HELP! vet treatment failing!

[ChamChiefin]

Please help I know its long and some details may have been left out
Starting from the beginning....
I own two Panther chameleons the male is about a year and four months old, i recently picked up a female Panther Chameleon that is in the age of 5-7 months old. My male panther has had an eye infection two weeks before I even got the female. The vet prescribed eye drops to the chameleon, two drops twice daily. His cage was vigorously cleaned and after one week of treatment his eyes were clear as day. The one thing I forgot to clean was the spray bottle. So as you can guess the chameleons eye was reinfected. His appetite was completely lost and the same vet that I took him back to said I was to hand feed him with a syringe, and mentioned that hes was going to give me something and never did and only gave me a refill of drops and before i could ask any questions he was with another patient. After taking the male home and continuing the eye drop treatments it had little effect. After not being able to get him to eat any insect, I went to the pet store and got fluker's repta boost and have been hand feeding him daily for two weeks now. I cleaned his cage top to bottom and my females cage also. The males eyes are still infected but he can vaugely see out of one eye (right) and the (left) eye is looking much better but still shows signs of infection under a magnified glass. My female Panther began showing signs of irritation in her left eye when i used the uncleaned spray bottle on my male and female in the same day(this was the cause of the reinfection in my male). I made a trip to the vet and when the vet looked he said that no infection was the cause of the eye problem. The vet said that he believes the eye is damaged. The eye is sometimes closed but when she hunts both are open. I noticed abnormal movements when the mist got in her bad eye (left) sort of like she was in pain but then she went back to hunting the crickets in the cage.(with both eyes open) What the hell is happening to my chameleons? can my female survive if she loses sight in one of her eyes? Is there anything i can or should be doing to help them out more?

 

[ataraxia]

We need pics of the chameleons. What type of plants, vines, are they near a vent or fan, etc. These questions can be answered in the form below.

Please fill this out so we can better help you. https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

Eye infections need to seen by a vet to successfully treat the eyes efficiently. A good vet will draw the infection and determine what type of bacteria it is and prescribe a drug accordingly. Have the vet check the roof of the mouth. If the sprayer is truly the reason for this mess, throw it out so it cant be accidentally used again. Its hard for me to believe this is the source but you learn something new everyday.

 

[Decadancin]

Even with one eye, your baby will survive as long as the issue is resolved. You may have to hand feed, but it can be done. My main concern is what caused this to begin with. Cleaning the enclosure was a great idea, but you may want to do it a few times until the issue is under control. As for the cause, I do not know. If you have another vet in the area that deals with herps, you may want a second opinion. Definitely fill out the form so we do not ask questions that are husbandry related and can see if there are issues that can be resolved.

 

[ChamChiefin]

Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Panther, Male, 1yr and 4 months old. Currently in my care for almost a year.
Handling - not often, although when the weather is nice i let them out on a safe plant to bask or out of his cage to roam, although it has been awhile since I last did that.
Feeding - My panthers diet consist of mainly crickets with super worms, dubia roaches, and now blue bottle flys for variety. The amount is about 8 crickets or 8 of whatever insect i feed that day. My panther eats everyday, well not since he has got this infection. I supplement with vitamin powder and calcium twice each week. I use flukers orange cubes to gutload crickets and roach feed and water crystals for my roaches, fly food powder mixed with bee pollen to the flys, and apples for the super worms (they get eaten up real fast!
Supplements - Not sure of the brand name, and i am currently at work and unable to look. The dusting schedule is two days each week.
Watering - A Garden misting bottle, I mist twice daily for about 2-3 minutes. Yes I actually aid my chameleon in drinking by squirting it at the bottom of his lower lip(since the infection)o
Fecal Description - dropping found two to three times a week, a little mushy but sometimes solid. Normally no orange has been seen in his droppings but I am noticing a tiny bit of orange here and there. No he has not
History - never had any problems until this infection


Cage Info:

Cage Type - Screen about 3ft tall by 2ft wide

Lighting - Unsure of lighting brand( I am at work right now) but its a 4.0 uvb 4.0
Temperature - Temp doesn't go below 75 at night and is between 78-80 near the bottom and about 82-83 degrees in the basking spot and I have a space heater in the winter that keeps his cage at around 73 in the winter
Humidity - exo terra humidity gauge. His humidity is kept in the range of 50-60% from misting
Plants - All fake vines and leaf vines and sticks
Placement - In my room, that i only use to sleep in. The height is about 2 feet above me i'm 5'11. Near a vent that is across the room.
Location - Pittsburgh PA

Current Problem - Stated above

 

[Lovereps]

Eye infections can be tough to cure. They are often part of a sinus or other respiratory infection.
Any time that my vet has prescribed antibiotics for a cham, it is for much longer than a week, as chams are slow to recover and he wants to ensure that the infection has been completely eradicated.
He has a great deal of reptile experience, so I trust his judgement.

For eye infections, the treatment has been an antibiotic ointment for the eye plus an oral antibiotic.
Maybe this is what your vet was planning to do and forgot to do.
It's also possible that a different antibiotic may be needed instead of the current one.

Vitamin A deficency has also been linked to eye problems and a vet can give a very carefully measured dose of injectible vitamin A to your cham. Home treatment is risky because too much vitamin A damages the liver and kidneys, IIRC.

In your care, I saw a few things that should be changed:
Your supplement schedule is a bit off.
The typical recommendation is to dust feeders daily with calcium without D3
2x a month dust feeders with calcium with D3
2x a month dust feeders with a multivitamin

In case you're not aware of it, UVB bulbs continue to light for a long time but after about 6 months, they stop putting out enough UVB, so replacing it with a new UVB bulb every 6 months is advised.
I'm assuming there is a basking light too and if you're sure that 82 is the basking temperature, it is actually a bit lower than advised for the males. females are often kept cooler if they won't be bred. An area for argument, I'm sure.
Have a look here for details on temps
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/662-temperature.html

Chams actually like a 10 degree or so nighttime temperature drop, just like happens in nature.

Along with more types of feeders, gutloading with good food helps chams to get all the nutrients they need. Those commercial gutloads aren't really good.
Here is some good info on gutloading:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/ferretinmyshoes/446-basics-gutloading.html

 

[Dr O]

if your water is particularly high in chlorine or some of the chlorine breakdown products, that alone can be very irritating to the eyes. dunno what kind of water you are using. if in doubt, switch to bottled for the time being.