I have a sick chameleon. He has had his eyes closed for months. We have been to 4 vets. I have been on here and I have fixed all my feeding and cage problems. He has had a course of Baytril and has had his eyes irrigated (a piece of hard dirt actually came out of his right eye). He has most recently with the last vet had bloodwork and the vet says his kidney function is normal and he has not been overdosed on vitamin D. (The vet was actually surprised.) He also had some oral vitamin A. This final vet thinks he might have a respiratory infection and now he is ceftazidime injections every 72 hours.
One of the visits 3 weeks ago a different vet gave him subcutaneous fluids because he thought he was dehydrated. He was drinking on his own, even with his eyes closed before that. Since then however, I have not witnessed him drinking. Because I didn’t want him to become dehydrated, especially since he was on baytril at that time, I started force watering him. I have watched videos and understand the anatomy and he tolerates it well. Based on weight the Vet said he should drink about 6 ml of water a day. I have been giving him 4-5, hoping he would drink some on his own. I have also been force feeding him hornworms every other day and have given some Dubia recently. He eats those once I put one in his mouth. (The bloodwork was done about 10 days after he stopped drinking so I was already force watering him at that point.)
Anyway, now he is moving around more and his eyes are open. He can see, although one eye may not be normal. He can navigate branches without reaching out into the air like before. He is following movements outside of his enclosure. We are in week 3 out of 6 of the antibiotics.
My question finally: How do I know if he is drinking on his own and I can stop force watering him? Will he start drinking on his own at all while I am force watering him?
He is pooping and it’s normal and he has about 1/4-1/3 of the poop bright white Urate. He has gained back the initial 10 grams that he lost and now is at his baseline weight.
The feeding I think I can handle, as far as holding worms with tongs or putting crickets in a cup and start trying to see if he can track one and eat it. But with the water I am at a loss. I don’t know if he won’t drink because he isn’t thirsty because of me giving him water!
I won’t give up or reassess his situation/quality of life until he has completed the course of antibiotics. I can keep on with this care for awhile.
One of the visits 3 weeks ago a different vet gave him subcutaneous fluids because he thought he was dehydrated. He was drinking on his own, even with his eyes closed before that. Since then however, I have not witnessed him drinking. Because I didn’t want him to become dehydrated, especially since he was on baytril at that time, I started force watering him. I have watched videos and understand the anatomy and he tolerates it well. Based on weight the Vet said he should drink about 6 ml of water a day. I have been giving him 4-5, hoping he would drink some on his own. I have also been force feeding him hornworms every other day and have given some Dubia recently. He eats those once I put one in his mouth. (The bloodwork was done about 10 days after he stopped drinking so I was already force watering him at that point.)
Anyway, now he is moving around more and his eyes are open. He can see, although one eye may not be normal. He can navigate branches without reaching out into the air like before. He is following movements outside of his enclosure. We are in week 3 out of 6 of the antibiotics.
My question finally: How do I know if he is drinking on his own and I can stop force watering him? Will he start drinking on his own at all while I am force watering him?
He is pooping and it’s normal and he has about 1/4-1/3 of the poop bright white Urate. He has gained back the initial 10 grams that he lost and now is at his baseline weight.
The feeding I think I can handle, as far as holding worms with tongs or putting crickets in a cup and start trying to see if he can track one and eat it. But with the water I am at a loss. I don’t know if he won’t drink because he isn’t thirsty because of me giving him water!
I won’t give up or reassess his situation/quality of life until he has completed the course of antibiotics. I can keep on with this care for awhile.
