Coccidia and Parasite Info

Dr. Alfonso’s blog is awesome. I cannot stress enough the importance of getting a fecal for you chameleons. You DO NOT know what they have without a fecal. By the time your cham shows a sign of illness it may be too late. My veiled Luie looked to be in perfect health. When I took him to the vet for his new pet checkup he didn’t give me a fresh poop to take for a fecal and after Dr. Alfonso told me he was one of the healthiest looking chams out there I didn’t worry too much about the fecal. Well six months later Luie still looked to be in perfect health even to Dr. Alfonso but I did bring a fresh poop for the 6 month check up and my Luie was loaded with coccidia. Luie showed not one sign of having coccidia. I was devastated and ask Dr. A how that could be. I am such a meticulous keeper. Kept his environment spotless, picked up poop the moment it fell, had my husbandry spot on, I just didn’t understand how this could happen to Luie. Then Dr. A explained to me how he could get coccidia from a feeder and I did feed him feeders. So if your cham is eating then it could have parasites. After months of meds and all the coccidia clean ups Luie re-infected and had coccidian again. This was years ago and all my guys have tested clean for coccidian since although we sometime see a hook or pin worms. I don’t even wait 6 months to get a fecal now. I’m constantly bugging Dr. A with my chameleon and Cuban Knight Anole poop. If you care about your chameleon please get a fecal. It saves lives.
Thank you Dr. Alfonso for the wonderful blog and the education on parasites. Thank you Heather for sharing the links to his blog.
 
I am just getting a cham and always wondered about vet checkups. How often does everyone take their cham to the vet if at all?
 
Chamifornia said:
I am just getting a cham and always wondered about vet checkups. How often does everyone take their cham to the vet if at all?
Click to expand...

Dr. Ivan Alfonso takes care of my chameleons and he recommends a check up/fecal every six months. Dr. Alfonso is one of the best, if not the best chameleon vet in the US.
 
I will not take any healthy chameleon to the vet ([SIZE="-14"]although I am one[/SIZE]). You can bring feces every month to the vet without stressing your chameleon.
 
Alexl said..."I will not take any healthy chameleon to the vet "...I have to say that this has always been my feeling too.
 
Everybody has their own opinions and I respect that but I have always took all my animals for well check ups and many times the vet has been able to do preventive care and found problems before they got too far along. With chameleons Dr. Alfonso says once a year is not enought for them like a dog or cat and he recommends every 6 months. Most vets here will not do a fecal witout seeing the animal first. Once they get to know you and your pets then they will just do a fecal for you. Regular check ups have worked well for me and my chams are never stressed by the car ride or the vet. Dr. Alfonso now does house calls and will see everyone while he's here. It's such a blessing to have him.
 
I started out taking them in whether they looked/seemed healthy or not because I was dealing with WC's. However, after a while, as I learned more about chameleons, I found that I didn't need to take in the ones that were seemingly healthy but could just take a fecal sample in. Its really up to the individual to do what they feel is best and what works for them.

I often would have to go through terrible, freezing weather which could compromise the chameleon's health if my car failed along the way. It was hard to take the chameleon into a cold air conditioned office in the summer months and a drafty cool room in the winter. The vet's office was equipped more for mammals than reptiles....so I finally decided that it was best not to take the ones that seemed to be healthy.

Even when I had to take some to a symposium there to give a talk to a group of vets, the room was too cool for chameleons to stay in for long and we had to find a solution to it.
 
So as to not clutter up the WC Flay=parasite thread I will ask this here.

So if I wanted to do cultures every 4-6mo just to make sure everything is clear and clean I called all the exotic vets in my area and they will not ever run a fecal without an exam. And that is even with the understanding that I would have annual exams. So that means I have to put my chameleons through transport and the stress of a visit without any suspect of a problem just to get a fecal done that I fully expect to be negative. I have zero problem in paying for a fecal to be done 3 times a year and having an exam if anything shows up on the fecal but to have unneeded exams on current patients just because they want to have a fecal done seems unreasonable.
As a health professional myself I have had a really hard time with vets in our area! I don't like the practices they employ and use them infrequently because of it with our dogs or other animals. I usually administer meds and immunizations myself and order them online. If I could find a lab I would get the fecal samples done myself.
The question is risk/reward to having exams/fecal tests done more than once a year given the stress of the transport and exam?
 
clarkrw3 said:
So as to not clutter up the WC Flay=parasite thread I will ask this here.

