How do i give a chameleon eye drops?

[enragedsoldier]

My vet gave me eye drops for my Panther Poseidon, because he has a piece of shredded skin in his eye. Only problem is i don't know how to get them into his eye because he is keeping it closed. Do i just try to gently pull his eye open or something? I'm just worried about hurting him

 

[kinyonga]

Does it open its eye when you pick it up?

 

[enragedsoldier]

not really and if he does open it, its only for a split second

 

[kinyonga]

It will take two hands to make the eye open if you're going to "force" it open so how are you going to get the eye drops in then...so personally I wouldn't do that.

If he would open his eye...you could wrap him in a towel and hold him on his side so the eye is up...then just drop a dropper of the eye meds into the eye being careful to keep any of it from going in his mouth. This would be much easier to do with two people. Even doing this he can move his eye around and make it hard to do.

Hope you can figure it out.

 

[werecat]

Yes, holding the chameleon on its side and dropping the drops in when he happens to open the eye is the best method. It usually took my husband and I together. One to hold him, one to drop the meds in. It can be tedious because once the cham gets on to you and what's going to happen they keep their eye closed. My cham got to the point where when we turned him on his side his eye would shut automatically and would open when we righted him (just like those baby dolls).

It will take patience. When my cham's eye was closed I would sometimes get him to open by gently touching his arm or even the side of is face. He is not comfortable being handled and so would open his eye to see what was touching him. Not ideal, but it worked! If your cham squirms a lot I would wrap him in a towel, but the towel was always more traumatic for our little guy than just holding him with our bare hand. When you hold him, be firm, but don't put pressure on his body. You don't want to squish him or make him more uncomfortable. I saw it as just making a firm "cage" around his body with my hand. Firm enough that he couldn't get out with squirming, but not tight.

Good luck. Ointment is easier to work with than drops, but if drops are what you have, you'll just have to work with it.

 

[richardspencer1186]

I have the exact same problem at the minute. As soon as I go near him with the drops, he either shuts or moves his eye to make it more difficult. My reptile vet is on holiday too... I was one of her last appointments before her holiday!
I'm fairly sure I've not got any in his eye yet since I got the drops on Wednesday...it just misses and goes on the surrounding eye turret.
Again help would be appreciated!

 

[richardspencer1186]

So I contacted where I got my chameleon from (chameleoco - www.chameleoco.co.UK) and Simon's advice was to either turn the chameleon upside down and he'll open his eyes or to put a drop on the closed eye slit and when he eventually opens his eye, the drop will go in. I've not tried either just yet (as I had to leave for work) but I hope this helps

 

[Ms Marty]

So I contacted where I got my chameleon from (chameleoco - www.chameleoco.co.UK) and Simon's advice was to either turn the chameleon upside down and he'll open his eyes or to put a drop on the closed eye slit and when he eventually opens his eye, the drop will go in. I've not tried either just yet (as I had to leave for work) but I hope this helps

Thank you so much for this information!! I as well, have a Veiled Chameleon named Cornelius that has had long periods, weeks, of mostly keeping his eyes closed. No drainage, no crusting, no known injuries. After reading all this information and the information on human grade eye drops that can be used safely for Reptiles I feel much more prepared and hopeful. Thank you!

 

[alphakenc]

@Ms Marty hi there ,I believe this is an old thread...I'm glad u did find your answer to your own question though.

 

[Carlton]

Thank you so much for this information!! I as well, have a Veiled Chameleon named Cornelius that has had long periods, weeks, of mostly keeping his eyes closed. No drainage, no crusting, no known injuries. After reading all this information and the information on human grade eye drops that can be used safely for Reptiles I feel much more prepared and hopeful. Thank you!

More importantly you need to figure out why he's spending so much time with his eyes shut. In most cases its not an eye problem at all...closing eyes is a symptom of something else. Solve THAT problem and the eye problem goes away too. At the top of this forum there's a post with a questionnaire (How to Ask for Help) for you to fill out so we can help you figure out what's going wrong. Many times it is due to chronic dehydration in incorrect caging or inappropriate UV lighting. The cham is keeping its eyes shut to protect them from irritation....not because there's anything wrong with them. Eye drops wouldn't help in these situations.