George had surgery

[ferretinmyshoes]

So in the time since the growths first appeared almost a year ago there is one that has become the mega growth! Behold!

This one started as a tiny little thing, not even worth removing when I did the surgery. I did pick at it a little thinking maybe it was just a scab back then so I wonder if I triggered it to grow from messing with it? It doesn't both him though. There are 4 growths remaining in total (you can see the one on the back of his casque and the smaller one just over his arm), but this is the only one that has grown. The two I removed did not grow back. The pathologist who originally analyzed it would like some more sample for additional testing so I think I'm going to lop that big one off pretty soon. It's pretty gross really...big ol fleshy blob on him.

 

[Dr O]

hey ferret,

i’m curious; have you ever seen papillomavirus in panthers or any other cham species? the only cases that i’m aware of professionally and anecdotally have all been veileds. i’ve seen plenty of panther fungal/bacterial cases, but never anything like a pox or papilloma lesion. what has your experience been?

 

[jannb]

Poor George. You should definately take care of those.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Kevin - I have seen two pictures of panthers with what appeared to be pox lesions. They were on VIN, search "chameleon pox", and poxvirus was found in a dilepis.

Jann - at least they don't seem to bother him at all! And that big one is actually only connected by a very small base so it will be very easy to remove. Part of why I've been waiting is to see who else wants a piece for research purposes. They want to do electron microscopy on it to find the virions and a few other labs might want to help find the exact virus. Still looking like it'll be officially written up, but we'll see.

 

[Dr O]

thank you!

 

[kinyonga]

Have you been in touch with Elliot Jacobson in Florida or Dr. Mader?

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I've talked to Jim Wellehan, who is one of the reptile virus gurus right now and he would like a piece. He's at UFL with Jacobson so I bet they work together. Dr. Mader is awesome but I don't think he's doing much of the nitty gritty research stuff right now.

 

[kinyonga]

I know Jim. He treated some of my reptiles quite a few years ago....very smart guy! They did work together a few years ago...if I remember rightly! Hopefully he will come up with some answers.

 

[lovepicasso]

I just came across this post and read all the way through, very interesting stuff and that video of the heart beat was awesome....I sure wish George the best and I know with you as a mom he will get the very best care possible....thanks for sharing such a informative and interesting post.

 

[PetMom]

I came upon this thread while "googling" surgery on chameleons. I thought perhaps his bumps looked similar to what has developed on mine. But I saw at the end was that it looked very different. The other thread was labeled yellow lumps. I would be very interested if you have seen anything like those. I first saw one on his left side in June. It has now grown quite a bit larger very rapidly. The yellow top seems to have small blood vessels running through it. From various descriptions of other growths this is not a viral or fungal growth. Any information or even thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Stinger]

Dr.Ferret, that was a wonderful post .Thank you for sharing . Interesting about chameleons only have 3 Heart chambers. It's fantastic this forum has a Veterinarian onboard.

 

[CharlieCharmingo]

I know I'm super late to the game (thread) but this was a really good read and I really appreciate the video. Came across it while googling "how big is a chameleons heart" thanks.

 

[Dr O]

hi Charlie--i'm sure you found what you were looking for, but fwiw i do have several heart photos in a (graphic) necropsy thread from way back.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...of-panther-with-severe-nutritional-mbd.87186/

 

[JacksJill]

Nice to see some X-rays where the reptile shows up at all much beyond an out line. I worked a two different exotic practices and mostly we saw little more than ghosts on x-rays.