What should I do?????

[tbarthelmess]

Franky is a young senegal chameleon that I have owned for just over 2 months- and I am completely in love with him!
He has Foleyella, an african parasite, worms. Vet doesn't recomend trying the drugs, as most chams don't survive them. The worms are basically going to take over his body and kill him- could happen fast, or could happen slowly...
Right now he is acting OK- moving about his cage, eating & drinking, being handled- BUT sometimes he has his eyes closed during the day.
The worms are completely visible under his skin... almost all of them were surgically removed about a week agao, and now they are back.

What should I do????? What is the humane thing to do?

 

[camimom]

what drug did she want to give but wouldent?
and i don tknow if panacur will work for that kind, but thats wht alot of people use to deworm chams.

and for the record. panacur and ponazuril (used to treat coccidia) has no side effects.

 

[lslcronk]

If he is fine now, I wouldn't do anything other than prepare to make the best decision for him when the time comes. When he starts to have a poor quality of life it would be best to either, try the meds - if he is going to die anyway at lease give it a shot or have him humanely euthanized (make sure you have saved the funds so you can have this done by someone properly). I am so sorry you have to go through this! It is truly the hardest part of having a pet!

 

[Trace]

what drug did she want to give but wouldent?
and i don tknow if panacur will work for that kind, but thats wht alot of people use to deworm chams.

and for the record. panacur and ponazuril (used to treat coccidia) has no side effects.

Not true! I have no experience the Ponazuril but some side effects of the Panacur is inappetence and potential for obstruction from the dying parasite load. Care really should be taken to make sure your animal does not get dehydrated from these poisons.

Fenbendazole (Panacur) will not work on Foleyella furcata.

 

[tbarthelmess]

it's an african parasite that doesn't live in the intestines- it lives in the blood and muscles and where ever else it wonders... so the panacur (which we already gave him because the test had to be done to identify the worms) didn't help the situation at all.
Not sure of the drug name- but it is really hard on the chameleon... very intense stuff. Studies showed the chameleons acting almost dead for a week before they recover, and then some of the chameleons died about 2 weeks later anyway, and they still had the worms.
Nasty little suckers!
It appears to have no cure.