Rescued Veiled Dehydrated and Barely Hanging On - See Pictures

[Zeus85]

We really need some help.

We are animal lovers and cant stand to see any animal suffer, so when we visited family this weekend and discovered a very sickly looking veiled, we had to act even though we have no experience with these (we have beardies.) They got him December 1st. He was being kept in a glass aquarium, no lights at all, dirt substrate, cricket diet with no gutload or supplements. They also didn't know he needed water... Some people just shouldn't be allowed to have pets.

He is now in a small ReptiBreeze cage with 50w light and 5.0 ReptiSun. Temps range from about 87 to 70 and humidity hovers around 50%. We have crickets, but he is too weak to eat. The car ride was 3 hours which I'm sure didn't help.

We brought him home Sunday and straight to the vet he went on Monday. Vet diagnosed severe dehydration and a case of pinworms which he treated. He could barely grip onto anything and would fall. We are doing the best we can, but not sure he is going to make it and we just don't know what to do. He spends most of the day laying (barely standing) in the same spot on the branch with his eyes closed. We are misting as much as possible and giving drops of food throughout the day, but he doesn't move his mouth when we put the food in, just closes his mouth and goes back to laying in our hands.

All of his ribs are showing and he looks/acts incredibly weak. I have a cool air humidifier pointed into his cage in an effort to maintain humidity. I am too afraid to try forcing water into him because I have read it is dangerous and can cause him to aspirate. Have not seen him drink much. We are starting to wonder if it would just be more merciful to put the little guy to sleep; I don't want to allow him to suffer if he has no chance of recovery. Vet said it was really up to him whether he would live or not. Here are some pics. Please help us save this little guy if at all possible.

 

[alphakenc]

Oh God,he looks so terrible,so lifless like a Egyptian Mummy,how the hell he live like this???
Im sorry that u have to take him home,cause the Vet is correct,his life will be up to God,this poor baby are fighting with his last breath,prepare for the worst!!
Can he at least stand up at all???
I highly doubt he will make it thru this terrible moments,shame on the person who didnt take any good care of him.....i guess u can keep him as comfortable as he needs ......I wont even suggest any force feeding cause the food will just sit in his throat .....poor baby.....maybe next life u be a strong human n ur pets will be that person who used to take care of you that make u become so miserable

 

[JGspecial]

id try a dropper and put a drop at a time in his mouth and try to give him something if you plan to help him live. he needs some sort of water. thats just me though, not sure if its worth the little guy trying it. im surprised with no light his bones arent broken. hope you can give him something soon!

 

[kinyonga]

So glad you stepped in to help this poor chameleon. I think I would give him a chance and decide in a few days where to go from there.

Very surprised to see that he has little to no signs of MBD under the circumstances.

Have you tried dripping water on the end of his nose...at the rate of about one or two drips per second? This will allow him to drink without having to worry about aspirating the water. Be patient...it may take time to get him started each time you try it.

There's a recipe for bug juice on this forum...I'll try to find the link. It's likely a good idea not to feed too much to start off with...but work your way up. His digestive system is likely slower from all he's been through.
You can use some baby food such as squash, sweet potatoes, etc and just ease a dropper between his lips and see if he swallows it. You can mix calcium supplements in with the baby food too.

Good luck!

 

[Zeus85]

id try a dropper and put a drop at a time in his mouth and try to give him something if you plan to help him live. he needs some sort of water. thats just me though, not sure if its worth the little guy trying it. im surprised with no light his bones arent broken. hope you can give him something soon!

We got a few drops of water in earlier today and the few drops of food. We tried a shower and my girl said he took a couple of drop in. He seems to have some fight left in him and we just don't want to give up if he wants to fight.

Anyone have experience with severe dehydration? I have heard pedialyte is good, but not sure if this is much better than water...

 

[Carlton]

We are animal lovers and cant stand to see any animal suffer, so when we visited family this weekend and discovered a very sickly looking veiled, we had to act even though we have no experience with these (we have beardies.) They got him December 1st. He was being kept in a glass aquarium, no lights at all, dirt substrate, cricket diet with no gutload or supplements. They also didn't know he needed water...

