Eye swelling

[BlkSunshyne]

My chameleon started this eye swelling about 4 days ago. Now he cant open his eye at all.Also, he's not eating. I just put him in the shower for about 20minutes,and I'll do so again a bit later. I never had this happen to a chameleon I had, so I dont know whats happening. I plan on calling the vet tomorrow-(if i can find one who actually KNOWS what to do with lizards) and get him in there ASAP. If anyone knows what this is or had a cham with the same prob, your input is greatly appreciated
Thanks....

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

Yep. That's looking pretty bad. My only guess is an infection. Here's a list of some of the vets that work with reptiles in your state:

http://www.herpvetconnection.com/louis.shtml

 

[kinyonga]

There is a parasite that has been found to cause a swollen eyelid in a chameleon as well.

I also had a chameleon who's eye became even more swollen than yours and it turned out to be cancer.

I can't rule out infection either.

All I can recommend is that you take it to a vet.

Hope you can find out what the problem is.

 

[Fate X]

if i was you i would take her to the vet because you might be surprised that it might not cost alot of money .maybe only 50-65 $ to fix her eye.and then she would be as good as new.

 

[fullhouse]

same problem

we had the same problem w/ our panther cham - vet flushed her eye out topically w/ antibiotic liquid and gave me some broad spectrum antibiotic shots which I administered at home over 10 days. Her eye cleared up, but a few months later it was infected again. It has been infected on/off for about a year now and never really clears up. I think she is blind in that eye now.

Vet say's it is very difficult to get reptiles over infections b/c they dont fight infections the same way mammals do. my advice, take your cham to the vet and treat the infection aggressively (if that is what it is). I admit, I did not always make the time to get her to the vet quickly and that may be why it progressed to the point where she is now blind in that eye.

good luck -

 

[Daz]

i had a similar incident in a 6 week old Ambilobe panther which unfortunately died. he would continuously puff his eye as if to clean it and no amount of hydration would clean it out, anyways later it turned out to be conjunctervitus and the eye drops were extremely hard to administer in such a young animal.. anyways not trying to scare you i really hope its something really silly which can be easily rectified.

 

[BlkSunshyne]

Bad News......

Well I took Otis to the vet the morning after this post. It turns out, he had an infection in his gums that traveled thru his sinus cavity into his eye, and it would cost 225.00 for the vet to perform surgery just to SEE how extensive the infection was. It wasnt even guaranteed he could be healed.Money was NOT an issue-but putting him thru too much was. I could tell he was in alot of pain, so I made the decision to have him put to sleep. I couldnt bear them doing a surgery on him that he may not even come out of, OR come out of it, and the Dr.still not be able to help him. So Ive been miserable this whole week. Just wish I could of done more.......
Thanks for all of your advice.

 

[Kian]

hello,

i have a similar problem with some of my 2 months old panthers, except there is no swelling, they inflate the eye and scrach it on the branch.
here some pics:

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t66/nosy_be/IMG_1215-1.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t66/nosy_be/IMG_1208.jpg

anyone got similar problems with baby chams?

did your vet give any medicaments or antibiotics to your cham?

 

[lele]

I am so sorry

Well I took Otis to the vet the morning after this post. It turns out, he had an infection in his gums that traveled thru his sinus cavity into his eye, and it would cost 225.00 for the vet to perform surgery just to SEE how extensive the infection was. It wasnt even guaranteed he could be healed.Money was NOT an issue-but putting him thru too much was. I could tell he was in alot of pain, so I made the decision to have him put to sleep. I couldnt bear them doing a surgery on him that he may not even come out of, OR come out of it, and the Dr.still not be able to help him. So Ive been miserable this whole week. Just wish I could of done more.......
Thanks for all of your advice.

I am sure this was an incredibly tough decision for you to make, but it is nice to know that it was not the money, but that you have the compassion for what he would have to go thru. I am truly sorry for you. I lost my girl, Luna about 1 1/2 years ago (hard to believe) and now my panther is having eye trouble, but, unlike everyone else's it cannot seem to be diagnosed.

Be easy on yourself, you did all the right things - most importantly, you cared.

