General Care Discussion :: took my res to the vet.

[asdf0019]

i took serj to the vet to see what was up with his shell. i used sulfa-dip for 7 days and didn't help. i went to the vet and he gave me chlorhexidine to rub on his shell twice a day, and baytril to inject into him once a day! i was just wondering if anyone has had any success with these medicines.

[SpotsMama]

Both of those medications are very frequently prescribed and are good. Chlorhexidine is a general purpose antiseptic for external infections - fungus or bacterial. It doesn't interfere with tissue healing like some antiseptics do. Baytril injections are commonly prescribed for a respiratory infection and are very effective.

[asdf0019]

good! i just don't really want to inject him once a day. the vet also told me to keep him out of the water except 30 mins. a day.

[SpotsMama]

Keeping him out of the water for all but 30 min a day sounds pretty severe to me. I'd keep him out of the water most of the time but let him soak, eat and drink twice a day. Did they vet say your turtle has a respiratory infection? Or septicemia? I certainly understand about not wanting to inject your turtle - it will be very stressful for both of you! But if it's any consolation, a number of people on here have had to do the same thing and, unpleasant as it is, it works. RI and septicemia are killers if not treated aggressively.

I haven't had to do it myself but hopefully some of the people who have can give you pointers on how to do it. If it's too hard maybe the vet will do it for you.

Good luck. I sympathize with both of you.

[Bumby's Mom]

Have fun with the injections, they are NOT easy in the least bit. I just had to give my turtle injections and she hated them so much she would attack me, and she never bites me outside of water. Get a spatula and hold it to the side of her head of the arm you are using. Try injecting the needle behind one of the scales and do it at an angle. The turtle will not like this at all and neither will you. I took Nyxie back to the vet and made them do it for her second shot. Good luck. I hope your turtle makes a full recovery from whatever the illness is.

[asdf0019]

he didn't tell what serj had. he just said "fungus infection on the shell, and if he did have RI, the injections will take care of it". i've searched on the board on threads where people had to inject their turtles, and it was more than i thought.

[marisa]

I'm glad to hear you got chlorohexidine from the vet. I have it and use it both for shell issues/wounds and for cleaning sometimes. Did you bring the turtle in because you thought he had an RI? Did he have any of the symptoms of an RI? If not, the use of Baytril "in case" the turtle has an RI, sounds a little bit like overkill to me. If your turtle does have an RI, however, it should help. If you're still having trouble giving the injections, go back to the vet and ask to be shown how to do it.

[Jet]

Oh how I hated giving my turtle injections! He'd hiss I mean mouth wide open head back kind of thing. Poor guy.
I used a towel and loosly placed it over his head and upper part of his shell. While I held him in my hand. I gave the shots in his back legs as he would try to swat me with his front legs. It doesn't seem so bad doing it on the back legs. But watch out when your done, my guy kicked out so hard he launched himself. Thank goodness I was holding him over the bed so he landed on something soft.

[soopermum62]

The antibiotic shots need to go in the front legs. A turtles circulatory system is set in such a manner that the kidneys will filter out the antibiotics from the blood stream BEFORE they can do any good if the shots are given in the back legs.

[Jet]

Really the vet told me ok to go into the back legs. Seemed to work the infection cleared up. Good for future reference. Thanx!

[marisa]

I've heard that it used to be thought that injections were to be given only in the front legs (alternating) but that more recently it's been suggested that they can be given in both the front and back legs.