Hi all,
I've outlined this concern in my introduction but would like to open it up here for feedback. My turtle, Napoleon (western painted turtle, 7+ yrs old) recently had a bout of pnemonia. He had stopped eating, and was breathing heavily, but what panicked me enough to rush him to the animal emergency room was that over the course of a day, his color changed from greenish black to a paler green that clearly shows his markings. The change occured on the front half of his carapace, and was clearly marked, in that his front scutes changed color, and the back ones did not. There was no gradation. I was told by two vets that it was probably a vitamin A deficiency and to push foods high in that. So we have done that, but rather than see improvement, we've seen the back half of the carapace slowly fade to match the front, and the plastron seems a bit dull as well.
Does anyone have any input on the situation? I've been told that because of his age the color may not return, but I want to be certain that we're clear on what's causing it, and do the best we can for him. So any questions, comment, ideas and input are welcome and appreciated!
