Update on 3/13 post - Jackson's w/Infection & not eating

[benga007]

Happy to report that yesterday I was able to get 1 cricket into him and this morning he took 3 crickets by himself the usual way, off my hand. He's more active too.

So, w/that problem solved there is still the issue of giving him his med (baytril) to clear up the infection since I'm sure that was what was causing the problem. Has anyone had a similar experience when medicating their cham....where they totally go off their food, turn very dark and are very lethargic? He was drinking a lot the whole time.

Reading one of the other recent posts, I saw that meds are hard on the kidneys and it sounded like they can cause dehydration (and a dehydrated cham doesn't usually want to eat). Mine didn't seem dehydrated, urate was white, tho a couple of days ago there was white, w/a tiny bit of orange and then brown. Any advice? My vet just wants me to continue w/the antibiotic (and I understand the importance of that) but my cham also needs to eat and I can't imagine it would be good to have to force feed him for 10 days!

Thanks.

 

[xeonic]

Baytril will cause your Chameleon to become lethargic. It does to my Panther right after I give it to him. I give the Baytril by Oral at 5pm. he will be lethargic the rest of the night, in the morning he will be back to his normal self. If your Chameleon is not eating force feeding is difficult by your self. How ever if you my Chameleon stopped eating I would find a way to force feed. It is also good to keep your chameleon hydrated. I used Pedialyte to keep him hydrated, given orally by syringe.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/ataraxia/454-dehydration-solutions-force-fluid-tips.html

Read this blog for tips and chart of how much fluids to give per day. Hope this helps.

good luck.

 

[benga007]

Update on 3/13 post Jackson's w/infection

Thanks....that's really great info on hydration. He's been drinking well and even more when he was on the Baytril (but maybe it wasn't enough?). The problem was how lethargic, dark and not interested in food he was after the Baytril; and it lasted.

Were you giving your cham the baytril in liquid or pill form? Did he stop eating at all?

Right now he's eating, drinking & active. I was giving him Baytril in pill form (a qtr of a pill every other day); I'm thinking of going back to the liquid (.1 ml/day) even tho that was harder to get into him. It takes a lot to get his mouth open. Right now he's on nothing since I wanted to get him eating again, which he is.