broken front left foot/wrist
- Thread starter tino442
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ridgebax1
Avid Member
I would strongly recommend taking him to a knowledgeable reptile vet. It could be a fracture as you noted, but it could also be gout or MBD. If he is holding it up and won't put weight on it I would take this as a sign that it is painful. He needs to be seen by a vet who can ascertain what it going on and provide proper treatment and pain relief.
Dr O
Veterinarian
yes. don't expect mammalian results where the swelling may go down visibly within a few days; it won't. you need to determine the cause to know how to fix.
ridgebax1
Avid Member
Swelling is a natural response to a traumatic injury, it is the body's attempt to imobilize and splint the injury. I would think it would take quite some time for the swelling to go away especially if the vet did nothing to immobilize or splint the limb. I am not sure but I think there are ways to do that in chameleons. Did he give you anything to use to relieve pain? One of the forum members who is a vet, gave her chameleon pain meds to relieve his discomfort from gout. If the vet did not immobilize the leg, I would definately contact him/her for pain meds.
Dr O
Veterinarian
how did he wind up diagnosing it w/o giving you any idea of it's healing time, splinting, or not using medications? was an xray taken? it seems pretty odd that anyone would diagnose it w/o helping to treat it or give you an idea of what to expect.
ridgebax1
Avid Member
I would contact the vet to find that out as it all depends on the break. How severe it is, what the edges look like etc. I would also take him back to have the wrapping reapplied and perhaps ask them to show you how to either keep it in place or put it back on. Without being immobilized it may never heal or heal improperly.
Dr O
Veterinarian
sounds like the best medicine for both pain and reduction in swelling. fractures take many months to heal, longer than it would if you broke your leg let's say. use the meds, treat him well, keep it bandaged or splinted if possible, and supplement as you normally would. bones heal.
follow up
i just took him back to the vet. They took another x-ray said it could be a small fracture or maybe gout. To be sure they want to send it to a specialist which will cost me another 115$. If it was gout wouldnt we have seen it coming, instead of him just waking up one day with it there. If it is a fracture how will it heal ?
i just took him back to the vet. They took another x-ray said it could be a small fracture or maybe gout. To be sure they want to send it to a specialist which will cost me another 115$. If it was gout wouldnt we have seen it coming, instead of him just waking up one day with it there. If it is a fracture how will it heal ?
Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
Gout is more likely to show up in more than one joint, and yes, I'd expect it to show up more gradually instead of suddenly. I don't recall seeing a pic of the foot or any of your husbandry details (supplements, gutloading, etc). It would help us back up or second guess your vet's diagnosis.
Dr O
Veterinarian
they can't make up their mind w/ multiple xrays? take a focused digital photo of the xrays on the viewbox (if it's not already digital), and if you post it it can easily be post-processed to really pick out the details on my end.
gout is absolutely known to often "pop up overnight". although it's initially a gradual onset, it may worsen shockingly quickly. i have had one panther w/ gout and can absolutely confirm that the nodules came up within 36 hours or less, something i have read about and have had clients tell me, but it's fairly impressive (and sad) to see it happen.
gout is absolutely known to often "pop up overnight". although it's initially a gradual onset, it may worsen shockingly quickly. i have had one panther w/ gout and can absolutely confirm that the nodules came up within 36 hours or less, something i have read about and have had clients tell me, but it's fairly impressive (and sad) to see it happen.
Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
Wow! I didn't know this. It could be because the problem reaches some internal threshold beyond which it really accelerates. Still, wouldn't it most likely show in more than one limb at that point?
Dr O
Veterinarian
sometimes. and you are correct about the threshold being reached, it's similar to when crystals form spontaneously in supersaturated solutions. once they reach a certain point of elevating proteins and perhaps some dehydration thrown in, the crystals begin to precipitate out.
ridgebax1
Avid Member
Dr. O, would it be beneficial to give extra calcium to aid the bones remodel or could that lead to someother issue if too much calcium is in circuation? To the OP, I am sorry your little guy is experiencing these problems. One thing that can contribute to healing is to try to keep the splint on. I think that the better immobilized the better the healing. I hope he feels better soon
Dr O
Veterinarian
in this particular case we don't know enough about prior husbandry, how the fracture occurred, or even if it's fractured (!). realize how important that is for an answer. how many of us with standard, accepted supplementation and lighting have seen fractures in our chams? not too many, i would think (obvious trauma aside). most chams w/ fractures are dealing w/ a form of MBD to begin with, so that changes the entire treatment plan.
however, if we're talking about a "perfectly healthy" cham w/ ideal husbandry who broke it's leg in a fall or predator attack, then.....i would likely bump the calcium w/ calcium glubionate for just a week or 2, and then continue as before. reason being is that in general most acceptable standards have a buttload of calcium already in them. some folks dust their bugs till they're white and dripping powder and i promise that's plenty already! on top of proper gutloading, there's an excess there already. certainly if an owner was already being a bit stingy w/ their dusting, then some more wouldn't hurt. bottom line; if a cham has normal husbandry and is healthy, immobilization is the critical component. you can give all the calcium in the world but it ain't internal SuperGlue! if the area keeps moving it will never form a union w/ surrounding bones, and once a few months go by of that, it's forever. trying to fuse the bones later on would be an intense surgery, and would still need the same aftercare that the fracture initially needed, so there's no point in ever getting that far gone. also, age plays a factor too. younger chams need more calcium anyway, and they're better at healing.
