Meet Jack The worse case of MBD I've ever seen

[jannb]

I would like to share Jack's story in hopes that maybe it will help some of our newer member to understand the importance of having the proper husbandry, meaning lights, supplements, gut load, feeders, temps and humidity.

I received this email and pictures from my vet, Dr. Alfonso and he has allowed me to share Jack's story with you.


Hello friends. Sorry to bug you with this email but I just wanted you all to see what neglect at its finest can do to a chameleon. At the last Repticon show in Orlando we were given Jack, the veiled chameleon, which is supposedly 1.5 years old. The pics speak for themselves so I don’t need to tell you what is wrong or why I would be so darn mad.
I will be posting this on FB and also on the Chameo forums for everyone to see but you all being my closest friends get to see a sneak pic of the horrors that chameleons suffer for being so "cool".
The story as it goes is that Jack belonged to someone who owned him for the last 1.5 years. Apparently only recently Jack developed these abnormalities that are related to calcium deficiency or MBD. The previous owner took Jack to Vet near me and Jack was prescribed oral calcium glubionate, carnivore care feeding formula and, of all things, baytril. Why would anyone prescribe Baytril to a calcium deficient chameleon is anyone's guess, but this is why people lose faith in Veterinary medicine. Needless to say, the owner lost patience with Jack and his apparent lack of progress and dumped him on a coworker’s lap who turned to me for advice/adoption. Divy and I gladly took Jack in and promptly started him on a heavy dose of unfiltered sunlight with twice daily oral calcium glubionate. We are also offering 10-12 crickets daily properly gutloaded without own gutload as well as dusted with herptivite and Zoo Med's Repti Calcium. So far Jack seems to be improving and developing a much stronger grip as well as a great feeding reflex. He is not shooting his tongue yet but he accepts crickets from our hand with minimal effort. His grip is not strong enough to climb but at least he is not shaking, trembling or falling a lot.
We are not sure if he will have a good enough quality of life but we are trying to evaluate that as we go. It is simply sad to see such a wonderful specimen go to waste because of poor husbandry and neglectful ownership.

Sorry for the rant but I figured you would all understand,
Ivan
www.kirkmanareavet.com

I will keep you update on Jack as I receive up dates from Dr. Alfonso.

 

[Julirs]

This should be added to my MBD sticky.

Thanks for sharing Jann.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

The original owner should have his a-- kicked for treating any animal in that manner. He/she knew that something was wrong for months for that cham to get into that shape. Jann, good luck with him and i hope he can make a miraculous turn around for his sake. Please keep us updated.

 

[FroggtheCham]

That makes me sick......and yes please keep us posted.

 

[Carlton]

The original owner should have his a-- kicked for treating any animal in that manner. He/she knew that something was wrong for months for that cham to get into that shape. Jann, good luck with him and i hope he can make a miraculous turn around for his sake. Please keep us updated.

No, I would bet they didn't have a clue anything was wrong. If they suspected anything (and here's where the lack of concern kicks in) they might have done something earlier because their "cool" lizard was just sitting around doing nothing interesting. It doesn't excuse the neglect but may explain part of it. I doubt guilt played into them giving him up.

Poor little thing, I hope he has some quality of life from now on.

 

[jeffro]

It really is sad that people are so inconsiderate of gods creatures ! To let something so bad happen to something so beautiful is ignorant !!! This is why people like us are here so things like this dont happen !! listen if you think something is wrong with your cham ASK it doesnt cost anything and YOU WILL GET HELP HERE !!!

 

[FFSTRescue]

Some people just couldn't care less if their animals are suffering or not. When I was a tech at one of the largest humane societies in the U.S., people would drop off their animals in the worst conditions, animals of all kinds, and they just didn't care. And they couldn't be prosecuted because they were surrendering the animal to us. I used to see animals that were beaten to a bloody pulp. This one time a man covered his dog in motor oil and tried to set him on fire and it didn't work so he dropped him off to us. He had tried to lick all the oil off his skin because it was burning him that he ingested so much that it had destroyed his stomach lining and he had to be humanely euthanized so he didn't suffer further. I could go on and on for hours about all the horror stories. You can only imagine what the reptiles looked like. These people are sadists.

 

[Ocelot357]

Some people just couldn't care less if their animals are suffering or not. When I was a tech at one of the largest humane societies in the U.S., people would drop off their animals in the worst conditions, animals of all kinds, and they just didn't care. And they couldn't be prosecuted because they were surrendering the animal to us. I used to see animals that were beaten to a bloody pulp. This one time a man covered his dog in motor oil and tried to set him on fire and it didn't work so he dropped him off to us. He had tried to lick all the oil off his skin because it was burning him that he ingested so much that it had destroyed his stomach lining and he had to be humanely euthanized so he didn't suffer further. I could go on and on for hours about all the horror stories. You can only imagine what the reptiles looked like. These people are sadists.

Damn, that must've been a tough job!.Sometimes i say to myself.Animals are innocent!.....they should be the last ones to suffer.All the people that are disturbingly cruel to animals should be thrown off a cliff.

 

[FFSTRescue]

I completely agree. There is a fine line between ignorance and intentional cruelty, and it is so hard so decide which way to go when looking at an animal abuse/neglect situation. Sometimes people truly didn't know they were supposed to do something, sometimes they just don't care if they are doing something wrong, and sometimes they try to inflict pain. I think the latter two are inexcusable. I have just seen too much suffering to justify ignorance.

 

[chamelisa]

Anyhow.....

