RI and some other stuff

[zlew]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Ambilobe Panther Chameleon, 14-15 months old, male, named Captain. Had him since November 30.
Handling - Once a day or less. Once he's out he is totally fine, but he doesn't like my hand in his cage unless I'm feeding him. He also loves showers, so I try to get him in one at least once a week.

Feeding - He gets fed every other day, with treats in between. He really, really, loves crickets, so I've been gut loading them well (lettuce, carrot, potato, sweet potato, apple, baby spinach, etc.) He doesn't go for roaches, hornworms, phoenix worms he used to but not so much these days, but he'll eat the soldier flies. Recently I've tried silkworms which he seems to like, I haven't given him a full meal of them yet because they aren't big enough.

Supplements - Calcium w/o d3 every feeding
multivitamin twice a month
d3 twice a month.

Watering - Mister that goes off every 2.5 hours for four minutes. He also has a chameleon cantina running full time.

Fecal Description - Has not been parasite checked.

History - Recently finished antibiotic treatment for an RI, but is still showing symptoms.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Reptibreeze XL

Lighting - 75watt basking spot lamp and a reptisun 5.0 tube.

Temperature - basking spot around 100 degrees, recently i had a 100watt there and it was up to 112, but he wasn't burned and spent most of his time there, so I'm wondering if my probe is working right. Bottom of the cage about 68, low seventies in the middle.

Lowest overnight temp? Probably around 63 degrees, according to my thermostat.

Humidity - I use a probe, and it is about forty percent ambient-ly, with spikes and drops in concurrence with the misting schedule.
Plants - None at the moment, but I'm getting a money tree and a pathos which should be arriving within the next two weeks. Otherwise everything is artificial.
Placement - Cage is in my bedroom, the top is 6 feet above the floor. Not near fans or anything, but is next to a window, but he can only see the sky.
Location - NY

Problem--Still showing RI symptoms after antibiotic treatment. Wondering if it's something else. Also, he pooped this about five minutes ago, and it really doesn't look normal to me. Any thoughts? I'm trying to get my parents to bring me to the vet to have a fecal done.

 

[Mike Fisher]

Do you have a photo of the chameleon? Also, what brand of calcium?

 

[zlew]

Rep-cal for the calcium without D3
Reptocal and Reptolife (tetra fauna) for with D3 and Multivitamin.

 

[Mike Fisher]

Is that a photo of how he looks today? Also, regarding the RI, what symptoms specifically? The weird looking poop is most likely because the antibiotics killed all beneficial gut bacteria.

 

[zlew]

Thats from about a week ago. He is asleep now. He likes to nestle himself in the leaves, so if I need to take a pic now, he'd be woken up. Is there something specific you're looking for that I may have not recognized as a symptom?

 

[Mike Fisher]

Thats from about a week ago. He is asleep now. He likes to nestle himself in the leaves, so if I need to take a pic now, he'd be woken up. Is there something specific you're looking for that I may have not recognized as a symptom?

Swelling in the throat or puffy body.

Edema can mimic a lower respiratory infection because fluid build up in the lungs can cause coughing.

 

[zlew]

I haven't particularly noticed a puffy body or throat, but I will look in the morning unless you recommend waking him up if it is urgent. What would the treatment be? What are the causes? I was able to get a fecal sent in, I will hear back tomorrow.

 

[Mike Fisher]

I haven't particularly noticed a puffy body or throat, but I will look in the morning unless you recommend waking him up if it is urgent. What would the treatment be? What are the causes? I was able to get a fecal sent in, I will hear back tomorrow.

No, don't wake him. It was just something I thought of that does not respond to antibiotics, and the symptoms can mimic LRI. Check it out in the morning.

 

[zlew]

Alright. I'll reply with more developments once I do. Any wisdom on the poop? It looked weird to me.

 

[deerharvester]

I was wondering what antibiotics your vet administered? Did he just give you baytril, or did he culture the saliva and do a sensitivity test? Btw, sounds like you're going in the right direction i know it can be very worrisome/frustrating when you feel your chams health isn't a 100%. Good luck, and your cham is very Beautiful.

Scott

 

[Mike Fisher]

Any wisdom on the poop? It looked weird to me.

I already mentioned that. I mill down probiotics to dust on crickets after any antibiotic treatments.

 

[zlew]

I was wondering what antibiotics your vet administered? Did he just give you baytril, or did he culture the saliva and do a sensitivity test? Btw, sounds like you're going in the right direction i know it can be very worrisome/frustrating when you feel your chams health isn't a 100%. Good luck, and your cham is very Beautiful.

Scott

We was on Enrofloxacin Suspension, there weren't any cultures or tests run, because vet said that he wouldn't be able to find anything in a culture, because of benign bacteria that could be in his mouth. He though the viscous saliva could mean dehydration, and that if he wasn't better after extra mistings and showers, that he would prescribe antibiotic.
Thank you for the kind words

 

[Mike Fisher]

We was on Enrofloxacin Suspension,

AKA, Baytril. You still haven't mentioned symptoms. Is he coughing or just thick mucous in the mouth?

 

[zlew]

No coughing, just strings and bubbles. There was a little bit of popping noise going on before the antibiotic, but that cleared up before he was even on the meds.

 

[Mike Fisher]

No coughing, just strings and bubbles. There was a little bit of popping noise going on before the antibiotic, but that cleared up before he was even on the meds.

That's symptoms for URI. I've had good results by swabbing out the mouth twice daily with a q-tip soaked in reptaid. That's in addition to antibiotics. Don't go crazy with the reptaid, just enough to dampen the q-tip and get the mucous out of the mouth.

 

[zlew]

Does he need another course of meds? I haven't seen sold gunk. Also, I'm looking at the repeated on amazon now. If it's a supplement, should I be giving him a dosage as well as the swabbing?

 

[Mike Fisher]

Does he need another course of meds? I haven't seen sold gunk. Also, I'm looking at the repeated on amazon now. If it's a supplement, should I be giving him a dosage as well as the swabbing?

I wouldn't use a dosage of antibiotics and reptaid at the same time, I only use it as an antiseptic in this case. It would be up to a vet to decide to continue the antibiotics. In either case, swabbing out the excess mucous from the mouth won't hurt anything.

 

[zlew]

Here are the pictures from this morning

 

[Mike Fisher]

He looks good, no obvious problems from his appearance. I'd follow the vets advice regarding the antibiotics and try to swab the excess mucous from his mouth on occasion. Whatever you do, don't use a dry q-tip, that's very hard on the membranes. I used diluted hydrogen peroxide before I discovered Reptaid.

 

[zlew]

Well, he's off the antibiotics, so does it make sense to give him a small does of reptaid?