I don't know if there is a general answer to that question. This is the point where blood work and/or x-rays come in handy. There are cases reported where animals have bone deformities but tremors were never reported. Then there are cases where the lizard has tremors but recovers without any apparent damage. In that scenario, it would appear that tremors are not indicative of a chronic disease.



If this is a calcium-related issue, here's an idea of what may be happening. For whatever reason, the level of calcium circulating in the blood is low. It is usually dietary because the overall diet is low in calcium, high in phosphorous, and/or low in Vit D. It can also be caused by improperly functioning organs or hormones, but that is not usually the case. Low calcium levels in the blood cause the nerves to be overly excited and when they rapid fire, the twitching muscle is what we see (tetany). Tetany is just a sign of something wrong...the lab levels tell you exactly how severe it is. Since the calcium affects muscle function, any muscle can be affected, including organs.



Muscles are more important than bone (think heart), so the body needs to protect itself. It release parathyroid hormone to leach the calcium from the bones in order to maintain proper blood calcium levels. This is when blood levels get tricky. An animal can appear to have a normal calcium level in a chronic problem because the bones are providing the calcium lacking in the diet. In an acute hypocalcemia problem, the blood levels would be low indicating recent onset before the body can compensate. Normal levels with poor bone density in an xray would lead one to believe it was chronic issue.



I'm not a vet and I don't play one on TV so run any of this by your vet to make sure they concur.

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