impaction/eggbound new rescue

[RescueHerp]

First off an introduction of sorts. I have been doing herp/small animal/cat/dog rescue for years. I do have excellent access to veterinary care, anyone participating who is not offering constructive advice or attempting to flame etc will be ignored. The vet is not in the office to see this Chameleon until tomorrow so anyone that has ample experience and can contribute some advice tips will be greatly welcome and appreciated as I have done my utmost to avoid chameleons because I know exactly how tricky they can be I do have working knowledge but I know enough to know there is more to know.

Here is the story: I got a call at work from an owner, that no vets would take payments to see their chameleon and they didn't want to see her die because they can't afford to have her seen, so they surrendered her to me with "all" her stuff.

They brought me a repti-breeze with vines in it and a chameleon with paralyzed rear legs. no lights, no humidifier or sray unit or pressurized mist anything for humidity control not thermometer or hygrometer in cage the vines in the cage are dollar store decorative floral strings too small for climbing and walking on......... I could cry

she can't climb I'm syringe fed her 1cc of water this morning to prevent dehydration. I have offered her pre-wing crickets but if she is impacted she's probably in too much pain to eat same for egg bound. She had a warm bath last night (in case of impaction) and another this morning. no bowel movement nor improvement. They tail area is greying out the legs aren't controlled semi curled into egg/fetal position. I have moved the heat and UVB down to the bottom of the cage and she is laying on a blanket to insulate her from the cold cage bottom to retain heat body and still get uvb.

any emergency procedures you guys can recommend for her aside from fixing her habitat. before I get her to the vet at 9am tomorrow?

 

[RescueHerp]

I would like to note I'm not ruling out MBD seeing as they didn't bring me any lights I don't know what they had for lights on the tank. I'm not looking forward to the possibility of an emergency cessarian should she be eggbound. though I think that would be a more positive prognosis than severe MBD.

 

[Carlton]

Wow. I have to wonder whether there is something (like eggs) pressing on nerves that control her hind legs and the control of skin color change. from her posture I'd say there's definitely some MBD present too. She doesn't look massively gravid. Possibly she fell because of weakness and lack of muscle coordination and injured her spine.

 

[RescueHerp]

Thank you Carlton for the reply.

She'll be at the vet in about 12 hours she is holding on still. They dropped off her lights which aren't sufficient. The UVB light is only a 13w zoo med through a fine screen cage (repti breeze) plus its one of the parallel tube style that virtually all the UVB is broadcast side ways from the bulb mounted in a hanging dome so it was end on to the cage. There is no way this chammy was getting enough UVB now I'm leaning more towards MBD. Especially after your input.

I hope she didn't break anything. X-rays will tell the tale tomorrow

 

[RescueHerp]

Trying to get information on her care from these people is like pulling hens teeth, i asked for all the information they could give me on housing and maintinence and feeding for her and the reply was along the lines of "you know standard chameleon stuff" ..... what does that even mean?

on the bright side she is headed in should have some news in the next couple hours.

 

[JGspecial]

if they knew the standard chameleon stuff then she wouldnt be like this, "F" them. i wouldnt even call them anymore, they dont deserve to know how shes doing. what a smug answer for them to give.

 

[Carlton]

I'm sure the same attitude the owners had when answering questions was the same attitude they had when they bought her...not all that concerned about doing it right, only doing what was convenient. Kind of the same thing as feeding your dog whatever food is cheapest and easiest to haul home. If they have any compassion at all they were probably embarrassed to realize they didn't do their part, annoyed by needing a rescue to get her off their hands, and defensive because they KNOW they treated her badly. They've moved on to the next entertaining but disposable pet.

 

[KLowery88]

Such a shame... Her limbs look pretty straight though, so I wonder if it was something like what Carlton suggested and if there is MBD, it isn't too advanced. I hope the vet has more answers for you.

 

[Andee]

I hope she has something that is treatable. I don't have much information that can help right now, hopefully her prognosis is good and we can help from there. Good luck to you two.

 

[MissLissa]

Do you have a picture of her face and casque? Sometimes MBD can cause poorly formed head ornamentation as well as bowed and/or fractured limbs.

