Pixel the Panther Chameleon is Sick :(

[ChickenParmesan]

Thanks a lot for the advice, Charlee. Did your panther fully recover now?

Today i tried to get him to drink using the syringe that the vet gave for feeding (no needle). I dripped pedialyte in front of him, on his nose, etc. No go. Luckily, my boyfriend was able to force feed him a worm dusted in calcium today and later on I did see him drinking a litte off the leaves. We're using Spring water in the dripper now. His poop was orange again but hopefully by tomorrow it'll be white.

I'm also wondering if the carnivore-care food is making his droppings orange!

 

[Charlee]

His droppings will be orange because he is dehydrated. If he is not eating then you can buy supplements to put in his water that will ensure he gets the correct vitamins in him still. There is one that has electrolytes in, which is basically like a red bull for reptiles. This should perk him up slightly and may make him eat. If you are really struggling to get him to eat then get some critical care formula to put in his water, but follow the instructions to a tee.

No - unfortunately we had to put our little guy down which was heartbreaking. He was completely happy & healthy, but had a skin fungal infection. All of his spikes along his back had died and the vet removed them to see how deep the infection had gone, but upon removing the spikes all of his spine was infected and it had killed off his muscles. We were offered an operation but it wasn't guaranteed that more problems wouldn't arise. I didn't want to put him through an operation for him to just suffer with more problems afterwards

Anyway, keep us updated!

 

[ChickenParmesan]

Oh my, I'm so sorry to hear that Charlee. That sounds terrible! At least his suffering is over, poor little guy.

 

[ChickenParmesan]

Update on Pixel for anyone who is interested:

I feel like we've had a little breakthrough. Last night I noticed he was drinking a bit for the first time in a while, so I really dug deep into these forums (which are a godsend, btw) and found a string of posts by a user who had a very similar situation to ours. Her method was to mist for a long while. Thus far, our mister has been set to go off for 16 seconds every hour. While that's a lot of water, it's not a lot in one shot. So I thought I'd follow the other poster's method of long misting this morning.

Sure enough, after about a minute of hand misting and my hand falling asleep, Pixel woke up and climbed right to the middle of the plant and drank a lot! Later in the day I did it again and same...long drinks. He pooped today and it was brown with orange but also with a little white urate and the end....I think this is improvement.

This evening we took him out for his daily nursing and my boyfriend managed to get him to eat TWO worms dusted in regular calcium with betacarotene supplement so we skipped the carnivore care altogether. This is huge! He still won't eat the damn crickets, though. Anyway, we flushed his eye with the turtle drops but didn't use the ointment the vet gave. I don't want to keep switching up the regimen but that ointment seems to bother him, it stays on all day and night and it doesn't even blink out. His eye is looking a lot better in general though.

We then cleaned the mouth which is also looking great, no yellow pus or anything. His lip is still a little wavy, though. I meant to get a photo but forgot and now he's cozy back in his cage so I'll try tomorrow.

 

[Chamfan1]

My Gecko had the same thing on his mouth and he stopped eating. Go see the veterinarian when I went he gave me 2 medications.
He got better but then eventually died
Hope I helped

 

[pigglett79]

Happy to hear he is doing better. Neither of my chameleons will drink until the mister has been on for a while. I do a 3 min session in the morning, two 10 min sessions during the day and another 3 minute session about 2 hours before lights out.

 

[Julija]

Hey there!

Happy to hear about Pixel's improvements and very cool of you to post regular updates on his health. I come back to check on this thread every day

Thus far, our mister has been set to go off for 16 seconds every hour. While that's a lot of water, it's not a lot in one shot. So I thought I'd follow the other poster's method of long misting this morning.

Yes, it is crucial that misting sessions are long enough. From what I've read and experienced, chameleon's drinking reflex is only triggered after app. 1 min of continuous misting, so 16 sec was definitely too short. I am sorry I haven't mentioned that in my previous post, but very cool that you researched it and figured it out yourself. I would say 3-4 misting sessions per day of 2-3 minutes is a more preferred schedule compared to short session every hour

In regards to giving water from the syringe - I usually mist long enough to trigger the drinking reflex and then switch to the syringe, both to be able to control his water intake and to avoid overmisting the enclosure. Humidity is pretty high in itself where I live, and excess water leads to mold growth pretty fast.

All the best to you and Pixel

Julija

 

[Bush baby]

The wax worm only diet is probably a big part of the problem. Since he is sick, continue feeding those to him but make sure you lightly dust them with supplements (vitamins/calcium/D3). Once he FULLY recovers start feeding him other foods.

 

[ChickenParmesan]

Thanks so much Julija for the encouragement! And to you and Piglett about the hydration...yes, I can't believe we were doing the wrong thing with the misting. The fewer but longer sessions is working so well!! Yesterday and today Pixel ate THREE worms per day dusted in the calcium and vitamin supplement. He's doing so great!

Only problem is still with his eye. He's definitely opening it more, but it's still a little weird. And now that he's been eating more, I think his strength is getting up and he's being way more aggressive. I don't know if it's his new-found strength or if he's just sick and tired of us handling him every day (can't blame him). Either way, he's been mean and trying to bite us so much that our new tactic is keeping him in his enclosure and as soon as he gets pissy enough, we drop some food into his hissing mouth. Ha! But hey, at least no carnivore care for a few days now!

Thanks for the advice, Bush Baby about the diet. I definitely don't want to keep him on worms but he just will not take the crickets. We're going to try and pick up some silkworms over the weekend, at least that's a little variety.

 

[kinyonga]

Did you start a course of antibiotics??

 

[ChickenParmesan]

No, not yet. We didn't want to take him to the same vet as she didn't seem to diagnose him properly in the first place. So we're taking him to someone new next week.