Back to the MBD veiled... This veiled can live a good life and with someone who cares. He's deformed, but he can survive just fine. I have actually seen worse. When the bones are like mush and the animal can't eat or drink and can't pull the tongue back into his mouth all the way and when it just flails its arms about without moving anywhere, that is the worst. Or worse, make it an egg bound female veiled that might be carrying about 100 eggs.

The last thing I do is point the finger at the individual who had the animal. A lot of it is just ignorance. You can assume these people don't care or are horrible for allowing these things to happen, but in most cases when it comes to reptiles, they JUST DON'T KNOW.

It is a long battle to inform people of what could and does go wrong with reptiles when the husbandry is lacking. Believe it or not, people who absolutely love their chameleons and call on me have no clue what happened to make their chameleon so sick or deformed. I've seen grown men in tears because they feel guilt over the outcome. So don't assume they don't feel guilt. Every person who brought a chameleon to me feels guilt whether the chameleon is sick or just needs a new permanent home.

There is too much to cover and there are few regulations, IF ANY, to protect reptiles from faulty products that actually hurt our animals and lights that fry them.

Before you judge the individual without knowing what truly happened or what kind of person owned it, consider that they care enough to hand it over to another person or facility where the animal WILL get care. After all, this chameleon was handed to a vet... or a friend of a vet who was sitting next to him.

To be honest, this thread got a little sickening with the dog stories. I know the world isn't a rosy place, I just try to stay positive in situations like this.

 

[FFSTRescue]

I'm glad you can stay positive while doing rescuing, it is a difficult thing to do when many negatives are seen. There is a big difference, though, between someone surrendering an animal because they know something is wrong, can't take care of it, want it to have a better home, etc, than when the authorities do (which is common as well) or because they are disposing of it onto someone else. Yes, abuse is sickening, but it still happens and it is good for people to know what people put these animals like Jack through, and that they need support and a place to go, hence the rescues that you and I have started But on the other hand, there are different levels of abuse, as I already stated, and people didn't know they were doing anything wrong, etc, but often people get an animal and get lazy about its care, surrendering it to someone else when it gets sick, just to get another one, and treating it the same as the previous one (which you see over the years working at an exotic vet clinic, and you just want to smack these people). People need to know that that's unacceptable and to learn accountability.

 

[Berg]

STICKY!!! vote here

or at least put it in the supplements thread like this is what can happen if you don't listen

 

[Olimpia]

Ignorance is the one thing I hate most in the world. I'm a super passive person, but in today's world, there is NO excuse for being ignorant. None what so ever. With the internet (which is readily available for free at many public places, the libraries, schools, comminity centers...), books (which you can also read for free at your library or book store), and TV (which for many things is an excellent source on how to care for most pets, especially cats and dogs) the fact that you didn't investigate anything about anything, is no one's fault but your own. Willful ignorance is completely unacceptable, in my book.

I'm overjoyed that Jack has fallen into the hands of the people most capable of helping him though. That is fantatic, and I hope that he manages to live well for the remainder of his life.

 

[draetish]

The fact of the matter is: Jack is a Survivor and deserves to live the rest of his life with dignity which we all know Jann will provide. You can't fix "STUPID".

 

[jannb]

The fact of the matter is: Jack is a Survivor and deserves to live the rest of his life with dignity which we all know Jann will provide. You can't fix "STUPID".

Jack is not mine. He is a rescue that my vet and his wife in Orlando took in to see if they can help him.

 

[draetish]

Jack is not mine. He is a rescue that my vet and his wife in Orlando took in to see if they can help him.

My mistake

 

[BocaJan]

Jann, that is how Vinny looked when I got him. If Dr. Alfonso is finished with his medical care and is looking for a good home, I can provide one if you bring him home with you tomorrow.

Jack is not mine. He is a rescue that my vet and his wife in Orlando took in to see if they can help him.

 

[chamlover]

Alot of horror stories. But anyone working with reptiles is used to them. I agree that in this day and age of the computer there is NO excuse for ignorance. What you don't know, you research.

I recently received a male veiled only 4-5 mos old with mbd worse than Jack. Mine got lucky. Not only did he find an owner that would love him forever no matter what, but he was an exotic vet as well!!! Made my day,week, heck month.

We also have a beardie that has been in the rescue since Nov that has mbd so bad that he's totally lost the use of 3 of his legs. Almost considered putting him down after speaking with numerous vets, but this little guy has heart and the will to live. He will be living the rest of his life with a lovely woman who will cherish him as he is.

So you see, no matter how bad some people can be, there are still alot of good people around. Many of them on this forum: trying to help other cham owners. Alot of them on here are also involved with rescues as well, as we are.. But it is good to let people see and know that there can be drastic consequences to the animals that they buy if they DON'T do the appropriate thing. My best wishes for Jack.

 

[ajacobson]

Poor guy! At least he is now in the care of someone who will take care of him!

 

[jannb]

Jack Update

Dr. Alfonso sent me an update on Jack and he is showing improvement.

He can hunt prey although not very efficiently. He can push the tongue 1/4 of the way almost to the point where you expect him to shoot it but that's about it. However, at that length, he still possesses the ability to grab prey. He took 3 big superworms from the screen one after the other and chewed normally and swallowed normally. His left eye is still deflated but at least he keeps it open. Not sure if he can see at all out of it but that's still part of the ongoing rehab.

He thinks Jack is almost to the point where he will be as good as he is going to be and then he might be ready for a new home. Naomi (Bocajan) has agreed to give Jack a loving home when he is ready.