Three dead chameleons, and the value of necropsies

Dr O

Veterinarian
Fair warning—this is a somewhat lengthy musing on facts vs. guesses, my own experiences as of late and in the past, and the usefulness of one of the most powerful but grossly underused diagnostic tools in reptile medicine. there are some included photos near the end that may be uncomfortable for some to view.



i've had a bad week. losing a chameleon is difficult enough, losing three is much worse than 3x normal difficulty. and being a veterinarian comes with it's own conscience unto itself; one that can bring me peace when things go right and sick animals become healthy, but one that also has the ability to tear you apart if you listen to it too much when things go wrong. most vets that i know have a fairly high degree of perfectionism built into our psyches, and if an animal turns towards the worse or dies we can beat ourselves senseless thinking about what we may have been able to do better or differently for a better outcome. most of the time we realize that we did our best and the end result was unavoidable, but that doesn't necessarily make the agonizing phase any less painful as it occurs. here's one of my little husbandry secrets: whenever a new chameleon or pet joins our family, i find a quiet moment, look that lizard in the eye and promise to do my absolute best to make his or her life as comfortable and healthy as i possibly can.

so i was rattled to say the least for the past few days. even to the point where the day after #3, i was making excuses to do anything but to go out to my enclosure and take care of my gang. i just didn't think i could handle another loss, and my imagination was even worse, telling me that i was going to find several dead that day, not even one. because if that was the case than my previous answers that i found during necropsies would have been wrong, and that would mean that I was doing something wrong. and that's just something that i cannot abide when it comes to my own pets. thankfully everyone else still is thriving, to the point where i was even able to separate some recent hatchlings as a subset are just growing like wildfire. time heals, and a few days later i find myself needing to share and educate.

there have been untold instances in the forum where something goes badly for someone, and they may place blame. on lighting wattage, a brand of supplementation, someone burned a Teflon pan, their new generic water filterer, the stars being misaligned, whatever. and that may be human nature. however sometimes that blame intensifies and continues to the point where the person may feel the need to turn others away from what they felt was dangerous, and they feel like they are accomplishing something by doing so. and that's 100% fine (in my book) when the blame is accurate, of course we need to get the word out and warn others before they go through the same pain! but i see too many instances where that blame appears unfounded, random, unjust, and maybe just incorrect altogether. as someone trained in scientific methodology, that seems wrong to me, and even dangerous under certain circumstances.

so what can i do for this dead lizard that i promised i would take care of? or the others that are still alive but depending on me? and what can i do to help myself through my own grieving process? in this particular circumstance, the answer is.....to find the answer. and that is done by necropsy.

auto- is from the Greek word autos, meaning self. so an autopsy is performed on ourselves as a species, and necropsy is the post-mortem examination of another species. the basic point of these diagnostic tools is to give answers as to why a death occurred. doesn't that method seem the logical choice for an answer, and to see where blame may lie? as blame has somewhat of a negative connotation, let's replace it with accountability. i needed to know if i was accountable for the deaths of so many adult chameleons so suddenly. i have done as many necropsies in my career as i possibly could; there is no better learning tool than to be able to look through the body's organs and systems, macroscopically and microscopically to have as pure an understanding of normal vs. disease states as is possible. i don't care how many x-rays we take, MRI's, ultrasounds. they are all useful tools each with their own advantages and disadvantages to try and see inside the body, but to have eyes and hands on and in the body just beats all. and a textbook description or photograph of let's say a liver with chirrosis just doesn't give 10% of what it is like to see that liver, handle it, look at the destruction of the cells under the microscope, feel the scar tissue in your fingertips. in practice it became one of my employees favorite things to see. not for gore, but they too found that everything that they ever heard me discussing with a patient or doctor was now right there in front of them, they learned something, and felt better about themselves for doing so. and i have never come away from a necropsy without seeing something different, or maybe even something the same that helped reinforce what i already knew. it is a powerful, powerful tool to find an answer, and to help others in the future that may have a similar problem.