 

[ChickenParmesan]

Good news!: Last night we got him to eat ANOTHER worm! That's 4 in a single day! After 5 days of not eating and another 5 of syringe feeding carnivore care...this is a real victory.

Bad news: our mister broke! The light started blinking and then it just like shorted out or something. Grr...only like a month old. Guess we'll be solely hand misting for a little while.

We also got him out (without him killing us) to clean his mouth, which is looking better but lips still a bit wavy. Pus is all clear though. Can anyone tell me from the photo if the mouth is still alarming?

Photos attached of his "bad" eye which is slowly getting back to normal, inside of mouth and Pixel trying to climb up my boyfriend's neck to his ear. Ha!

 

[ChickenParmesan]

Pixel has been eating a lot more and is much more perky...walking around his cage, drinking and hardly day-sleeping at all. Another huge event is I saw him extend his tongue twice!! Woo!

But a new problem is something I really need someone's opinion on: I thought he was pooping but when we took him outside today we noticed skin in the area. Is this his penis? Is it ok that it's out? And why is it like that? Not sure how long it's been this way. Please see photos, I could really use someone's help.

 

[camimom]

That's not skin.

Its a sperm plug.

Totally normal.


it will come out on its own.

 

[ChickenParmesan]

OMG, haha, forgive my ignorance! He's been having so many problems that I was sure it was something horrible. Thanks so much, camimom!

 

[ChickenParmesan]

Well, for anyone who has been following Pixel's demise...he seems to have taken a turn for the worse. He was doing great and eating all on his own a variety of butter worms, wax worms and the occasional cricket (however crickets needed to be hand-fed, he seems to be scared of them!) It's been so nice and hot out here on the east coast that we started to keep his cage outside. He seemed to love it at first, always running around the cage, etc. But early last week he looked funny to me.

Sure enough in the days after that, he wasn't eating, drinking or staying awake during the day. The problem seems to be in his eyes, they are ALWAYS closed even when he's walking around to the point where he "feels around" like a blind man. I don't think he's eating or drinking bc he can't see the food or water! But when he actually does manage to open his eyes, it's clear that he can see and follow me with the eyes... maybe it's too painful to keep them open?

Anyway, we brought him to a new vet this morning...a very reputable guy named Dr. Boren. His guess was he now has a systematic infection that is causing the fat pads behind his eyes to deteriorate - hence the closed eyes. The dr. mentioned he might have had underlying MBD early on which could have weakened his immune system to the point of this current infection. I have been trying so, so hard with this little guy and I almost wish he never showed signs of improvement bc it misled me into thinking he made a complete recovery.

Anyway, he's now on an antibiotic injection every 72 hrs for 30 days AND an oral antibiotic. We also have to give him carnivore care again on top of his regular diet. The dr said he may never use his eyes again and in that case we'd have to hand feed him the rest of his life. Poor Pixel, what a miserable existence

 

[deadhd5]

I am so sorry to read that Pixel has taken a turn for the worse. Your efforts have been heroic, so know that you did everything you could for him. It sounds like you are working with a very good vet, so he should be able to help guide you in the coming days.

My thoughts will be with you and Pixel.

 

[ChickenParmesan]

Thanks for the well wishes, deadhd5. We gave him his first shot last night (it was actually his 2nd, the vet injected him the first time.) I felt SO bad! He flinched and looked like he was screaming (if they could scream). Anyway, after that he got a little burst of energy and started drinking an abnormal amount of water. So much so that I was spraying it verrry lightly into his mouth for the better part of an hour. I went through a whole bottle of poland spring (the 16 oz size). I never saw him drink this much ever!!

Is it possible for a chameleon to drink TOO much? I doubt it but figure it doesn't hurt to ask.

Today he actually looks much better. Eyes are both open and moving for the first time in weeks...dr didn't think he'd every use them again. He is rubbing them a LOT though, on branches, my hand, with his hind leg, etc.

I took him outside and just hung out with him on a pile of branches for about an hr while my bf cleaned out the cage. We decided to completely change his husbandry to fake plants for a day or two to test. Maybe the ficus is irritating his eyes...you never know. Worth a shot!

 

[Carlton]

Thanks for the well wishes, deadhd5. We gave him his first shot last night (it was actually his 2nd, the vet injected him the first time.) I felt SO bad! He flinched and looked like he was screaming (if they could scream). Anyway, after that he got a little burst of energy and started drinking an abnormal amount of water. So much so that I was spraying it verrry lightly into his mouth for the better part of an hour. I went through a whole bottle of poland spring (the 16 oz size). I never saw him drink this much ever!!

Is it possible for a chameleon to drink TOO much? I doubt it but figure it doesn't hurt to ask.

Today he actually looks much better. Eyes are both open and moving for the first time in weeks...dr didn't think he'd every use them again. He is rubbing them a LOT though, on branches, my hand, with his hind leg, etc.

I took him outside and just hung out with him on a pile of branches for about an hr while my bf cleaned out the cage. We decided to completely change his husbandry to fake plants for a day or two to test. Maybe the ficus is irritating his eyes...you never know. Worth a shot!

The Ficus isn't irritating his eyes unless he somehow managed to get fresh sap in them. The fact that he was drinking so much indicates he was dehydrated....and dehydrated chams tend to rub their eyes as they get irritated by dry conditions (though I know he's been having eye issues in the past too).

 

[ChickenParmesan]

Yeah I'm sure you are right about the ficus, Carlton. I guess we just want to try everything. We also recently switched from Tap water to bottled spring water just in case.

But he did drink an awful lot today too which I think it's good because before he wasn't even interested. I'm hoping this means the antibiotic cocktail is working.