At first I was thinking stomatitis.. Pic

[Krokadilyanguy3]

I know I should take the animal to the vet, which will be done come Monday, But Im curious. I hate being baffled. I like first hand experience anyway.

My girlfriend's friend has this Panther and from what he was describing, I kept wanting to blame the sympthoms on stomatitis, especially since RI is involved. The RI isn't bad, but it's there. So it seemed like the best canidate.

He brought the Cham into the shop today and after looking at it, I want to say it may be Cellulitis, since after checking the animal out, his joints appear to be swollen, especially his feet.

I was wondering if any of you have experienced this problem?

 

[Krokadilyanguy3]

Hey all, this is krokadilyanguy3's girlfriend and the owner of said panther chameleon. Heres a better breakdown of his symptoms:

-The most noticable is the large sore on his mouth. I'm guessing its probably from a cricket biting him or something, but its making his lips swell a little bit. His lips are also starting to curl a little, but the guy that had him before me wasn't dusting his crickets, so it may be from a lack of calcium.

-Secondly, his feet are swollen, and now some of his claws are missing. He has trouble holding on to his branches, and he has slight sores on the bottom of his feet. So, some kind of infection that possibly spread from his mouth to his feet?

Any ideas? I really need your help...I dont want my chameleon to get any worse. I've started feeding him a diet of soft bodied insects, such as silk worms, pheonix worms, and wax worms because he was having trouble eating crickets. Thanks for anything!

Aly

 

[lan_norman704]

i have a veiled and jackson...but for the sores on the feet i might have an explanation...probably not relevant since i don't know what the "sores" are. but George, my veiled, is normally kept in my sunroom at my parents house and he likes to walk around rather than stay in trees so he developes these sores on the bottom of his hands and feet from walking so damn much everywhere. (dragging his feet and hands on marble, which chameleons are meant to be in trees, not floors ) if that helps at all

 

[lan_norman704]

and also if i might add...i cant believe the person didnt dust the food before he/she fed it to that panther...panthers are so beautiful in my opinion.

i heard phoenix worms really help your chameleon out very much if he/she was/is deprived of nutrients...


awesome site to buy food for chameleons...cheapest i have found

http://mulberryfarms.com

 

[aly]

This is the girlfriend, again, on my account. Yea, Mulberry farms rocks. I've ordered from them before, and just ordered my pheonix worms and whatnot from them. And he wanders around a lot, and i was thinking he might be having trouble holding on because the vine is so skinny compared to how fat he is. But should that be a problem?

Aly

 

[lan_norman704]

ehh...George is old so he doesn't hang on to stuff very well n e more (5 years) and also suffers from T.E.D. (tail erectile dysfunction lol) not really a term..just something i made up but he really doesn't use his tail n e more. the sore on the mouth im not sure of...doesn't sound good. best advice...lots of water, good food, and try not to stress out so much, right kind of lighting (UVA/ and UVB) maybe make a good recovery.

 

[lan_norman704]

and if you feel the need get him/her to vet if you value the life of your pet, or if you got enough money. im just lucky enough that one of my good friend has a dad that is a vet.

 

[kinyonga]

I'm not a vet but you need to take this chameleon to one. What I'm saying is from experience....but a vet will be able to tell you for sure and offer treatment.

Aly said..."The most noticable is the large sore on his mouth. I'm guessing its probably from a cricket biting him or something, but its making his lips swell a little bit. His lips are also starting to curl a little"...looks like the lips are infected. They will need to be cleaned out and he will need to be put on antibiotics. A culture and sensitivity test will tell the vet what antibiotic to use for the bacteria involved.

You said..."his feet are swollen, and now some of his claws are missing. He has trouble holding on to his branches, and he has slight sores on the bottom of his feet. So, some kind of infection that possibly spread from his mouth to his feet?"...it could be that the infection has spread from one place to the other or they may be independent of each other. Infection in toes needs to be cleaned out too and will need the same treatment as above.

You said..."I've started feeding him a diet of soft bodied insects, such as silk worms, pheonix worms, and wax worms because he was having trouble eating crickets"...good idea IMHO!

The vet can also run tests to see if the calcium levels/bones are good and if not the chameleon can be given injections of calcium to bring the levels back up. Once the blood calcium levels are high enough, he can be given a shot of calcitonin to bring the calcium back into the bone rapidly. If its not too bad then there are other options.

Don't know how much you know about chameleons, but calcium, phosphorous, D3 and vitamin A all play a part in bone health and need to be in balance. Supplementation, gutloading the insects, appropriate basking temperatures, exposure to UVB, etc. all play a part in bone health and need to be in balance.

Here are some sites you might want to look at...
http://www.adcham.com/
http://www.chameleonnews.com/
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/uvinviv.htm

Good luck with him!

 

[aly]

I guess I will take him to the vet afterall. I was hoping it would be something that I could fix on my own, but apparently not. I'll post up what the vet says after I take him. Thanks for all the input!

Aly

 

[dectr6]

Get your panther to a vet quick! He really doesn't look healthy and these could very easily be life ending problems. Not trying to scare you but chams can go downhill very quickly. Good luck and keep us posted. David

 

[aly]

Took him to the vet today. Its nice working at a reptile shop...our local reptile vet is a customer and gave me a break on the bill. But anyway, he said that little dude will most likely be ok, and that its just a bad case of mouth rot that spread to his feet somehow. He cleaned out his sores and gave him a shot of Baytril to ward of the infection. I have to scour the sores, give him an oral injection of baytril, and put cream on them twice a day now. Im just scared he'll get stressed out from being manhandled and stop eating. Do you think that would happen?

Aly

 

[dectr6]

So glad to hear the good news!! I really thought it was due to a vitamin def. and was much more serious. I won't hurt him to go a few or even several days without food as long as he is hydrated. Good luck and keep us posted. David

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Took him to the vet today. Its nice working at a reptile shop...our local reptile vet is a customer and gave me a break on the bill. But anyway, he said that little dude will most likely be ok, and that its just a bad case of mouth rot that spread to his feet somehow. He cleaned out his sores and gave him a shot of Baytril to ward of the infection. I have to scour the sores, give him an oral injection of baytril, and put cream on them twice a day now. Im just scared he'll get stressed out from being manhandled and stop eating. Do you think that would happen?

Aly

Thank you for letting us know how it went! And I am SO glad for the good news. He really wasn't looking too good in the photo.

They do get stressed out during a period of forced meds. Wrapping them in a towel can sometimes help keep them calm. If there is a particular treat food they like, you could reward them with that a little extra at this time. Then, when the meds are done, be extra careful to respect their turf for awhile until they get their confidence and self respect back. It may sound funny, but they seem to feel like they've been violated, and I have seen it sort of crush their little spirit for a few days. So, I take special care to read their body signals once the course of meds is over, and give them a little more control over their schedule and their domain, and a little more privacy, for a few days til they get back on track. The human instinct is to baby and coddle them during/after they've been sick. But, just the opposite treatment seems to help them more.

 

[dectr6]

Those curled up lips is what was worrying me, lol, didn't look too good. Keep us updated. David