WIGAN OBSERVER (UK) 13 December 07 Coma coma coma coma coma Chameleon

A pet lizard has been nick-named Lazarus – after apparently rising from the dead.

Upset owners of the rare chameleon were about to dispose of the motionless creature when they asked leading town centre vet Richard Weston to take one last look.

Miraculously, he found a tiny pulse and, after micro-surgery on the operating table at Wallgate's Anrich Veterinary Hospital, the reptile has made an amazing recovery.

After X-raying the Asian animal – famed for being able to change colour to suit it's environment – Anrich found the lizard was egg-bound.

Principal Anrich vet Mr Weston then carried out an ultra-delicate emergency operation to remove the clutch of eggs.

He says it's his first lizard Caesarean in 30 years of practice.

More than 48 bean-sized unfertilised eggs were removed.

In the wild they can take up to two years to hatch.

He said: "I have always found surgery interesting, but nothing is as satisfying to a vet than when a complicated delicate problem goes well.

"This wasn't the first chameleon I have seen but the first with egg-bound problems.

"Most of us in general practice are not experts in these exotic species, but here at Anrich I have a good friend who is an exotic species vet and in cases such as these I contact him and get his advice on how to proceed.

"He advised me to inject with a medicine to try and stimulate egg passage, but this was done several times through the day, to no avail.

"I agreed to operate the next day and remove the eggs.

"But the owner phoned to say the chameleon had died and she went to work intending to come home and bury it in the afternoon.

"When she arrived home, she was stunned to find the chameleon up on her tree large as life.

"She brought her in that evening and I, another vet and two nurses, removed the eggs and neutered her so that it won't happen again and the chameleon has now made an uneventful recovery."

In 1988 the Anrich practice was granted the prestigious Veterinary Hospital Standard status.

The practice has dealt with all manner of animals – including injured owls, hawks and tarantulas.

But the chameleon isn't the strangest pet Mr Weston has ever been asked to resuscitate.

He said: "I remember a client who came into my consulting room but with apparently no pet in hand.

"When asked what I could do for them, they pulled out a match box and when opened, out popped a cockroach.

"Somewhat stunned, I confessed I didn't know a great deal about them, but asked what did they want to know.

"Is she pregnant?' was the question and I laughed because I thought it was a joke. It wasn't and it wasn't April 1 either!"
Coma coma coma coma coma Chameleon

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• GBR Press: Coma coma coma coma Chameleon - W von Papineäu, Sat Dec 22 18:05:32 2007