so i did necropsies on the three chams that i lost. had i not, i would still be wondering about untold circumstantial issues that in the end had no relation whatsoever to the deaths. and that right there is probably my main hope for this post: that others consider having necropsies done more often by a competent veterinarian when the cause of death is unclear. there's only two other options i can see that person doing otherwise; not changing anything and assuming that they are doing everything correctly already, or changing something or lots of things, possibly to the detriment of the other chameleons who were already doing well. but the main point is that all that would still be a guess when there is yet another option that can give much-needed answers.

female #1 was in the second stage of articular gout formation. she was the first reptile i have ever owned who came down with gout. although we know a fair bit about what causes gout, there is still much more left that is unexplained. additionally, treatment options consist of only trying to slow the progression of the disease as the crystals that have been deposited cannot be removed even with surgery. reptiles in general have a terrible prognosis. what made her case even more difficult is that she was gravid and near-term to laying. but how could she possibly dig a nest if she wasn't even able to grasp a branch anymore due to the pain? discussion with other reptile vets was unanimous; she needed to be euthanized. even then i still nursed this cham (who has bitten me in the past any and every chance she could get) for several more days, using strong medications for her pain and nursing her in other ways until it was evident that she could no longer make it. as i was literally going to draw up the anesthesia for a quick c-section followed by euthanasia solution, she died. i have her eggs, and time will tell. the reason that she developed gout was due to recent dehydration. she just went into a nosedive as her eggs grew, her hormones and metabolism changed, and became anorexic. i have read that articular gout can seemingly pop up almost overnight, and i bear witness to that. everything that was going on compounded by her age as a breeding female (3 1/2 years) and some likely early renal disease caused an enormous shift in her uric acid pathway, and protein crystals precipitated out of her body and into every single joint space that i inspected. other cases of gout that i have seen in practice were typically diet related (e.g.-turtles and iguanas on cat food) and were far worse textbook-wise. but hers popped up just when she needed to dig a nest, and if she couldn't do that, she would have become eggbound and died that way. had this been at any other time i may have been able to alleviate some of her signs and pain, but the medicines that we have take months to work, if they work at all. so it was a lot of things going wrong at the most inopportune moment, but it was also the moment that caused the things to go wrong. there was no winning here.

female #2 was found dead on her cage floor a few days later. she had laid her first clutch 6 weeks ago and just never seemed to recover, even with extra supplements and care. she was by far the smallest chameleon that i have and ideally should have been a pet. she wasn't cut out for breeding. other than the missing fat stores in her body and muscle atrophy, there were no other gross issues noted on necropsy. her death saddens me, as i am the only one who could have changed any of that for her. i failed my promise to her, and won't forget that. the next time something like that happens, she goes to a non-breeding home.

(to be continued)
 
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male #3 is what set me off. i'm sexist when it comes to pardalis, i admit it. if it were not for the magnificent colors and patterns on the males, they would certainly be much less popular as pets or photographic subjects. and i jinxed myself. after #2 died i had the thought, "well, at least i haven't lost a male". i found him dead the next morning still hanging on to the sides of the screen cage with all four feet. and he was perfect before that, growing well (about 9 months old), coloring up beautifully, well muscled, and getting right into that friendly post-adolescent phase. he was out twice in the prior week having photographs taken and seemed content to sit on my hand, curious about things going on around him. no stress colors or behavior. but when i saw him dead on the screen, i just buckled. he was too young, too handsome, everyone that has seen him on the Forum appreciated him.......why??? a truly sudden death in an otherwise healthy animal is usually from one of two things: a toxin or a cardiovascular event. my wife was already getting the creeps that someone was messing with them at night, enough to worry me that sure, maybe some neighborhood kids had done something. so i put my emotions to the side as best as i could, and did my third necropsy of the week. i went through every millimeter of his body, finding healthy healthy healthy. but i saved the heart for last. and sure enough........he had a defect in his heart that i can say in retrospect was there his entire short life. similar to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is an acquired disease in older animals, the muscle walls of his heart was so thick there was essentially no chamber at all to pump blood. the "chamber", if it could be called that, was no thicker than a sewing needle. and i say in retrospect he was born that way because it explains that while he was growing, eating, and coloring normally, he just never wandered his cage at all. my male chams are typically all over the place at any given moment, but he had his one perch that he rarely deviated from. i noticed that behavior early on and mentioned it to my wife several times, but never gave it another thought as everything else seemed to be moving along just perfectly. but now, looking back, that's pretty much you do when you have a bad heart; not much at all. and eventually his body outgrew what little his heart was able to output, and that was that. i'm including a few photos below as this is a rare situation and i would like it on the net for posterity.


