OMG! A cat attacked my Panther!

[Olowanpi]

Or maybe it was a bird... I don't really know, I didn't see it happen, but found her right after. She lost most of her tail and all of the skin from her left hind leg. My poor Izzy!

And of course, it happens on the weekend! No Herp vets in sight! Luckily I have Baytril, which I started her on right away... and I have completely coated her injuries with Neosporin.

She is alert, drinking water, and even eye-balling the few crickets I put in her cage. But of course, sh'e not getting around very good, and is often biting at her injuries. Once, I tried to block her from doing that and she got my finger instead! Holy Cow! She can bite hard for an injured little girl!

Biggest bummer is she is full of eggs and will be due to lay in a couple of weeks!

Anything else I should do until Monday AM when we go to the vets? Will she adapt to life without a tail? Do they grow back at all like other lizards? Any input will be appreciated. I feel so bad for her...

Thanks!

 

[Eric Adrignola]

I would hold off on the baytril until she has an infection. Topical stuff should prevent it.

 

[Olowanpi]

"I would hold off on the baytril until she has an infection. Topical stuff should prevent it. "

Really? Why? I thought maybe I could ward off infection by doing that.

 

[Eric Adrignola]

I may ward off an infection, but it will for certain, make you chameleon miserabel for a while. It's rough on their kidenys, and can kill them.

Chameleons are sensative to internal medicines. For this reason, it's usually not good to use anitbiotics in a preventative manner. They respond well to topical treatments usually. IF there is an infection then consider the general antibiotic.

 

[Olowanpi]

Thank you for the knowledge, I won't give her any more baytril... I only gave it to her once yesterday afternoon. It hasn't been 24 hours since the incident, but so far she's hanging in there. She's drinking willingly, and just ate a superworm from my hand. Her leg looks nasty from not having any skin, but its clean, and debris-free. I'll keep it covered in Neosporin until tomorrow morning when we go see the vet. Will her skin grow back again? Her leg seems to be functional, albiet very painful.

Thanks again!

 

[ColorCham427]

i hope you find what animal did that to ur poor chameleon... and then find a big snake for that rodent that did that to ur chameleon...

 

[PINki]

i hope you find what animal did that to ur poor chameleon... and then find a big snake for that rodent that did that to ur chameleon...

Thats why you don't leave the animal alone when they're in possible danger.
I'd like to see some pics of cham please..

 

[Olowanpi]

She lives outside, in a HUGE vivarium. I think she was climbing along the screen (1/2" galvanized mesh) and the bird/cat saw her tail... thinking it was a worm...

I've had my Chams outdoors for years, with never a problem, other than an occasional escape when some dummy forgets to close the door to one of them.

I have now put up bird netting which "floats" about a foot away from the screen. If a bird or cat tries to get to close, the netting stops them.

 

[brighteyez]

Yikes! Poor thing! Sorry to hear that. Unfortunately her tail won't grow back, chameleons aren't like other lizards in that way.

 

[Olowanpi]

Update!

My Izzy is a tough little girl. She's eating and drinking. She's moving around her temporary cage quite well and has gone back to her "normal" colors. I am sure her leg (and tail) are still very painful, but she tries to use them, and is doing way better than I ever expected!

Phew!

 

[Olowanpi]

Final

Sad News...

The vet, Dr. Molnar (who is awesome, by the way) had to put my Izzy to sleep today... He said the whole leg would definately have be amputated, and he was 50-50 on whether she would even survive the surgery, much less the long healing process. On top of that, she was gravid and due to lay within the next 2 weeks. He didn't think she'd lay her eggs. So then we would have to worry about her getting egg-bound. After a lot of soul-searching (and crying in the vets examining room), I had to let her go. I didn't want her to suffer anymore than she already had.

Only silver lining is that he saved me her eggs! I didn't even ask him to... he just brought them to me. She has 25 babies! I'm keeping them all.

Rest In Peace Isobelle. You'll be missed...

 

[Malicious]

Sad to hear pal, hopefully the eggs will allow her to live on.

-Jay

 

[RSGriff]

best of luck with your eggs. sorry for your loss

 

[jojackson]

My sympathy. I really wasnt expecting any other outcome so I refrained from posting.
I wish you the best with the incubation of your eggs. You made the right choice.

 

[Olowanpi]

Thank you all, for your kind words and thoughts... They were much appreciated on this horrible day.