Maybe just bad dry eye?

[lele]

Cyrus (14 month Nosy Be) is still keeping his right eye closed a lot - not always. This has been going on since October (a few threads here and on the "other" forum). Vet and I have tried numerous drops, etc. Went thru the whole Vit A stuff, etc., etc. (liver, kidney, calcium numbers all came back OK, fecals are fine...)

I squirt him with Saline and he bulges it out and then he likes to press it into what ever is close at hand (my finger, if I can get to him) as this really seems to give him some relief. He rubs, but also presses really hard. As some of you know I live in dry NH and I think it is just a case of bad dry eye. Has anyone had this with a cham? Of course I'll know more come the warm, humid weather, but that is still months away!

Btw, he is able to shoot and is eating. Color is not fantastic, but I think he is uncomfortable

 

[garfield1]

Had some what of the same problem and fixed it by simply placing the Cham in the shower for a period of 30 min. 2-3 times a week and it went away in a week. Even though he apperaed to be fine, I think he was dehydrated!!!!!

 

[Brian S]

Shower and extra misting FTW!

 

[Prism Chameleons]

Brian and Garfield both give good advice. It gives him more water to try and adjust what problem he has with his eye. It could be he has something inside his eye that he is trying to remove and extra water will help him do this.

Did your vet take a real good look inside his eye? I had a chameleon with the same problem. He would rub his eye, keep the eye closed, and when I would try to help him with a soft warm shower he would bulge his eye out repeatedly, more than normal, as if trying to get relief from something in his eye. I took him to the vet and sure enough he had something very deep in his eye that my chameleon was unable to remove on his own. Check this out as it can become serious.

You may try the shower method first and see if it relieves the problem and if it doesn't, have the vet take a real good look for something in his eye; it may even be something very small that is causing the irritant.

Also, do you use a ficus tree? Some chameleons have eye reactions to ficus. If so, try changing his plant out and see if this helps too.

 

[Will Hayward]

I beleive that Lele is looking for something a little more indepth than those answers... You may not know her cage setup and etc, but she has a humidifier system that runs right into the cage interior pouring out fog nonstop. This problem is proceeded past just misting and showering more and has been ongoing for what- months now Lele? to no avail from vet help.

 

[Prism Chameleons]

Well, if that is the case and all avenues have been taken, I am not sure what more in depth answers there are. Lele asked if anyone had this experience - I have and I am sorry to say my outcome wasn't pretty.

The only other thing I can suggest is that there may be a deficiency in Vitamin A which has a link to providing healthy retinas in chameleons. If this has been taken a look at too, I cannot think of any other suggestions and it appears her vet doesn't have any either.

My chameleon had something in his eye that was barely noticeable and even flushing could not help his problem. He was acting the same way that Lele describes is happening in her case. That was "my" experience with the same problem and symptoms Lele is having with her chameleon; however, that doesn't mean that Lele's chameleon is having the same problem as mine did.

I hope your chameleon gets better soon Lele and I am sorry you are having this trouble.

By the way Will, how have you been?

 

[Fate X]

the thing is she got some issue with her eye. i have a similar issue with one of mine but her eye's been open since her vet trip in october.her eye still looks different sometimes it looks like its puffed up a little but its open and her eye is working and clear. everything else about her is normal ,she just shed ans her colors are awesome.

if i was you i would stop putting stuff in her eye and wait it would most likely open on its own.

 

[lele]

Thanks and UPDATE

The only other thing I can suggest is that there may be a deficiency in Vitamin A which has a link to providing healthy retinas in chameleons. If this has been taken a look at too, I cannot think of any other suggestions and it appears her vet doesn't have any either.

Thanks for everyone's advice, but as Will pointed out I have done all of these and the vet. What I was wondering was if anyone had experience with dry eye that lasted thru winter months then OK in warmer/humid.

Jenna, the Vit A was the first thing we tried which made not difference at all. Yes, the vet looked all around in the the with surgical binocs. Since there was no sign of oozing, crust, etc we did not go the step of actually putting him under and looking around, though I was seriously considering last night.

Well, when i watched him shoot a super this morning he did it with his right eye closed, previously he would open both to shoot. I also noticed that he seems to very slightly tilt his head a few times before moving or after settling on a branch. What this all said to me was that he was learning how to compensate with just one eye.

Then, while he was hanging out on his branch out of his cage he had his right open and I looked at it with my 16x hand lens - and saw yellow goo - this is the first sign of any outward symptom. Called the vet, he's in surgery but I will go this afternoon and he will squeeze me in b/t appts. I got some decent pics and emailed them to him so he can see ahead of time. I'll let you all know this evening how it went. Wish us luck!

 

[roo_71]

Well I have to admit that you've really tried a TON of different approaches to this problem. I am wondering if there is something going on behind the eye. That's the one place you really cant look and see what is going on. Now that you are seeing some discharge, I am wondering if there is some tpye of infection going on. I would assume the vet looked in his mouth - at the hard pallate (spelling?) - to see if any infection was breaking through, swelling of any type? Just my wild guess.

I may have missed it in the threads, but did you ever give him any injectible antibiotics?

-roo

 

[Prism Chameleons]

Hi Lele,

I have sent you a PM regarding this. Have your vet look VERY closely for an obstruction in the eye. Further information is in my PM.

My thoughts are with you both...

 

[lele]

Well I have to admit that you've really tried a TON of different approaches to this problem. I am wondering if there is something going on behind the eye. That's the one place you really cant look and see what is going on. Now that you are seeing some discharge, I am wondering if there is some tpye of infection going on. I would assume the vet looked in his mouth - at the hard pallate (spelling?) - to see if any infection was breaking through, swelling of any type? Just my wild guess.

I may have missed it in the threads, but did you ever give him any injectible antibiotics?

-roo

Hi roo- yes he did look in his mouth as did I - Cyrus is amazingly good about keeping it open - I almost expected to hear "ahhh" lol! He looked at previous visits and then again tonight and sees nothing. That is what made this so baffling, was that he was not showing any other signs. Then the edema made us think infection, but did bloodwork to check uric acid. All his numbers were fine. He was on amikacin for 3 doses with no improvement in neck edema.

lele

 

[lele]

Back from Vet

Well, we do not have a definitive answer. He anesthetized, flushed, looked all around, found nothing, applied teramycin (or tobrimycin) ointment in the hopes that if there is something in there it might adhere to the ointment and work its out, flushed again and reapplied ointment. He said the goo is coming from the lower ridge of lid/turret but was unable to get enough of a sample to determine what it is. I'll see how things go over the weekend and report to him on Monday.

He said if it is behind the eye we would need an MRI which will be prohibitive for me financially. He did mention a procedure that actually slits the turret on either side so they can fold the lids back, but he is not real comfortable doing it on a cham, has only done it on dogs.

I just can't believe I am going thru a Luna repeat - really sucks

 

[curly]

Well, we do not have a definitive answer. He anesthetized, flushed, looked all around, found nothing, applied teramycin (or tobrimycin) ointment in the hopes that if there is something in there it might adhere to the ointment and work its out, flushed again and reapplied ointment. He said the goo is coming from the lower ridge of lid/turret but was unable to get enough of a sample to determine what it is. I'll see how things go over the weekend and report to him on Monday.

He said if it is behind the eye we would need an MRI which will be prohibitive for me financially. He did mention a procedure that actually slits the turret on either side so they can fold the lids back, but he is not real comfortable doing it on a cham, has only done it on dogs.

I just can't believe I am going thru a Luna repeat - really sucks

I hope it gets better soon...keep us updated.

 

[Fate X]

how much does a mri cost?