 

[kinyonga]

Kian...it looks like your chameleon (in the first picture) has gular edema too.

 

[Fate X]

why are they rubbing their eyes on the branches?

 

[kinyonga]

BlkSunshyne...so very sorry to hear about your loss. It must have been a very hard decision to have to make. I hope you have some good memories of your poor chameleon.

 

[BlkSunshyne]

Hey thank for all the kind words guys. Really appreciated. I miss the little green monkey tho.....he he

 

[Angie]

BlkSunshyne, I too am very sorry to hear about your loss. I am going through the same thing with my femal Mellers right now. Her left eye looks just like your picture. I brought her to the vet immediately and he wasn't really able to help her. He gave her a vitamin A shot and a 10 day supply of Baytril. She seems to be doing a lot better, but the eye looks the same. She won't eat although I have been giving her pedialyte and putting gutloaded crickets right into her mouth. She won't hunt on her own, but she will chew them up and eat the crickets and not spit them out. I'm also giving her a 15 min warm shower every morning as well as two - three very long mistings. If anyone out there can think of anything else, I'd like to hear it. Thanks

 

[sophiedufort]

Same problem, but solved

Your chameleon has an eye infection. I have a Jackson's chameleon with the same problem, but he's now almost out of danger after treatment.
Many people told me that it could be a vitamin A deficiency, but this is not correct. Vitamin deficiency is in both eyes.
I couldn't afford a vet, as this could easily go into hundreds of dollars, but I researched and treated my cham at home, with great results. I bought Reptaid from Amazon, which is a must, and an antibiotic. Here's the link for the antibiotic.
http://www.beardeddragon.co/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=479
My Jackson's chameleon had an extremely swollen eye and a respiratory infection, also what i believe to be the beginning of stomatitis. His eye was so puffy, it looked like it was about to explode, and he had reached that RI stage when his breaths turned into hisses; the advanced stage. I started him on Reptaid, and it kept him afloat, but no improvement was shown. The I started the Enro, orally, not via a nebulizer. I used an eye dropper to put 4 drops of Enro in his mouth twice a day (12 hours interval, approx.) My husband helped by holding the cham and i used my fingernail to pry his mouth open, as gently as I could. He didn't like it, but he soon got used to it. After making sure that he swallowed the drops, I used a small syringe (without a needle) to pour 1ml of water down his throat. Half of it spilled out, but at least i got some water into him. It is essential to give the cham at least 1ml of water every day when administering antibiotics, as he is at risk of kidney failure if this important step is not followed. I also continued with Reptaid, at least once a day, and fed him wax worms, some of which i tossed in probiotic powder first. Since my cham only eats moving prey, and the worms weren't moving much, I opened his mouth and put a couple in it. He ate them right away. Wax worms are known as the candy bars for chameleons, and I shouldn't normally feed them to my cham every day, but in this instance they proved to help a lot, as he wasn't eating anything else, and I provided him with nourishment. I already finished a 5ml bottle of antibiotic, and since my cham is not yet out of danger I will start him on a second bottle. It is very important to continue the antibiotic at least a few days after you see improvement, otherwise the infection can return or the bacteria could develop resistance to the antibiotic. So, if you need to treat your reptile for infection, better to buy at least 15ml of antibiotic for a chameleon. My boy weighs 60 grams, and I had to give him, as I said, 4 drops of antibiotic twice a day in order to see any improvement (that's about twice the recommended dose).
His eye swelling is now almost gone.
I hope this helps.

 

[kinyonga]

This is an old post and its pointless telling the person now that the chameleon had an eye infection then.

Swollen eyes can be the result of an eye infection, cancer, a parasite, a respiratory infection, stomatitis that has spread or a number of other things..so you were lucky that yours is responding to what you are doing for it.

I do not recommend just assuming that (infection) is what a swollen eye means and starting a treatment that might end up doing as much harm as good without a recommendation from a vet on the treatment and the dosage.

I also do not recommend "to pour 1ml of water down his throat"....you are lucky he didn't aspirate it (take it into his lungs).

Good to hear that your chameleon is improving. Hope it continues to do so. Hope you will learn lots from this forum too. There is a lot of good information here and a lot of people here with a lot of knowledge too.