archerandelliot
New Member
A few nights ago I was giving my veiled chameleon Archer medicine that was given to me by my vet for possible parasitic infection due to a high bacteria count in her feces. The medicine was a thicker liquid to be administered orally with a syringe for seven days. On the last day, I gave her her medicine, and then some water shortly after. My chameleon aspirated the water and instantly went into panic mode, running around her cage with no regard for her own safety and stretching her belly. I took her to the animal hospital right away and they told me she had aspirated water and they gave me 29 doses of an injectable antibiotic (ceftazidime).
My chameleon just received her second dose today, but she seems to be in a lot of pain. She is lethargic at times, but at other times she goes into panic mode and flails around in her cage. She doesn't seem to have much strength as her walking and climbing are labored and odd. Additionally, her breathing is quite labored and every so often her eyes will bulge to a concerning degree.
I already changed her enclosure around quite a bit to make it shorter and safer as she was falling and seemed to be hurting herself. Recently, she has been laying on the bottom of her cage, sometimes on her side.
She seems to be in a fair bit of pain and I am quite honestly heartbroken. I notice a lot of people on this forum being very judgemental when it comes to people who need help with sick chameleons and I just want those people to know that I am a great lizard owner. I have owned lizards for nearly ten years and I have never run into a problem I couldn't fix (besides this one). All of my lizards are very robust and healthy, and my chameleon was doing just fine seconds before she aspirated. She has laid two clutches of eggs no problem, she sometimes greets me when she isn't grumpy, and she seems to enjoy being handled.
What can I do to help her recover? Any advice or lessons learned from a similar experience would be colossally appreciated.
My chameleon just received her second dose today, but she seems to be in a lot of pain. She is lethargic at times, but at other times she goes into panic mode and flails around in her cage. She doesn't seem to have much strength as her walking and climbing are labored and odd. Additionally, her breathing is quite labored and every so often her eyes will bulge to a concerning degree.
I already changed her enclosure around quite a bit to make it shorter and safer as she was falling and seemed to be hurting herself. Recently, she has been laying on the bottom of her cage, sometimes on her side.
She seems to be in a fair bit of pain and I am quite honestly heartbroken. I notice a lot of people on this forum being very judgemental when it comes to people who need help with sick chameleons and I just want those people to know that I am a great lizard owner. I have owned lizards for nearly ten years and I have never run into a problem I couldn't fix (besides this one). All of my lizards are very robust and healthy, and my chameleon was doing just fine seconds before she aspirated. She has laid two clutches of eggs no problem, she sometimes greets me when she isn't grumpy, and she seems to enjoy being handled.
What can I do to help her recover? Any advice or lessons learned from a similar experience would be colossally appreciated.