Horrible! How anyone could think this animal was being "cared for" at all is beyond me! What living creature doesn't need WATER? I'm curious...just what did you say to the owners? I hope someone in that household gets a big twinge of SHAME!!! Why don't you send them a photo of a healthy veiled next to theirs? I hope karma catches up with them quick...sorry, I know you said they are family.
Sorry, this is the second thread today about an abused neglected living skeleton and I'm appalled.

 

[Carlton]

We got a few drops of water in earlier today and the few drops of food. We tried a shower and my girl said he took a couple of drop in. He seems to have some fight left in him and we just don't want to give up if he wants to fight.

Anyone have experience with severe dehydration? I have heard pedialyte is good, but not sure if this is much better than water...

I would dilute the Pedialyte, not give full strength. Its formulated for mammals after all. The point is, it will provide some electrolytes and calories as well as H2O, so may give some energy for now.

 

[Zeus85]

So glad you stepped in to help this poor chameleon. I think I would give him a chance and decide in a few days where to go from there.

Very surprised to see that he has little to no signs of MBD under the circumstances.

Have you tried dripping water on the end of his nose...at the rate of about one or two drips per second? This will allow him to drink without having to worry about aspirating the water. Be patient...it may take time to get him started each time you try it.

There's a recipe for bug juice on this forum...I'll try to find the link. It's likely a good idea not to feed too much to start off with...but work your way up. His digestive system is likely slower from all he's been through.
You can use some baby food such as squash, sweet potatoes, etc and just ease a dropper between his lips and see if he swallows it. You can mix calcium supplements in with the baby food too.

Good luck!

Vet said he has the neuro symptoms that precede MBD, but not bone issues yet; he was definitely on the way though. Vet gave us what he called "rescue nutrition" which is basically liquid food. He didn't seem to swallow it so we backed off. Wondering if the cool air humidifier is helping or hurting. Will pick up a dropper tomorrow and try the method you suggested. Thank you so very much for the reply. We'll take all the support we can get.

 

[Captain Cook]

Wow, this makes me tear up. Such a sad state to see an animal.. There's well experienced people on here who know tons more then me. All I can say is this is motivation for me to treat my cham the best I possibly can. Good luck with this fight, I hope he pulls through.

 

[JaniP]

Oh wow, that poor baby Thank you for taking him in - even if you can't save him, you will at least do the right thing. I imagine the previous owners would have just let him die instead of taking him to a vet. How can you look at an animal that looks like that and just continue on? I'll never understand.

Lots of showers and drop water on his nose to encourage drinking. It might take him a long time to realize its there and trigger his drinking, like others said. All the best, i'll be thinking of this little guy <3<3 If you can get him hydrated and eating, I bet he will have a chance since his bones still look good (which is shocking to me!!)

 

[kinyonga]

You don't need to get some dropper. Take a deli cup or paper cup and punch a tiny tiny hole in the bottom of it so it drips at the rate of a dropper or two every second. Hold it above him so the water drips on the very end of his nose. The sooner you get him drinking the better.

 

[Zeus85]

I would dilute the Pedialyte, not give full strength. Its formulated for mammals after all. The point is, it will provide some electrolytes and calories as well as H2O, so may give some energy for now.

Will pick up pedialyte and a dropper and give it a go tomorrow. Thanks for the advice, really appreciated.

 

[Zeus85]

Oh wow, that poor baby Thank you for taking him in - even if you can't save him, you will at least do the right thing. I imagine the previous owners would have just let him die instead of taking him to a vet. How can you look at an animal that looks like that and just continue on? I'll never understand.

Lots of showers and drop water on his nose to encourage drinking. It might take him a long time to realize its there and trigger his drinking, like others said. All the best, i'll be thinking of this little guy <3<3 If you can get him hydrated and eating, I bet he will have a chance since his bones still look good (which is shocking to me!!)

I was shocked he held on this long as well. Question: for the showers, I know we bounce the water off the wall and let the overspray drip on the plant, but what about water temp? Warm? Luke warm?

