Gout in chameleons

[Picks]

Pickles was spayed in December. She did great but the last 2 months hasn’t eaten like she used to. I spoke with my vet and we tried cutting back to feeding every third day instead of every other day. I took her in last week for a 6 month check up after being spayed vet noted she looked great but we still did bloodwork to confirm everything ok. Surprise her uric acid levels were high and my vet called me this morning with additionL bloodwork info and her bloodwork is showing signs of gout. No nodules in joints. We are giving weekly SQ fluids and I added a second dropper. She has a fogger that runs at night and a MistKing that runs several times throughout the night. Does anyone here have any experience with gout in Chams and possible causes. Of course I am
looking at my husbandry to see what I can improve upon. Sorry for the length. She is on Allipurinal and Rehmannia.

 

[Beman]

Gout most commonly is linked to a lack of proper hydration. With this being said it can be an indication of something worse.
It often indicates an issue of renal function. If the kidneys are struggling to function correctly you will see high levels of uric acid in the blood work. As this gets worse you see the physical signs of gout in the joints. I would speak to your vet further about this.

I would make sure you are misting morning and late evening as well so she has the opportunity to drink. Alot of Veileds really prefer moving water to drink from. With the fogging at night make sure your temps are nice and cool. They should not be any warmer than 67ish if you are fogging at night. If it is too hot you increase the chance of her developing an RI.

 

[jannb]

How often are you using D3? Excessive vitamin D3 supplementation can result in organ toxicity, gular edema, metastatic calcification, gout, and pseudo-gout (calcium-like deposit).

I would recommend low protein feeders such as silkworms and hornworms. No dubia or crickets.

 

[Picks]

Thank you Janna for that info. I did a youtube talk yesterday searching for help and some answers to what I can do to help her. We are first time Chameleon owners and I hope to have her around for a few more years. I did learn that I should try cutting down on protein. Didn’t know about cutting back on D3 which I was dusting dubias with twice a month. I will take all advice and try. I learned my hydration schedule is pretty much on point and her urates are white. I took a fecal in on Friday and it was unremarkable. Yeah. Again thank you all for your input. She was given to me with some problems because the previous owner could not care for her. We want to learn

 

[JacksJill]

The diet your dubia are fed can cause gout. If your dubia are fed a high protein diet they can store uric acid and cause gout. Dubia should never be fed dog food, cat food, fish food, seeds or nuts. If they have ever been fed an incorrect diet they should never be used to feed a chameleon.

 

[snitz427]

I have an old cham who barely drinks… in anything short of a full day of rain outside. He developed acute swelling in one foot and bloodwork showed his uric acid was mildly elevated (but not in medication territory).

His treatment for his flare up was lower protein and extra hydration. But how do you hydrate a cham who hardly drinks? I use a needless syringe full of water at feeding time. After he swallows the bug and begins licking his lips, I drop 1 drip at a time on his nose, which pools up at the crease of his mouth. I repeat that until he stops licking it - which is much longer than he’d normally drink. Sometimes I run the mister immediately after eating, for the same effect. I do this for my female parsons, too. She loves the syringe/water and would drink a quart of water from it if I let her!

That helped his flare up tremendously, coupled with less protein and cutting back d3 to 1x a month in winter. My chams are outside from spring thru fall so d3 is only used in winter. They also get a lot of water outside - this guy’s just an old knucklehead!

 

[snitz427]

I also only feed my dubia fresh veggies. I do occasionally offer them bug burger, which likely has some protein in it, but they get it maybe 1x a month along side their veggies.

 

[snitz427]

. If they have ever been fed an incorrect diet they should never be used to feed a chameleon.

Thats interesting - and not something I considered! My colony is mostly self-populating at this point, but I did have to restock it a few times last year. Hadn’t considered the idea that my supplier’s feed could be contaminating my feeders (russian roulette). Its a reputable place but something I will be more critical of in the future!

 

[JacksJill]

Thats interesting - and not something I considered! My colony is mostly self-populating at this point, but I did have to restock it a few times last year. Hadn’t considered the idea that my supplier’s feed could be contaminating my feeders (russian roulette). Its a reputable place but something I will be more critical of in the future!

Their offspring should be safe but the adults store uric acid.

 

[Picks]

Pickles was spayed in December. She did great but the last 2 months hasn’t eaten like she used to. I spoke with my vet and we tried cutting back to feeding every third day instead of every other day. I took her in last week for a 6 month check up after being spayed vet noted she looked great but we still did bloodwork to confirm everything ok. Surprise her uric acid levels were high and my vet called me this morning with additionL bloodwork info and her bloodwork is showing signs of gout. No nodules in joints. We are giving weekly SQ fluids and I added a second dropper. She has a fogger that runs at night and a MistKing that runs several times throughout the night. Does anyone here have any experience with gout in Chams and possible causes. Of course I am
looking at my husbandry to see what I can improve upon. Sorry for the length. She is on Allipurinal and Rehmannia.

 

[Picks]

Thanks for the info on feeding your dubia roaches. I do feed mine vegetables I,e, carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli stems and greens. I do add in Flukers bug chow. I feel silly but I am going to go run and look at what is in the bug chow mix

 

[Beman]

Thanks for the info on feeding your dubia roaches. I do feed mine vegetables I,e, carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli stems and greens. I do add in Flukers bug chow. I feel silly but I am going to go run and look at what is in the bug chow mix

What greens are you using? Make sure you are not using spinach. It is calcium binding. Do not use the flukers. It has a higher protein level but also they add in a lot of other stuff.

 

[Picks]

Thank you . I will toss the Flukers. No I did read about spinach. I buy dandelion greens when I can

 

[Picks]

I am learning so much. Thank you everyone