Iron and zinc toxicity in Iguana, vitamin suppliments the cause?

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Posted by Tricia Power on November 12, 1999 at 18:20:07:

Hello!

Sorry to be making an off topic post! Unfortunately one of my reptiles has an odd problem and we are trying to find a successful treatment for it in reptiles. (Actually my animals only ever seem to have odd illnesses or problems- leukemia, dislocated hip ...)

If you are a vet, or someone who's reptile has suffered from this disorder please contact me as soon as possible.

We have just discovered, after taking blood samples for a heavy metal toxicology screen that my adult male iguana has both iron and zinc poisoning and that the possible, and most likely, cause of this toxicity is his vitamin supplements.

We've been adding a little bit of powdered centrum vitamins to his food for three years. Centrum has 10 mg of iron and 15 mg of zinc per tablet, other vitamin supplements made specifically for reptiles such as Miner-All and Herptivite also have fairly high amounts of iron, zinc and copper in them as well. We don't know for sure that the vitamin supplement is the cause of his poisoning but it's our most likely suspect at this point. So any list members reading this who have been giving their reptiles vitamins, containing iron and zinc, on a long term basis might be interested in having their vet test their animal for toxic levels of both heavy metals. Oh and if you do test your reptile for heavy metal poisoning ... and the test come back with high levels would you please write back to me and let me know as my vet is thinking of getting a study started on this since there seems to be very little to no information about heavy metal poisoning in reptiles at all.

So ... if there are any vets out there who want to know more about this case, and who might have some ideas on therapy for my iguana, please write to me directly at mailto:dragon@icomm.ca and I'll send you what information that I have and my vets proposed treatment plan.

Thank you for your time and sorry for the off topic post!

Napoleon the Iguana's Home Page

Follow Ups:

Re: Iron and zinc toxicity in Iguana, vitamin suppliments the cause? Laura 11/12/99 (3)
- Re: Iron and zinc toxicity in Iguana, vitamin suppliments the cause? Tricia Power 11/14/99 (2)
  - Re: Iatragenic? WHY?? BabyHerp 11/15/99 (0)
  - Thanks Tricia Laura 11/15/99 (0)

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: Hello! : Sorry to be making an off topic post! Unfortunately one of my reptiles has an odd problem and we are trying to find a successful treatment for it in reptiles. (Actually my animals only ever seem to have odd illnesses or problems- leukemia, dislocated hip ...) : If you are a vet, or someone who's reptile has suffered from this disorder please contact me as soon as possible. : We have just discovered, after taking blood samples for a heavy metal toxicology screen that my adult male iguana has both iron and zinc poisoning and that the possible, and most likely, cause of this toxicity is his vitamin supplements. : We've been adding a little bit of powdered centrum vitamins to his food for three years. Centrum has 10 mg of iron and 15 mg of zinc per tablet, other vitamin supplements made specifically for reptiles such as Miner-All and Herptivite also have fairly high amounts of iron, zinc and copper in them as well. We don't know for sure that the vitamin supplement is the cause of his poisoning but it's our most likely suspect at this point. So any list members reading this who have been giving their reptiles vitamins, containing iron and zinc, on a long term basis might be interested in having their vet test their animal for toxic levels of both heavy metals. Oh and if you do test your reptile for heavy metal poisoning ... and the test come back with high levels would you please write back to me and let me know as my vet is thinking of getting a study started on this since there seems to be very little to no information about heavy metal poisoning in reptiles at all. : So ... if there are any vets out there who want to know more about this case, and who might have some ideas on therapy for my iguana, please write to me directly at mailto:dragon@icomm.ca and I'll send you what information that I have and my vets proposed treatment plan. : Thank you for your time and sorry for the off topic post!

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