do a one time flush with hydrogen peroxide, then put that away and don't use it again. after that, dilute povidone-iodine rinse (not scrub;2x daily) or preferably dilute chlorhexadine rinse (not scrub;1x daily) squirted in the hole in all directions and just let it drip out. depending on the size of the hole that is leaking, a few weeks should probably be as much as you will be able to do before the skin heals over. you should be able to buy all these supplies at a big pharmacy or a hospital supply store.

if something goes wrong, post it/see a vet. post a picture of what it looks like after your first cleaning if you can.

 

[PardonM3]

Thank you so much. I will follow your instructions and post a picture tomorrow.

 

[PardonM3]

The wound is healing well. Also, Samuel is eating, drinking, and pooping. I think he may be okay without spending all that money after all.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Make sure the wound doesn't heal up too quickly. You'll want it to stay open for at least the next week and maybe even longer and clean it like Dr O described. If it heals up too quickly it can abscess all over again because there will still be bacteria trapped in there. Just a disclaimer: without knowing why this happened in the first place there is still a chance that it will need to be cleaned out surgically. Right now we hope you are able to reach all of the infected area from where it opened, but if not then even with good cleanings it may not fully clear up until the source of the infection can be removed. Hopefully that's not the case, but just be aware you might still end up in the same situation down the road. Glad he's feeling well otherwise.

 

[PardonM3]

Thank you! He is completely normal today, so hopefully the infection doesnt re-appear. I will keep an eye out and keep the area washed out.

 

[rsepiphyte]

My, that pricing does seem steep. I would think a simple incision and cleaning out of the infected area wouldn't be that much but i am not in the veterinary field either. I wish you the best of luck, perhaps soaking the area and gently massaging it can break up the infected material inside the pocket? Then some oral antibiotics would help? Ruth

 

[HolyToledo]

Glad to hear that Samuel is doing well and that you got so much helpful advice on here.

It is awesome when the vets on here help out. BUT, take this time to find a reasonable but experienced vet in your area just in case things take a turn for the worse. Dr. O and ferritinmyshoes helped me out a great deal (along with a bunch of other members) but it was also very comforting to have a hands-on vet to take my "special needs" cham to.

Good luck and hopefully after you do find a vet, you won't need to go see them cuz Samuel will stay healthy for you!