mirrinias
Member
(Disclaimer: this is mainly because I thought people would be interested in case the same issue ever happens to their cham. I am not looking for advice or diagnoses, please. Leave that to my vet 
)
Hello,
A while back, I posted about Jean-Luc's appetite being low. It's still lower than it used to be, but he just will NOT eat crickets or dubias.
Anyway, last summer I took him in to the vet because the spikes on his back were black. Turns out he had some stuck shed, and something started living under it (such as a bacteria or fungus). He lost a lot of spikes, but it ended up healing well.
Recently, about two months ago, I began concerned about it again. He had stuck shed that I could not get off without hurting him. Unfortunately, this event coincided with the loss of my job (two weeks out of work) and then, one month later, I was in the hospital for one week, had two surgeries, and missed a total of three weeks of work.
This completely depleted all savings I had to take him to the vet, so please do not hate me for waiting. Sometimes circumstances really are just bad timing and people have no choice -- it's either pay rent and don't get evicted or take cham to the vet. Anyway, I managed to save enough money to take him in.
Two weeks ago, I noticed his knees turning black, but again could not tell there was stuck shed on them, as it was not peeling/did not look like he was shedding there. I thought maybe he'd rubbed them on something. Yesterday, it started peeling and it appeared the same as the issue on his back, prompting me to take him in.
Here he is getting blood drawn from his tail in an adorable little burrito apparatus. The doctor suspects it's a systemic infection manifesting itself in the skin. She sent out a CBC, and he will likely get antibiotics when the results come back tomorrow. In the meantime, I am to grab some chlorhexadine solution and gauze from my own workplace (I'm a vet assistant for a dog/cat clinic), soak his back and knees with it for an hour if possible, and try to remove the stuck shed. To be honest, I'm afraid of doing this because I don't want to hurt him, and I'm sure it'll look nasty and red underneath the shed.
The doctor also recommended a possible solution to his pickiness; silkworms. She said they have the correct calcium/phosphorus ratio for a stand-alone food. I'd love to get Jean-Luc off the superworms and give this a try, since the little jerk won't eat anything I can properly gutload. Also, if he has an infection, I imagine clearing that up will help his appetite too.
The doctor is fairly certain we caught it early enough since Jean-Luc is still bright, feisty, eating, drinking, and pooping. As for the underlying cause of a possible systemic infection? Not sure. The doctor is probably not sure also, but I forgot to ask.
)Hello,
A while back, I posted about Jean-Luc's appetite being low. It's still lower than it used to be, but he just will NOT eat crickets or dubias.
Anyway, last summer I took him in to the vet because the spikes on his back were black. Turns out he had some stuck shed, and something started living under it (such as a bacteria or fungus). He lost a lot of spikes, but it ended up healing well.
Recently, about two months ago, I began concerned about it again. He had stuck shed that I could not get off without hurting him. Unfortunately, this event coincided with the loss of my job (two weeks out of work) and then, one month later, I was in the hospital for one week, had two surgeries, and missed a total of three weeks of work.
This completely depleted all savings I had to take him to the vet, so please do not hate me for waiting. Sometimes circumstances really are just bad timing and people have no choice -- it's either pay rent and don't get evicted or take cham to the vet. Anyway, I managed to save enough money to take him in.
Two weeks ago, I noticed his knees turning black, but again could not tell there was stuck shed on them, as it was not peeling/did not look like he was shedding there. I thought maybe he'd rubbed them on something. Yesterday, it started peeling and it appeared the same as the issue on his back, prompting me to take him in.
Here he is getting blood drawn from his tail in an adorable little burrito apparatus. The doctor suspects it's a systemic infection manifesting itself in the skin. She sent out a CBC, and he will likely get antibiotics when the results come back tomorrow. In the meantime, I am to grab some chlorhexadine solution and gauze from my own workplace (I'm a vet assistant for a dog/cat clinic), soak his back and knees with it for an hour if possible, and try to remove the stuck shed. To be honest, I'm afraid of doing this because I don't want to hurt him, and I'm sure it'll look nasty and red underneath the shed.
The doctor also recommended a possible solution to his pickiness; silkworms. She said they have the correct calcium/phosphorus ratio for a stand-alone food. I'd love to get Jean-Luc off the superworms and give this a try, since the little jerk won't eat anything I can properly gutload. Also, if he has an infection, I imagine clearing that up will help his appetite too.
The doctor is fairly certain we caught it early enough since Jean-Luc is still bright, feisty, eating, drinking, and pooping. As for the underlying cause of a possible systemic infection? Not sure. The doctor is probably not sure also, but I forgot to ask.