So if I wanted to do cultures every 4-6mo just to make sure everything is clear and clean I called all the exotic vets in my area and they will not ever run a fecal without an exam. And that is even with the understanding that I would have annual exams. So that means I have to put my chameleons through transport and the stress of a visit without any suspect of a problem just to get a fecal done that I fully expect to be negative. I have zero problem in paying for a fecal to be done 3 times a year and having an exam if anything shows up on the fecal but to have unneeded exams on current patients just because they want to have a fecal done seems unreasonable.
As a health professional myself I have had a really hard time with vets in our area! I don't like the practices they employ and use them infrequently because of it with our dogs or other animals. I usually administer meds and immunizations myself and order them online. If I could find a lab I would get the fecal samples done myself.
The question is risk/reward to having exams/fecal tests done more than once a year given the stress of the transport and exam?
Click to expand...

Wow they sure are out to get your money. The vets in my area will do a fecal for $10.00 and if positive for parasites they will have meds waiting for me to pick up.
 
Wow...and the quotes I got on fecals were 25-55 with exams from 40-65. I just have a really hard time with the vets we have around here (anyone in the phx area that knows a good one I would love to hear it) When we got a new Lab puppy and wanted to get her fixed the vet we were going to quoted us $675 to fix her :eek: That is highway robbery and we have never been back!
 
My chams love to ride so I don't have the transport problem. :) Some keepers put them in a box and let them sleep to transport them but I've never had to do that.

To answer you question, I think once you build a relationship with your vet they would not have a problem just doing a fecal or giving you needed meds and you might find a vet that would do a fecal without ever seeing your cham. Just be sure to use a chameleon vet because Dr. A showed me pollen in Camille's smear before and it looked just like cociddia. A vet that didn't know chams eat plants and that it was pollen might have treated her for cociddia with a drug that you sure don't want to give your cham if you don't have to, not to mention the cociddia clean up. You could buy a micro scope and do fecals yourself if you feel that you are capable of that.

In our area Dr. Alfonso goes to the local Repticon shows and rents a table and gives free check overs and $10 fecals to anybody that wants one. He is such a wonderful vet that truly cares about the animals.
 
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clarkrw3 said:
Wow...and the quotes I got on fecals were 25-55 with exams from 40-65. I just have a really hard time with the vets we have around here (anyone in the phx area that knows a good one I would love to hear it) When we got a new Lab puppy and wanted to get her fixed the vet we were going to quoted us $675 to fix her :eek: That is highway robbery and we have never been back!
Click to expand...

Here's a vet in AZ but not sure how close they are to you.
Todd Driggers, DVM
Avian and Exotic Animal Clinic of Arizona
1530 W. Elliot Road
Gilbert, AZ 85234
Tel: (480) 706-8478
Fax: (480) 926-1211
Pager: (602) 351-1830
 
jannb said:
Here's a vet in AZ but not sure how close they are to you.
Todd Driggers, DVM
Avian and Exotic Animal Clinic of Arizona
1530 W. Elliot Road
Gilbert, AZ 85234
Tel: (480) 706-8478
Fax: (480) 926-1211
Pager: (602) 351-1830
Click to expand...

Thanks Jann (you were the one that got this fire going in me this morning :D)he is really pretty close to me and was my first contact when I first got into chams. And you might be right that once I had a good relationship with him he might do that for me. When I started calling this morning I started with the only vet currently in my phone which was Dr. Driggers. His front desk told me that he did not EVER do fecal tests without an exam. So I went into great detail about what i was worried about and the situation and what I was wanting to do and was told. Ok well whenever you want a fecal done just call and we will set you up with an exam :mad:
 
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