Sub Q worms questions (experts please)

[Edward Kim]

Hi all,

So I currently have an animal with an obvious subcutaneous worm. This will be my first sub worm infection and would like to hear some ways others have dealt with this. Of course he will be going to the veterinarian later this week. If you could mention the antibiotics used how the vet extracted the worms and whether the animal showed further infection or even if it survived.

Thanks,
Ed

 

[ciafardo 4]

Chris at cleanline chams just had a post removing one not long ago

 

[ChromaChameleons]

Some good info from Jim Flaherty's ChamCo site...

http://www.chameleoncompany.com/Medical.html#anchor_50

 

[chamelisa]

Hi all,

So I currently have an animal with an obvious subcutaneous worm. This will be my first sub worm infection and would like to hear some ways others have dealt with this. Of course he will be going to the veterinarian later this week. If you could mention the antibiotics used how the vet extracted the worms and whether the animal showed further infection or even if it survived.

Thanks,
Ed

Hi Ed!

Dr. Stein showed me how to remove them. You may want to see him. It's fairly easy.

 

[Edward Kim]

Elisa,

I'm not fimiliar with Dr. Stein. Could you give me a contact number?

Thanks,

Ed

 

[Syn]

I believe she is talking about this Stein.

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, san-serif]Geoff Stein, DVM
Dr Shipp's Animal Hospital
351 Foothill Rd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Tel: (310) 550-0101

You may check this out as well. http://www.herpvetconnection.com/calif.shtml
[/FONT]

 

[PardalisGirl]

My own experiences....

Most of my breeders are WC so I've seen lots of the filarial worms. I've also seen one case of a captive bred cham that had a round worm (GI tract worm) migrate to the skin. At first I had the vet remove them after putting them under anesthesia. Then a great WC Tamatave did not wake up from the anesthesia. It was pretty sad. I've done my own necropsies and knew other breeders took the worms out themselves so I started doing it. I've probably done over twenty such procedures. I've removed as many as twenty worms from a cham and removed one from the eye turret. I won't describe how I do it here. I think anyone who wants to start doing it should see a vet or another knowlegeable keeper do it.

The thing to realize is that filarial worms are very different from GI tract worms. They originate and live the first part of their life as pre-worm organisms in the bloodstream. Then they migrate out to the skin. They are spread in Madagascar by misquitos. I suppose that could happen here in Florida but have not heard of cases of it happening. There is NO safe treatment to kill the organism in the blood. Ivermectin will do it but will usually kill or weaken the cham in the process. I don't consider it safe to try.

You can find yourself with a WC cham who is totally loaded with them in the bloodstream. You can remove the ones that migrate to the skin. But they don't just migrate to the skin. They can migrate all over the body and through the organs. I've done necropsies where they were everywhere inside the body but only a few under the skin. The cham looks great for awhile and then goes downhill for no "visible" reason. That's why necropsies are so important. It's also why wild caughts are great for breeding projects but not for the typical person who wants a longer term pet.

Good luck getting the worm out. Don't let my stories scare you. Most of my filarial worm stories were good ones. A worm or two removed and no issues later on. Only a few ended up with bad internal infestations. Just wanted to explain how those things live in our chams.

 

[chamelisa]

Elisa,

I'm not fimiliar with Dr. Stein. Could you give me a contact number?

Thanks,

Ed

Hey Ed,

LOL! Syn is right on top of it I see. That's the one, he's in Beverly Hills. For a lesson in removal of sub q nematodes, it's worth the drive.

 

[Chamgirl]

My wild caught Ankaramy panther had filarial worms when I first got him. He had three (I was told there is always a minimum of three). He had three seperate operations to remove them using disolvable stitches. He survived Ivermectin and is still with me three years later. In England we are not allowed to remove the worms ourself, it is an offence to not take a sick animal to see a vet.