General Care Discussion :: taking my turtle to the vet - need info/help

[insane]

Hello, im taking my adult RES to the vet next week for checkup, and im assuming she has RI, i was wondering how i would know if she gotten better already from the antibiotics after seeing the vet and taking the antibiotics.

please give me as much info as you can, like how the vet could tell my turtle does have RI, take x rays?

[whereswares]

i'm unclear if you've already taken the turtle to the vet, been prescribed antibiotics (baytril) and are now taking the turtle in for a re check? or self prescribed antibiotics and are taking in for the first time next week? i would take him today if he has runny nose, goopy and/ or swollen eyes a hard time breathing, is lethargic. those were most of the symtoms of an uri, your animal could have one or all the listed symptoms. i've never heard of an x-ray used to diagnose an uri before but i don't claim to know that much about turtles. i could be completely off base here.

[megcornell]

Insane- are you going in for a check up or for an initial visit? If it's the first visit, what makes you think she has an RI?

I have been through two RI infections, one with each turtle. Both showed improvement a few days after I started treatment but I went through all the antibiotics to be sure, which lasted a few weeks. The best way to be sure your turtle is over her RI is to see that she's no longer listing, and that her energy and appetite have returned. Since relapses can happen it's important to do the entire course of the antibiotics so you're sure you've wiped out the infection.

The way my vets ( I went to two different ones) determined the RI was on a physical exam. My hatchling was too small for diagnostics, and my larger male was showing so many symptoms they didn't put him through the stress. I also didn't want to pay hundreds for scans that would confirm the obvious.

[insane]

thankyou both

i have taken one of my res to the vet before ( which is dead now ) and the vet neither didnt know what he was doing or he didnt bother, he just looked at my turtle and said she wasnt when she was, so im unsure about a lot of things right now.

my adult res that im taking to the vet soon is going to the vet for the first time, i saw her opened her mouth and i want to take her to the vet for a checkup and to meg: my turtle has always been eating so that wouldnt be a sign for me to tell if shes getting better

[TheComputerGremlin]

insane - You saw her open her mouth? Just once or twice? Or is it "open mouth breathing"? Turtles yawn and taste the air and water, so just opening the mouth isn't a good symptom. RIs usually have symptoms of lethargy, lack of eating, frequent sleeping, too lazy to bask or to get off of the basking platform, open mouth breathing, snot bubbles around the nostrils. I'm not saying it's not a good idea to go to the vet, it's good to see a vet before it's an emergency. I just don't want you going in expecting an RI and then saying the vet was bad because they didn't diagnose that. Read up on RI symptoms on here and on the main site, you can even print that out to take to the vet.

[insane]

yes i've seen her opened her mouth more than once, with this sound also, and my other vet WAS bad cause i knew for sure my baby res had RI

[steve]

Are there any other symptoms? Can you describe the sound?

[marisa]

Is the sound a clicking sound, like when some goes "tsk?"

[megcornell]

Are you going to a different vet this time around I hope?
It can take some work to find a good herp vet but they're really invaluable.

[insane]

yes the sound is like tsk almost like a popping sound :\

yes iam going to a different vet this time, and if anyone cares the last vet wasnt a herp vet, but i just knew they see reptiles.

iam kinda stressing if the new vet is any good, but we'll see. thanks everyone

[marisa]

The sound you describe can be one of the symptoms of RI, I'm assuming other RI symptoms are present as well?