Urgent! Chameleon dying or in labour?? **Large photos**

[Malicious]

Good luck Danielle,Keep us posted on the results. When things go bad, they do it in a hurry. I am anxiously waiting for a female Veiled to drop eggs, these animals can be very stressful at times. Actually any animal, it's very hard when they can't tell you whats wrong or where it hurts. There is a ton of valuable information via this forum and it's all at your finger tips. I wish your chameleon the best on pulling through this.

 

[jannb]

Most vets do not spayed because it's very risky and they normally don't survive. Good luck with your girl. Keep us updated.

 

[drewtt]

Hi Danielle,

I wish I had caught this thread at the beginning. I am in Ottawa as well. Check your PMs

-Drew

 

[DanielleLb]

Most vets do not spayed because it's very risky and they normally don't survive. Good luck with your girl. Keep us updated.

Oh...hmm..Well she doesn't need to be spayed anyway, she doesn't have eggs. She just can't move. The vet gave me a few options of what it could be. No eggs on that x-ray

 

[philanddeb818]

Our prayers our with this little girl for her recovery. I can imagine what you've been through, being a student and wanting to help her, having little money.

I couldn't help but wonder if the forum could possibly put together a fund for urgent care. If everyone threw in one dollar, voluntarily and anonymously, and perhaps if we did it on a monthly or even perhaps weekly basis, it would ad up and provide some relief for those in urgent financial need. Perhaps this is something we could speak with Brad about and he could receive the money and allocate it as needed.

 

[kinyonga]

You said.."Don't they eventually die when they are eggbound though??"..if they are left without help/intervention.

You said..."she is not pregnant, no eggs at all"...but are there follicles showing in the xray?

You said..."The vet said it's not true that a veiled female has to lay eggs in her life"...true, I have had female veileds go from the day they were hatched until they died 6+ years later without having ever laid an egg.

You said..."Her liver is very enlarged, he thinks she may have been exposed to something toxic, like in her sand and that is why the liver is so big because the liver is what flushes the toxins out (as is ours ) she might have liver disease"...I think the liver can be enlarged when the follicles are changing into eggs. Can anyone confirm this??

You said..."The vet gave me a few options of what it could be"...just wondering...what options?

Couple of comments just to give you information...the hole you put her in isn't deep enough and when/if she's in "egglaying mode" you shouldn't be handling her, stroking her or letting her see you when she's digging.

Hope she will be okay.

 

[Minihuey]

Hey everyone,
I just got back from the vet. He thought her behaviour was very strange, not good . It's almost like she's paralyzed, her arms and back legs are stiff in place and so are her claws. Only her eyes are moving!

BUT she is not pregnant, no eggs at all. The vet said it's not true that a veiled female has to lay eggs in her life which I had thought, due to what I had found in my research. He said it would almost be easier if she WAS eggbound, because then he would just spade her and she would be okay. It's very mysterious.

Her liver is very enlarged, he thinks she may have been exposed to something toxic, like in her sand and that is why the liver is so big because the liver is what flushes the toxins out (as is ours ) she might have liver disease. Her spine also has some little blobs as he showed me on the x-ray so it could also be a spinal problem-which might explain why she can't move.

He's calling me tomorrow when he gets the blood work back. It cost a lot though, and she may not recover, sucks She's laying limply on her SIDE with her legs and her arms bent in the air, on a blanket under the lamp like he instructed.

Anyone else know of their cham having these problems?

My female just died from this exact same reason. She could be impacted.
After I put her down, I dissected her to figure out what the problem was and her intestines were definitely impacted.

 

[Minihuey]

Oh I was in the same situation you were in a couple weeks ago. College student and chameleons. Tough dilemma. Everyone sorta came down on me to go to the vet but the day I ended up going, the chameleon vet took a day off. I made the decision to put my female down.

I was pretty bummed for a bit but the cow palace reptile show came and now I have two new females. I guess if worse comes to worse then learn from this experience and try again?

 

[ronnie]

How is your girl keeping?

 

[Teresa]

How is your girl today?

 

[DanielleLb]

I just got home from work and found her...she died and I wasn't even there. I am so devastated. Sooo devastated
The vet couldn't help, but maybe it was just her time. She was 4...

 

[DanielleLb]

Our prayers our with this little girl for her recovery. I can imagine what you've been through, being a student and wanting to help her, having little money.

I couldn't help but wonder if the forum could possibly put together a fund for urgent care. If everyone threw in one dollar, voluntarily and anonymously, and perhaps if we did it on a monthly or even perhaps weekly basis, it would ad up and provide some relief for those in urgent financial need. Perhaps this is something we could speak with Brad about and he could receive the money and allocate it as needed.

