Dying chameleon

[maryndavid]

My chameleon has had 5 seizures now. He's lost control of all motor functions. Yesterday he was completely fine. He's almost dead now. Vets around here don't do anything for lizards and such. Any ideas of how we can ease his pain and passing and make it quick? I know it must sound horrible, but he's suffering.

 

[laurie]

It doesn't sound awful, it sounds like you care for your cham, as we all do. You can have a vet put him down or I know the vets say to crush their head with a single blow from a brick. I could never in my life do that, but if you can it will end his suffering right away.

I am very sorry you have to go through losing your cham.

 

[maryndavid]

OMG, that would be so horrible. What if we brought him outside with us? It's about 20 degrees here. Would he feel anything or just go to sleep? We got him in September and he's our baby... WE don't want him to be in pain and smashing him with a brick is just... It's not something we can do.

 

[carol5208]

From what I understand freezing a reptile to death is painful. This topic came up many years ago about someone who wanted to end their chameleon's misery that was ill. It is not advised. You can take it to any vet to euthanize I would think. You are not asking him to save him, but to put him to sleep. I would just call your vet or a vet in your area and tell them you have a lizard to be put down. I am sure they will do it for you.

 

[maryndavid]

They won't do it. :-(

 

[camimom]

did you ask them?

most vets took an oath to do no harm, so putting them down shouldn tbe an issues, its not treating, its euthanizing. its not like they have to do much.

 

[carol5208]

Did they say why? There has to be more than one vet around? I have had two chameleons euthanized when it came time to end their suffering. It takes about 2 seconds. I cannot see why a vet would not do it.

 

[reptileguy112]

I think you should try to get him better.Is it an injury or is it sick?If it were me (JMHO) I would just give it realy good care including force feeding if I need to and hopefully it lives and if it doesn't then I would be sad...

 

[maryndavid]

Yes - they said because they're not reptile specialists. They do not feel qualified to provide proper care to our pet. We live in southern VT and there isn't much around here. All the other vets are closed so we left a ton of messages from here to Mass and NY

 

[jannb]

Here's a link to reptile vets: http://arav.allenpress.com/arav/findavet#stateHeadVT

You can also read all the post in the link below where the members here are referring their chameleon vet.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/area-area-country-vet-list-32880/

 

[kinyonga]

Have you been dusting the insects with a phosphorous - free calcium powder? Have you provided it with UVB light?

 

[Craig94089]

Find your nearest Humane Society Shelter. I've taken a squirl my dog caught to one because I could not finish it off.

But if this is your Cham, Groot, from your other thread from today it sounds like he's passed on.

 

[sgiac801]

If he's still hanging in there I would suggest bringing him to a specialist even if it means driving somewhere far. For now try to stay positive and I hope you are able to find a way to help him.

 

[RyU]

If you can't go to a vet you can try using CO2. I saw a video once of a guy who euthanized sick mice this way. You will need baking soda and vinegar...I'll try to find a video.

EDIT: I have not tried this and do not know the effectiveness on reptiles!

PLEASE FOLKS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE MICE BEING EUTHANIZED DO NOT CLICK THAT LINK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1De8sW-f_Bs

 

[kinyonga]

CO2 is not recommended for euthanasia of chameleons due to their slow metabolism.

An article talking about using CO2...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15901358