Veiled Abscess Help

[VeiledChloe]

I noticed a small lump between the eyes of my veiled chameleon, Chloe, a couple of weeks ago. It hadn't changed at all and my husband was very much against taking her to a vet. Over the past week, she had developed another lump near the first one and also one near her right eye. The first one has now grown.

I took her to the vet Wednesday and had a fine needle aspiration done to find out they are in fact abscesses. She is my first reptile and I feel awful I hadn't fought harder to take her to the vet earlier. My husband is now all for treating her, but I have doubts. I have been in constant touch with the vet, asking questions and expressing concerns about surgery. My main concern is preventing this from recurring.

We live in northern PA and I did have trouble keeping the humidity up (lowest was 40%) for about 2 weeks in February when it got really cold out and the furnace was running a lot. Also, she had about a 2 foot fall, inside her enclosure, 3 weeks ago. She got right back up and never showed signs of injury. Chloe is eating and acting normal. The vet said the information I provided all looked good.

Can anyone help with ideas of possible causes? I don't want her suffering anymore, so at this point, I'm thinking try surgery and if they're too bad then telling him to put her to sleep.

Below is the information I emailed the vet before our visit:

Chloe was in a glass 18x18x2 enclosure for the first 6 months we had her. She was about the size of my pinkie (minus tail) when we got her at a pet store last May.

Current Enclosure: 2x2x4 with pet screen sides. She has 1 live pothos plant at the bottom that's working it's way up as a vine. She has always been housed in our closed bedroom to help lessen stress.

Heat/UV: ZooMed Powersun UV - 100 watt (new in February)

High temp: 85-90

Low Temp: 65-70

Humidity: 60

Water: Chloe's enclosure is sprayed 3-4 times daily. She normally drinks from the water bottle once daily.

Food: 10-12 crickets daily. Dusted with Fluker's Calcium with Vitamin D twice a week
Crickets are fed carrot, sweet potato or applesauce baby food and white potato chunks

Bowel Movement: Every other day, black with white (vet said normal)

Last shed: March 22, 2013.

Eggs: She laid 46 eggs on January 5, 2013

I don't have any straight on pics of her right now, but here's a side view where you can see a small bump near the front of her eye and the original, now larger bump on top of her head.

 

[Kate]

Hi welcome to the forum. Your set up looks good. Your supplements are off though. She needs her feeders dusted with plain calcium daily and calcium with d3 twice a month also multivitamin twice a month. It is difficult to say why this is happening but sinus infections cause the bumps you are seeing. I had a Cham with an abscess like yours and it was caused by being bitten by a locust inside his mouth while he was sleeping. He had surgery, antibiotics and recovered well.hope that helps. Keep us posted about surgery.

 

[VeiledChloe]

Thank you Kate. I will look into those vitamins right away. I should know when surgery is as soon as the vet opens this morning.

 

[Kate]

Thank you Kate. I will look into those vitamins right away. I should know when surgery is as soon as the vet opens this morning.

Will keep fingers crossed for you both. You said you would look for Vits You also will need plain calcium without d3 for everyday.

 

[VeiledChloe]

Will keep fingers crossed for you both. You said you would look for Vits You also will need plain calcium without d3 for everyday.

Monday morning is the soonest they can get her in. I will get the vits and plain calcium tonight or at the latest tomorrow morning. Thank you so much!

 

[Kate]

Monday morning is the soonest they can get her in. I will get the vits and plain calcium tonight or at the latest tomorrow morning. Thank you so much!

You are welcome. That's what we are here for.

 

[Carlton]

Monday morning is the soonest they can get her in. I will get the vits and plain calcium tonight or at the latest tomorrow morning. Thank you so much!

These abscesses seem fairly common and probably have a variety of causes, but if they are cleaned out correctly they can heal just fine. I had a verrucosus with one that created a hole from the top surface of his snout through to the inside of his mouth...we cleaned it out and he was fine afterwards (the vet and I were stunned when we found the extent of the abscess). Herps do many things slower than mammals...these probably develop fairly slowly over time before we notice them.

You won't really know until the vet opens them up whether they have spread internally (into other sinuses or the eye) or not, so take this important first step before making any other decisions about her. What you DON'T want is to treat her with surgery only (no follow up with systemic antibiotics) or with oral antibiotics only (without opening and clearing out the abscesses themselves).

 

[VeiledChloe]

You won't really know until the vet opens them up whether they have spread internally (into other sinuses or the eye) or not, so take this important first step before making any other decisions about her. What you DON'T want is to treat her with surgery only (no follow up with systemic antibiotics) or with oral antibiotics only (without opening and clearing out the abscesses themselves).

Thank you Carlton! When we visited the vet on Wednesday, he did say we could possibly start antibiotics, but he strongly advised not to unless we planned on doing surgery. He did mention that I'd need to give her injections daily for 2 weeks after surgery and I think that's what worries me the most. I'm going to ask him about injecting into her food instead. I got a confirmation call today verifying I drop her off at 8:15am on Monday morning.

I did manage to travel to all of the local pet stores and finally found plain calcium powder for her. I got the multi-vits also. Any idea why plain calcium powder is so hard to find? Is it possible to use the spray or drops I found at the other stores if the one store that sells the powder is out?

 

[Kate]

You cannot control how much calcium you are giving with sprays or drops. I think the misconception that chameleons need d3 at every feed has not reached pet shops yet. The two veileds I had we're given d3 at every feed because I was told to by reptile shop and I trusted them. Needless to say they did not live very long. I think a lot of us do the research and order on line. She looks quite chunky so I would opt for the injections, they work better with a severe infection. Ask you vet to show you how to do it. When I have done it ,it was into the back thigh. It leaves a dark mark but that goes in time.

 

[VeiledChloe]

Thank you again Kate. I'm just worried I will do something wrong and hurt her worse. I'm sure all will work out in some way.

 

[Kate]

Mine was on Baytril and I was given the correct dose in each syringe. Kept them in the freezer until needed. Warmed it up with my hand and popped it in, and he doesn't hate me.