this was his heart after i had transected it and visualized the disease, but i placed the two pieces back together for the photo:

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these are two close-ups that allow visualization of a solid core of muscle at the midpoint of the heart, where there should have been an open chamber:

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further dissection again revealed only a minuscule slit that existed, certainly not enough to get by on once body mass exceeds a certain point. i discussed it with my wife and also mentioned that commonly this condition leads to a blood clot which often goes to the brain in sudden death. she knew how much i was hurting and the answers that i was looking for, and encouraged me to dissect down to the brain. i told her it was very unlikely to see anything, but i would look. and lo and behold, upon very gently separating the halves of the brain, i found this black, threadlike discoloration. something that does not belong in any brain, and before it got somewhat roughened up before the photo, i could actually see the vessels branching off of it. in my book, a dark, discolored blood vessel in the brain was likely the clot itself that caused a sudden stroke.



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so the point of this rambling thread; i see a lot of advice and opinions on this forum, but i have yet to see discussion of a necropsy and it's results. i want to show you through my experience that even though i feel bad inside still (but better now, after writing some), i feel much better than i would have had all three died and i had no answers. that would have left me with all sorts of absolutely unanswerable questions, possibly unfounded fears, maybe some anger, and maybe unnecessary changes in my husbandry. but by doing this i have answered my questions, am neither afraid nor angry, and have still learned some valuable lessons that will change how i approach some scenarios in the future. i know that there are many of you out there who have gone through the same types of situations, or may in the future. if you are looking for answers, necropsy is an invaluable tool. if not or you can't stand the thought of your pet on the necropsy table, that's OK too. but then understand where that may lead and the problems that can arise when you ass-u-me. particularly if you try and spread the assumptions as if they are the gospel. it is the wrong thing to do in that situation, imo.


Tips if you feel a necropsy is in order:

• refrigerate the dead animal in a plastic bag, DO NOT FREEZE. freezing destroys the cells as the water inside expands when frozen and ruptures the cell membranes, making many things unidentifiable. particularly true if histopathology is done (tissues sent to a lab for microscopic analysis)

• on this forum we all know the importance of a good reptile vet. this may be a situation where that is even more critical as differences in anatomy or physiology just might not be understood by someone not trained in the field. many times it is even possible to have the body shipped overnight to a better veterinarian or even a state lab (depending on the state).

• even if that is not possible, virtually every single veterinary practice has an account with one or both of the nation's largest pathology labs, Antech and Idexx. and both of those offer necropsy services as well, so even your regular dog or cat vet can probably take in the body and overnight it to the lab. the pathologists at those laboratories are excellent and would specialize in exotic and likely reptile medicine.

