Luie's Vet Visit Yesterday

[jannb]

When I took Luie and Camille to the vet back in Sept. for their 6 month check up I pointed out a little knot on Luie's back left leg right above his knee. You could not see it, you could only feel it. Dr. Alfonso said it was a little bone spur and to cut back a little on Luie's calcium which I did. Over the weekend I notice another little lump on the same leg by the ankle and my husband thought it looked a tad puffy. I emailed Dr. Alfonso to give him heads up on what was going on with Luie and he said he'd like to do some blood work on Luie just to make sure that everything was ok since he had a second bump appear. So yesterday I drove him to Orlando for blood work. It was so hard to see Luie get stuck with a needle......it probably hurt me more than it hurt him. I held him upside down on his back while the doc drew a tiny bit of blood. Luie was such a good boy. The doc said it could make him a tad weak or maybe turn his tail black from the puncture down but so far Luie's doing great. He's been frisky and no black tail. He checked the blood right in his office and said that everything was EXCELLENT and for me to keep on doing everything the same way as far as feeders, gutload and supplements go. I was so relieved!!!!!! Dr. Alfonso believes the first lump above the knee is indeed a bone spur and he thinks the one by his ankle is just a fatty bump. He wants Luie to loose a little weight so I'm putting him on a diet. Poor Luie.......he hardly eats anything now.......6 to 8 feeders (depending on size) 3 times a week so I guess we'll go with 6 feeders three times a week and see how that goes. I also took poop in from both my guys for a fecal and they were both clean so I am very pleased.

 

[Miss Lily]

Aww! Such good news Jann! Glad to hear that my fave boy cham (other than Tommy) is doing ok. Poor l'il man having to go on a diet though. They really don't eat much as it is do they? It's great to know that they have both been given a clean bill of health.

 

[lucky]

glad to hear! why is it that they slow down their eating as they get older?just because they arent growing?

 

[hallenhe]

Glad everything's okay with Luie! My vet takes Thaxter out of the room for the bloodwork (ever since he saw me resolutely looking the other way when the needle came out).
How old is Luie now?

 

[Lancecham]

glad to hear! why is it that they slow down their eating as they get older?just because they arent growing?

exactly and their metabolism slows down as well.

 

[luckykarma]

Great news Jann.

A diet is good. As Luie gets older he'll live longer by being leaner. I should've put Karma on a diet (350g) but he looked so happy being big. I've seen very healthy Panthers at 7 years because the keeper kept it on the lean side.

 

[jannb]

Thanks everyone for the well wishes!

It doesn't seems like he eats that much but he does have the fat pads on his casque and the fat around his ankles.

The vet tech could have held Luie for the blood work but I figured he's be more comfortable with me.

Luie's 2 and 1/2 now and I am going to feed him even less.

This pic was just made last week and you can see the casque and back ankle.

 

[panthercham]

You are going to have to get him to do a few more laps in the backyard that he is so famous for

 

[Jakedn]

Wow, he is stunning in every picture haha.

He definitely is a bit chubby though haha. How much did you used to feed him?

 

[hallenhe]

You are going to have to get him to do a few more laps in the backyard that he is so famous for

Bring him up here, and we can have chameleon races! (I only say this because my husband was encouraging Thaxter to head for his basking lamp the other night: "Go, Thaxter! Go! Hurry! Hurry!" and Thaxter was responding by moving not at all, which got us to thinking what entertaining sport chameleon races would be.)

 

[luckykarma]

Too much fat in his casque. Sorry buddy. Time to loose weight.

 

[jannb]

I plan to cut his food down some more. I want him to stay healthy. He's not active.......mostly sits in his tree all day.

Jared, when he was young I fed him 12 feeder every day, cutting back to 12 feeders every other day at about 9 months. Then around 18 months I cut back to 6 to 8 feeders every other day. I started feeding 3 days a week (Mon. Wed. & Fridays) when he was 2 years old. Today was feeding day and I only gave him 3 crickets 3 tiny wax worms and 2 tiny slivers of pear. Does that sound about right?

 

[luckykarma]

Cut out the waxworms. That's just fat. Substitute superworms, silkworms or hornworms.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Superworms are quite fatty as well, though not as bad as waxworms. Butterworms are less fatty than supers. Cabbage loppers are good too.
Maybe, since he's "dieting" fewer fatty larva and substitute roaches and similar?

I feed my chameleons about 6 days a week, but very few bugs each day (sometimes just one). They are doing well on this "diet".

Its so easy to want to over feed.

But Luie looks great if you ask me. Glad the vet gave him a thumbs up.

 

[jannb]

Thanks for the advice. I just trashed the wax worms......they were just about gone anyway. My chams had never had them before and I bought them some last month just trying to mix up their diet. Besides crickets I also have supers, dubia and Turkestan roach. Luie dosen't care much for the dubia but he'll eat the Turkestans and he loves crickets......they are his favorite. I'll lay off the worms for awhile until Luie gets down to his desired weight and then just one every now and then for a treat.