paola2mora
New Member
Hi all, I'm new to this forum but out of fear of redundancy I did try to look and see if this information is already here or elsewhere on the internet and didn't really see much.
My juvenile chameleon had surgery yesterday to remove a prolapsed hemipenis that had gone necrotic. He handled the surgery well and was active on the car ride home. The vet tech gave him his first injection of Fortaz right before we left so that I could learn how to give it to him every 3 days. I'm also to give him meloxicam every 24 hours orally, his first dose being yesterday evening.
I'm not sure if it was the antibiotic, or the drugs wearing off from surgery, or just a combination of meds and an overall rough couple of days, but by the time we got home 10 minutes later he was so weak and exhausted that he fell asleep in my arms. I'm used to dogs and cats and I remember them being high as a kite after surgery but the frailty of a small reptile going through it was alarming. It took 3 tries at over an hour each to get him to stay awake and take his meloxicam last night. He did eat one wax worm, and the vet tech said he ate 5 of them in their office, but today he doesn't want to eat.
Today he didn't seem interested at all in food or water, but after a lot of coaxing he did have quite a bit of bug juice given to him via a needle-less syringe...it was over 2 vials full. He still looks very dehydrated and I've been trying to give him fluids every hour but it's like he's still high.
He just doesn't seem like himself and I'm hoping this is a normal reaction to surgery and not a weakening of his little body from everything he's been through. He's letting me pick him up and manipulate him (like, if I need him positioned a certain way to administer medication, he doesn't struggle), and he seems to be moving extra slowly even for a chameleon. He's also happing a ton throughout the day, but it's hard to say how much sleep he got at the vet. His grip is quite strong, which I am please with...
How long should it take a chameleon to go back to normal after surgery? Is it normal for them to react like this to meds? Should he still be quite tired/loopy the day after? Is there anything else I can do to help him during recovery?
Thanks in advance!
My juvenile chameleon had surgery yesterday to remove a prolapsed hemipenis that had gone necrotic. He handled the surgery well and was active on the car ride home. The vet tech gave him his first injection of Fortaz right before we left so that I could learn how to give it to him every 3 days. I'm also to give him meloxicam every 24 hours orally, his first dose being yesterday evening.
I'm not sure if it was the antibiotic, or the drugs wearing off from surgery, or just a combination of meds and an overall rough couple of days, but by the time we got home 10 minutes later he was so weak and exhausted that he fell asleep in my arms. I'm used to dogs and cats and I remember them being high as a kite after surgery but the frailty of a small reptile going through it was alarming. It took 3 tries at over an hour each to get him to stay awake and take his meloxicam last night. He did eat one wax worm, and the vet tech said he ate 5 of them in their office, but today he doesn't want to eat.
Today he didn't seem interested at all in food or water, but after a lot of coaxing he did have quite a bit of bug juice given to him via a needle-less syringe...it was over 2 vials full. He still looks very dehydrated and I've been trying to give him fluids every hour but it's like he's still high.
He just doesn't seem like himself and I'm hoping this is a normal reaction to surgery and not a weakening of his little body from everything he's been through. He's letting me pick him up and manipulate him (like, if I need him positioned a certain way to administer medication, he doesn't struggle), and he seems to be moving extra slowly even for a chameleon. He's also happing a ton throughout the day, but it's hard to say how much sleep he got at the vet. His grip is quite strong, which I am please with...
How long should it take a chameleon to go back to normal after surgery? Is it normal for them to react like this to meds? Should he still be quite tired/loopy the day after? Is there anything else I can do to help him during recovery?
Thanks in advance!
