I never knew a turtle could hide an illness long before we ever see signs of it ~ at least that is what the vet told me.
My never-ending words of wisdom. If you see typical signs of illness (posted all over this site) take your baby to the vet. It may cost more than your budget allows, but it definately will save in the long run.
A preventative check-up is about $50 in California; a check-up and medication if they happen to have an RI is about $90.
As for my Penelope, she got so sick we had to leave her in the care of a vet (in the vet hospital) to the tune of $1523 - OUCH!!!!! Not due to neglect, just her ability to be sick and still remain active and eat everything in sight the whole time.
My little Penelope barfed back in April and had a bit of diarrhea, then life went on. Swimming, eating, basking - everything like normal. Hmmm...I should have wondered back then.
Then last month (June), right before we left for vacation, she vomitted and had diarrhea again. Since we were leaving town for several weeks, we thought we would get her checked before leaving. No sooner had we made an appointment, then...
Bam!
She was down for the count!
She 'suddenly' stopped eating, diarrhea continued, she was breathing through her mouth and sleeping like a sunken rock on the bottom of her tank.
We dropped Penelope off at the vet and let the vet 'do her thing' - here's what we found several cultures and x-rays later:
Penelope had roundworms, 'almost' pneumonia, a completely empty digestive tract, and some funky algae growth on her skin (not her shell, and not fungus).
We let the vet deworm her and assist her with feeding - aka a tube down her throat.
Penelope needed shots, eye drops, nose drops and daily soak baths. We couldn't leave town and trust someone to watch her, so she stayed at the vet hospital.
Our vacation destination was in the middle of nowhere. We were able to find a phone and call the vet. While Penelope was there, they did more tests (fecal and blood) and found the first deworming got most, but not all the worms. She also had a parasite in her blood, and they noted recent trauma (based on a level of something found in her muscles). More shots, more forced feeding and more sadness.
We got home and the vet wanted to keep her a few more days. Finally, 20 days after dropping her off, we got to pick her up and bring her home. We still have one more round of shots to finish (about 4 left), have to keep her water at 82-83 degrees temporarily, and return to the vet one more time for a re-check on August 1.
I have since removed everything from the bottom of Peneleope's tank so I can keep on eye on her bowel habits (yuk) and keep everything clean (XP3 and a vaccumn)
She has started eating again - dandelions and Reptomin. She has her sleepy days, but seems to be progressing well.
What happened to cause all this? Don't know. Penelope lives by herself, and always has.
She had an exam and cultures when we first got her a year ago, and have followed all the "turtle rules" The only outside influences have been some gold fish and an algae-eater. The algae eater was new and about 4" long, but it didn't stop her from eating it.
My guess is the goldfish or algae-eater introduced the parasite(s). The trauma probably occurred because Penelope will swim full-steam ahead towards her pellet container until she is stopped by the little thing called the side of the tank. I have no idea really. I just feel really bad because I try to do everything so carefully, and watch her every move.
My opinion: don't trust goldfish!!!! or algae eaters. They have a very strong exoskeleton (sp?) that can cause internal damage (though, not in this case), that's why the vet needed the x-rays-to look for bones.
I asked the vet how Penelope could get so sick. She told me that turtles can hide their illnesses very well if they 'want to'. Often, by the time we know they are sick, they are really sick.
There really isn't a point here, other than...if you think your turtle is sick based on symptoms - see a vet.
OK - enough, I just wanted to share my sob story. Thanks for "listening"
Any questions? let me know. I have all the technical details the vet provided (too many to write here)