That is so kind and thoughtful of you, maybe we should do it for the next time someone needs urgent help, I would love to help out a little and do my part since I am working now and have an income.

$260 dollars and they couldn't even help her...and they still haven't called about her blood results which they said they would today, which I still want, because I still want to know what happened-and if it's something that can be prevented for next time. I mean even the vet was stumped by her.

I ran up to check on her and found her lying on her towel under the lights, her body is all saggy and the weirdest pale colour, her eyes closed. I actually poked her and picked her up hoping she would wake up. I miss her already

 

[dondeb562]

aww. I am sorry to read this. At least you did everything you could....

 

[dodolah]

That is so kind and thoughtful of you, maybe we should do it for the next time someone needs urgent help, I would love to help out a little and do my part since I am working now and have an income.

$260 dollars and they couldn't even help her...and they still haven't called about her blood results which they said they would today, which I still want, because I still want to know what happened-and if it's something that can be prevented for next time. I mean even the vet was stumped by her.

I ran up to check on her and found her lying on her towel under the lights, her body is all saggy and the weirdest pale colour, her eyes closed. I actually poked her and picked her up hoping she would wake up. I miss her already

So sorry for your loss.
We can get quite attached to our chameleons.
Please do update on the blood result.

 

[ronnie]

Sorry to hear about your girl XX

 

[DanielleLb]

So sorry for your loss.
We can get quite attached to our chameleons.
Please do update on the blood result.

Yes I was very attached, lots of tears for Princess. I will post again when I find out what was wrong.

 

[DanielleLb]

You said.."Don't they eventually die when they are eggbound though??"..if they are left without help/intervention.

You said..."she is not pregnant, no eggs at all"...but are there follicles showing in the xray?

You said..."The vet said it's not true that a veiled female has to lay eggs in her life"...true, I have had female veileds go from the day they were hatched until they died 6+ years later without having ever laid an egg.

You said..."Her liver is very enlarged, he thinks she may have been exposed to something toxic, like in her sand and that is why the liver is so big because the liver is what flushes the toxins out (as is ours ) she might have liver disease"...I think the liver can be enlarged when the follicles are changing into eggs. Can anyone confirm this??

You said..."The vet gave me a few options of what it could be"...just wondering...what options?

Couple of comments just to give you information...the hole you put her in isn't deep enough and when/if she's in "egglaying mode" you shouldn't be handling her, stroking her or letting her see you when she's digging.

Hope she will be okay.

The options were:
-liver disease/something toxic in her blood. Anything to do with her enlarged liver.
-A spinal disorder which has no treatment-from a bit of build up along some parts of her spine, and would explain her paralysis.

No she didn't have any eggs anywhere. He explained the x-rays to me. She had a few half formed follicles I think closer to her heart but the vet said they were nothing and old, she wasn't eggbound. She couldn't move. We literally had her on a folded up towel near her lamps, she was on her side with one half lying on the towel, only one eye exposed, her arms and legs were frozen in mid-air.

I really want the blood test results though. Strangely, yesterday she was trying to excrete something white but it didn't come out all the way and stopped...maybe that has something to do with her death?

 

[critterguy]

I have to agree with Minihuey on vet help being futile in most cases like this.

However, if you choose to get another chameleon knowing what health problems caused the demise of this girl will be of great help indeed. I would have suggested having her put down and a necropsy done.

Sorry to hear, always hard to lose a long time pet.

 

[jannb]

I am so sorry to hear about your little girl. Jann

 

[jojackson]

I think a better idea than a 'pay for my mistakes/lack of research' fund, would be a forum (read only)
put together by the real experts Dave Weldon, Kinyonga etc, outlining the vital information required as relates to the specific care of females and their issues.

Each of you could write about a specific issue, eg 'Is she gravid? how can I tell", and 'Nutrition for your gravid cham' , eggbound or not, etc etc

I read of more problems with female chameleons here than anything else, and I think more specific information is needed where it can be accessed (READ FIRST BEFORE YOU BUY A FEMALE) by everyone.

People may be reading stuff, but they still go buy females at expos and petstores etc and then have issues and ask questions. It seems to me, alot more knowledge and preparation is reqired with females specifically. Id bet less than one in ten have a clue what to expect when the female starts digging.

A read only forum maintained by those who breed (any species) can only be good.
No crap 'I heard' advice, no offtopic crap, just real, solid, proven info/advice, in one place that folk can rely on to be accurate.
Far more dead/dying chameleons than I would have expected, being posted about here.
Just my thoughts.

P.S> Danielle, you may be right, 4 yrs is an 'average-ish' lifespan for a female. (yes there are exceptions), may well have been time for it. my sympathy.