Sudden decline in health...How to keep him comfortable?

[Decadancin]

Best of luck! I will be praying for you!

 

[Bush baby]

We eagerly await an update..

 

[jannb]

I am so sorry to hear that Max is not doing well. I hope the vet will work his magic. Keep us posted.

 

[Psychobunny]

My heart goes out to you and poor little Max.

Nothing is more frustrating then a sick cham, and you don't know why!!??
Unfortunatly, this is too often the case, since they hide their illness so well.

Please keep us posted on what happens and what the vet says

 

[szpond]

Thank you all for your very kind words.

He was such a great boy, and I'm sad to say that I made the decision along with my veterinarian to relieve his pain and put him to sleep today.


Unfortunately, there were no clear-cut answers. Even during the 1-hour carride he seemed to decline further and further. The doctor was extremely respectful. She felt him over and over trying to find something she may have missed. She offered to inject him with fluids, she worried of an infection, some sort of organ failure. She was stumped, herself. It seemed as if every second was precious with Max.

I felt as if he had suffered enough. He could no longer keep his eyes open. He could no longer hold himself up. Tears and all, I decided to let him go into her caring hands.

 

[Carlton]

Because it has been rather frozen lately, I cannot get any silkworms or dubias through the mail. I am able to purchase hornworms, crickets, and superworms by my home. He has been refusing hornworms for the past few months. Has always loved crickets.

So in the winter, I vary my gutload as much as possible and I feed him the usual staple of crickets and treat superworms. Occasionally a butterworm if the reptile place has them in, which is rare.

I use Sandrachameleon's dry gutload and the wet gutload is usually just alternating chameleon-safe fruits. I also allow cricket gel, obviously. Right now I have an apple/butternut squash cube in there. I use the blend-and-freeze method. Last month I was using more greens than fruits. I try to mix it up as often as I can. But I did get the fruit/vegetable list off of chameleonforums, so I am sure that they are safe fruits and vegetables.

Based on your husbandry info and the pic of a beautiful well cared for jax, it may have been something that just couldn't be diagnosed externally. As you said, age unknown, and things do happen other than the usual MBD, oversupplementation, dehydration problems we see so often.

Sorry he's gone. A necropsy might ease your mind that your obvious care wasn't the issue.

 

[Chameleon Creator]

Did you ever test for parasites? Do you know what was ruled out? I hope this experience doesn't keep you from getting another chameleon..
I think you should look more into it and try and find out why, so next time if this happens to you or someone else it can be hopefully avoided. I had to put my last Cham down and it was very hard.

 

[Bush baby]

Sorry for your loss.

You should definitely try to find out why, so you know what to look out for next time.

 

[szpond]

Thank you for all of your kind words. It has all come so quickly. I am missing him so much already.


I was not offered a necropsy, but I would have been interested to know of the procedure. I'm uncertain if this vet performs them.

Parasites are a possibility. From what I read, chameleons can go quite a long time without any signs of parasitic infection. He was never tested for parasites.

Another possibility is kidney failure (I'm not sure if I mentioned above). After his surgery he was on Bayril for a little while. That may have taken a toll on his kidneys, even if he was well hydrated at the time of antibiotics.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I'm so sorry for your loss. You can call your vet tomorrow if they still have him there to ask if they would be able to perform a necropsy. Right now actually my veiled George is doing the same kind of thing where he went downhill so quickly and is just sitting on the bottom of his cage uninterested in life for the most part. His bloodwork shows early kidney failure. That could have been what happened to your Max. May he rest in peace.

 

[szpond]

I'm so sorry for your loss. You can call your vet tomorrow if they still have him there to ask if they would be able to perform a necropsy. Right now actually my veiled George is doing the same kind of thing where he went downhill so quickly and is just sitting on the bottom of his cage uninterested in life for the most part. His bloodwork shows early kidney failure. That could have been what happened to your Max. May he rest in peace.

I am glad to see your reply, Ferret. I am sorry to hear about your boy as well. After bloodwork, what are your plans for George? What sort of steps are there to take for organ failure? Would the correct thing to ask the vet to do be to take bloodwork, perform a necropsy, or both? Would bloodwork be reliable even after passing?

Thank you for the post, Ferret. Sorry for all of the questions. Looking for reasons, closure at this point.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I'm sorry I didn't see your thread sooner to respond earlier. You can't do bloodwork after they pass, just a necropsy. A necropsy will be good for anything that looks abnormal, such as tumors or enlarged organs or an intestinal blockage. If there's organ failure but the organ hasn't changed shape or size it may not be evident on necropsy. Once they go into organ failure there is not much you can do in most cases except make them more comfortable, so I don't think you did the wrong thing for Max. I made a thread for George on what I'm doing for him to share and learn from him. https://www.chameleonforums.com/george-hospice-123478/

Again, I'm very sorry about Max. He was in excellent hands and had a good life with you.

 

[Decadancin]

I'm very sorry to read this. I would guess that age and kidneys are a combined cause of the sudden demise. Sorry for your loss. Thanks for Doing all you could for him. RIP little one.