 

[Zeus85]

Horrible! How anyone could think this animal was being "cared for" at all is beyond me! What living creature doesn't need WATER? I'm curious...just what did you say to the owners? I hope someone in that household gets a big twinge of SHAME!!! Why don't you send them a photo of a healthy veiled next to theirs? I hope karma catches up with them quick...sorry, I know you said they are family.
Sorry, this is the second thread today about an abused neglected living skeleton and I'm appalled.

Your reaction was mild compared to mine. My girlfriend's adult son was the owner. He has two boys and a newborn and there are issues of drug use in the home. They didn't seem to understand the gravity of the situation and we had to insist on taking him. We kind of snuck him out when the son was at work . They thought they would get their water from the crickets... I don't know how they came to that conclusion. The seller told them they needed lighting and supplements, but they said they thought they were just trying to get them to buy stuff. So ridiculous to me, but they genuinely seemed to believe that. I couldn't go off of them, wasn't my place, but she definitely broke it down for them in no uncertain terms that they should stick to caring for the kids and their dog. Believe me, I share your outrage, 100%. Worst part is, this isn't the first time. I never had a reptile until I rescued a beardie with mild MBD from them 2 years ago. Some people just never seem to learn. Willful ignorance in my opinion, all they had to do was google how to care for them.

 

[Zeus85]

Oh wow, that poor baby Thank you for taking him in - even if you can't save him, you will at least do the right thing. I imagine the previous owners would have just let him die instead of taking him to a vet. How can you look at an animal that looks like that and just continue on? I'll never understand.

Lots of showers and drop water on his nose to encourage drinking. It might take him a long time to realize its there and trigger his drinking, like others said. All the best, i'll be thinking of this little guy <3<3 If you can get him hydrated and eating, I bet he will have a chance since his bones still look good (which is shocking to me!!)

As far as the vet visit goes, I'm positive it never would have happened, the wife said so herself. My girlfriend and I are on the opposite side of that spectrum. We have three cats and two dogs and they go to the vet if they even look like they might be coming down with something. We are far from wealthy, but will go broke to make sure they get the care they need. We recently lost our 13 year old terrier to a brain tumor and we spent well over $4,000 on vet bills (money we didn't have laying around, but managed to scrape together to make her as comfortable as possible till the end.) I'd rather go hungry than watch one of my babies suffer, so I definitely understand where you're coming from. Again, thanks for the advice, we'll do everything in our power to pull him through, but it is ultimately up to him I guess.

 

[Bryonier]

I just lost my meller's chameleon to the same stupidity. I'm going to be here, cheering you on from the sidelines! I hope he makes it!

 

[carol5208]

OMG this enrages me! I have been on this forum for almost 6 yrs and the stupidity and ignorance of the human race is just appalling to me! The scariest part for me is knowing the hundreds, probably thousands of cases just like this one that we never get to see. All I can say is shame on these people. You are alot nicer person than I would have been. To treat an animal like this just brings me literally to tears. Good luck with this guy and thanks for trying. Any chance of you getting this guy out into some natural sunshine??? It does a world of good, but I don't know at this point.

 

[Zeus85]

Wow, this makes me tear up. Such a sad state to see an animal.. There's well experienced people on here who know tons more then me. All I can say is this is motivation for me to treat my cham the best I possibly can. Good luck with this fight, I hope he pulls through.

Thank you for the support, it means a lot to have people pulling for him as much as we are.

 

[Carlton]

I was shocked he held on this long as well. Question: for the showers, I know we bounce the water off the wall and let the overspray drip on the plant, but what about water temp? Warm? Luke warm?

Luke warm. Remember, what feels warm to YOU (mammal with body temp of 98.6 F) will feel hotter to a cham.

 

[Carlton]

I just lost my meller's chameleon to the same stupidity. I'm going to be here, cheering you on from the sidelines! I hope he makes it!

Please don't refer to this poor melleri as "yours". It was a RESCUE that ended up in your caring hands. You did nothing to create the bad situation...don't beat yourself up over having a heart.