• the blunt facts: either do not ask to have the body returned to you and have the doctor properly dispose it, or if you do want it back for burial, don't open the bag. you do not need what you see at that point to be your lasting memory. a true necropsy is not a little peek-a-boo inside. everything will be inspected, and things are not going to be put back together.


as always, my wish is for education in this discussion, and hope that it will help someone, somewhere, at some point.


dr. o—
 
First of all Dr O my condolences on losing three of your beloved chams in one week. I just read your post from beginning to end and want to say thank you. I found it very sad, yet very interesting and informative at the same time. You are a great asset to this forum and we are lucky to have you. I am sure it gave you great comfort in knowing that your male did not die from any error that occured in your husbandry. I have seen all too often on here over the past few years, chameleons just basically dropping dead that were perfectly healthy. Not saying that their cause of death was one in the same as yours, but it is certainly a possibilty. All we can do as keepers is to provide the best care possible, continue to educate ourselves to make improvements, but also be aware that ultimately it is in gods hands so to speak. I thank you again, as I know this post probably took you a very long time to write and again I am sorry for your losses.
 
Its always disappointing when you lose a chameleon, maintaining a healthy animal is hard work. Very good write up, thanks for the information!
 
So sorry Dr O. It's bad enough loosing one let alone three. They say time heals please take that time.:)
 
Dr. O thank you very much for your insights and information. It must have been incredibly difficult for you to do those necropsies, however the fact that you wanted to share with us to help us better understand our little friends is wonderful. I'm so sorry you've had such a rough week, but hopefully next week is better :eek:
 
I'm so sorry to hear that you lost the three, I can't imagine how horrible that has been.

But thank you for the informative thread. It says something I've mentioned a lot on the forum, which is cautioning people from making one cause of death a fact and spreading it around. This truthiness just hurts other keepers. Like the person who watched what they described as their chameleon having a seizure after eating a superworm - therefore, superworms cause seizures and should be avoided completely. Or one person whose chameleon diedafter suddenly getting an RI after misting, thereby making misting dangerous and only drippers should be used. It just drives me nuts - not only does one individual not make a very good sample size for a study (and you know how picky I am about sample sizes!) But you can't prove a fact based on one single experience. So it's true, we should advocate necropsies more often. It's just unfortunate that they're a bit expensive.
 
Great post Dr O, there's some great information we should all consider. Very sorry this info came from such sad circumstances though, best wishes to you and your chams. One question though, what do most vets charge for this service, or how much does the lab charge to do this? I think many would prefer to spend the money upgrading their chams enviornments rather than beating a dead horse so to speak. Again thanks for the great insite into the vets world, i hope all are as dedicated as you.
 
I'm so sorry about your three babies...I couldn't even fathom how that must feel, knowing how it feels when you lose just one even..

Thank you for this thread, it was very informative, and I have always wondered what goes on in their little bodies.

Is hypertorphic cardiomyopathy the same in humans as it is in animals? I ask because my mom has it, and I've never fully understood it, even with hours of research.

Again, I am truly sorry for your losses.
 
So sorry for your loss.

I think your thread is a great reminder on how fragile and specialized Chams are. I think we still know far too little on husbandry to sustain them successfully. How do we compensate their natural variety on feeders? Does the variety have an impact on their development? How do we mimic their environment and does this play a crucial role for them to thrive?

I sometimes think they are not made to be pets. Like the Madagascar palm which does not bloom anywhere in the world, even if all the settings are exactly the same as home.
 
Sorry about your loss Dr. O atleast you can feel that you are doing everything in your power for your guys. also I really appreciate the write up and photos very informational.
 
I am so sorry for your losses. Is there a chance any of these health issues could be hereditary? Just wandering how often any of these are occurring. I am new to Chams and just researching before my cham comes home in the next week or so, so not found much on any kind of standards. Or if there has even been enough study to have any? Again sorry for your loss. And thank you for the information.
 
Wow what a great read. Im so apprechiateive for you in sharing your knowledge throught you recent losses, and giving us a little peek into your personal feelings, traits and care.
I am truely sorry for your loss and know how it feels. the info and insight you are able to accuire and share is invaluable and very much apprechiated.
Thank You R.I.P lil ones
 
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