worried my panther may have gular edema

[lewboo2]

hey there everyone,
ive came here because im really unsure as what to do now

ninja, my roughly 12month old panther has developed a pair of breasts over the past 5-6 weeks. hes had a visit to the vet but thats why im now on here asking for your help, the vet i travel happens to be on my doorstep but has people traveling up to 3 hours to see her with exotic reptiles including chameleons, so she was deemed qualified by a number of people on another forum.

anyhoo the thing is i took ninja with his swellings which im sure are edema through research and sorta wanted her to diagnose the exact cause of it and then we could start curing it.
the vet proceeded to feel the swelling and said that it seems like a fluid swelling and gave him a 72 hour anti-inflammatory and that was it she didnt seem to know how to go about it and asked me to email her the written ingredients that make reptivite w/3 so she could see if that was the cause. now am i right in thinking she should be doing blood tests or some sort of test to determin the exact cause?

also hes got a popping noise while breathing every once in a while which i thought was a uri, antibiotic injection hasnt fixed that now the vets trying an anti mucal powder to put on my crix, which also doesnt seem to work. should i keep faith or look for another vet?

sorry for the essay im just determined NOT to let anything bad happen to my little man, ive put too much hard work and time into looking after him!

thanks in advance

 

[kinyonga]

Can you post a picture please?

 

[cushcameleon]

He probably has a URI along with another infection, which is causing the swelling. Some pictures would definitely help. Edema is often caused by over supplementing and creates unusual collections of watery fluid under the skin, which is most likely the cause of the "breasts" forming. How often are you dusting your feeders and what are you dusting them with? Does your cham look like he is in pain when walking/climbing, is he more aggressive then usual or is he drinking a lot more water? These are sign of goat. But please post some pictures, that will make it way easier to identify what his possible problem is.

 

[jannb]

If it were me....I'd try a different vet ASAP.

 

[lewboo2]

heres the pictures
i dust his feeders with plain calcium every feeding and reptivite with d3 once every 2 weeks on about 5 of his feeders.
he walks eats, seems to do everything fine just he has a habit of getting somewhere comfy and sitting there a couple of hours before his lights are due to go off.

do the swellings look like edema?

 

[cushcameleon]

If I were you I would visit another vet, just get to some more opinions.

 

[sandrachameleon]

He does look a little swollen to me, like what I understand gular edema to look like. Does he drink well and often? You say you use calcium at every feeding. How often is that? How much do you use (are the insects white or just barely dusted or?) ? What do you feed him, how much, and what do the feeders eat? What calcium product is it that you are using?

 

[Silverdusk]

I'm not a vet, but it doesn't look like Gular Edema to me.

Gular = Throat and that is clearly his chest area

Edema = an abnormal excess accumulation of serous fluid in connective tissue or in a serous cavity—called also dropsy

Also, I've only seen it happen with females during or shortly after laying egs.

 

[cushcameleon]

I'm not a vet, but it doesn't look like Gular Edema to me.

Gular = Throat and that is clearly his chest area


Also, I've only seen it happen with females during or shortly after laying egs.

Silverdusk is probably right. Gular edema only involves the throat, but that does not rule out edema in general. From the pictures it definitely seems like this cham has a form of edema.

 

[lewboo2]

He does look a little swollen to me, like what I understand gular edema to look like. Does he drink well and often? You say you use calcium at every feeding. How often is that? How much do you use (are the insects white or just barely dusted or?) ? What do you feed him, how much, and what do the feeders eat? What calcium product is it that you are using?

i feed him on monday, wednesday and friday with mainly crickets with a few superworms usually about 8 feeders. all of them are gutloaded with fresh greens. as for how much they are dusted with calcium you can hardly see it on them i dont like to go over the top with it just incase.

silverdusk, the reason i thought it was edema was because i read a link posted somewhere on this site about edema
http://chamworld.blogspot.com/2008/01/health-section-f-gout_28.html and thought that the example photo looked pretty much identical to my cham

thanks for the responses

 

[sandrachameleon]

Swelling in the throat area and between the forelegs is called Gular edema
pictured here (below the bit about gout):
http://chamworld.blogspot.com/2008/01/health-section-f-gout_28.html


edit: just noticed this is the same image you linked to too!

I'd see a vet if I were you

 

[lewboo2]

thanks sandrachameleon, he saw the vet before i made the post and she didnt really do anything to be honest

but its a good job its started to clear its self up. has anyone heard of low uvb output causing edema?
the thing is i was using a reptiglo 5.0 tube nearing 7 months of usage and after reading up about them being low output and that they should be switched after 6 months regardless of what the manufacturer says i switched to a brand new reptiglo 10.0 and the swellings are almost none existant after 3 days under the new flouro! now i dont know if its a coincidence or not just seems funny they decide to go once the tube was replaced.

i'll go get some batteries for the camera while im out later and i'l post some update pics, see what you guys think

thanks again

 

[beeze]

This maybe helpful: https://www.chameleonforums.com/gular-edema-23379/

 

[sandrachameleon]

Interesting. I've not heard of UVB playing a part in edema. Has your gut load changed at all? How about how often you provide water?