I hope the vet visit goes well.

 

[RescueHerp]

ok diagnosis is advanced MBD, through improper supplementation and lack of UVB, as we all know doesn't matter how much calcium they get if there isnt UVB. They are pretty sure there are eggs in there too they don't think she is eggbound yet.

she is on liquid calcium glubionate, and meloxicam (anti-inflammatory) and 10.0 uvb

She is eating crickets off the tongs and drinking water from a syringe.

I'm changing her habitat drastically. after removing everything that was too flimsy to support her weight she had one bird ladder only 10 inches long and a piece of grape vine. not that she can climb right now. but there was so much "foliage" crap in there even with a UVB light on top she never would have gotten any effectiveness from the light. I put a rubber liner in the bottom of the repti breez and added 4 inches of eco earth and she is laying on a cloth to insulate her so she doesn't chill from the cool eco earth. I should be getting her proper humidifier set up tonight. Right now misting is being done every hour by hand which is far from ideal.

On the bright side after 24 hours of treatment she actually tried to move her rear legs and can grip with the left rear foot but not the right rear. Time will tell, if she shows solid signs of recovery over the next week we'll keep going if not the vet wil recomend euthanasia.

MIssLissa I can get one later right now she is resting (facing the back of the cage), I have already handled her this morning for drinking, I will take pictures at feeding and watering time. I'm trying to keep hands off as much as possible to reduce stress and movement that may tire her out..

I would have updated sooner but we had a windstorm that took out interwebs for 24 hours.

 

[RescueHerp]

Oh and my wife has named her Alice (being a veiled chameleon it's a corpse bride/alice cooper song reference)

 

[Andee]

You might want to try taking her in for a shower, but you would have to sit with her in it and support her. It's what I do with my severe MBD jackson. I place the spray mostly against the wall, make it just above luke warm, and allow my body to sit half in and out of it. That way it's easier to move her in and out. I usually sit them partially in the the spray (since I can adjust my shower head to make a lighter a spray). Give her about 15 minutes in the shower, or until she seems like she wants to leave. If she's dehydrated it's a great way for her to drink her fill naturally.

If you can get black soldier fly larvae and tong feed them to her that'd be great too. Sometimes they are called phoenix worms or calci worms. They are the highest naturally calcium filled feeder and have been used to help chameleons with mbd. You can look up their calcium levels, but they are ridiculously high. All my animals, even my larger chameleon likes them.

 

[RescueHerp]

thanks ill double check with the vet about adding calci worms to the regiment. but they are easy to get ahold of. ill try the shower trick with her.

 

[RescueHerp]

Here are those pictures she ate a couple more crickets and took another couple cc of water. I'm not being casual about it it's all written in her log book.

also here is how I currently have her set up. a towel under her to insulate form the eco, standard humidifier on low flinging humidity at all times down over her, heat bulb and UVB set down close enough to be effective I have to fashion a reflector for the UVB just to sheild it from the room. I wish the repti-breeze had a cord entrance so I could set up the UVB inside the cage so the screen wasnt blocking the bulb.

 

[Andee]

I just cut holes in the screening when I need some room for a cord. But with a 10.0 bulb the screening is needed for blocking it. Otherwise it could hurt her eyes.

 

[MeruJack]

Her tail looks much lighter than it did in the first pic. Great! She sure has a cute face!

 

[RescueHerp]

just curious how many crickets should this girl be eating on a daily basis? I would hazard a guess that she is about 10+ months right now. Now that I have her eating should I let her eat her fill and just keep offering till she stops or are chammies prone to gluttony?

 

[RescueHerp]

Her tail looks much lighter than it did in the first pic. Great! She sure has a cute face!

thats a trick of the light because of how she is laying and the camera angle in reference to the UVB her tail color is unchanged, however the rest of her body is color shifting far faster last night and this morning than it was the other day.

 

[Andee]

I think females at ten months should not be eating their fill. Based upon the fact that it causes more egg production and larger clutches. However with eggs already on board I am not sure if that changes. Maybe someone else will know?