General Care Discussion :: i get to work on my nursing skill { update on nimrod}

[rockstar]

took him to the vet.
everyone was amazed at how small he was {{ 8.5 grams}}
he has a vitamin A deficiancy and has a fungal issue on his shell.

tobramycin eye drops twice a day
{1;10 diluted because of his size} vitamin A capsule
{1;10 diluted} enrofloxacin


and i have to feed him ground up meat and veggie baby food through a syringe, and his medicine is through the smallest syringe they had, which is still a tab bit too big for his mouth.
if he doesnt show any signs of getting better, or signs of getting worse then there is nothing we can do to save him because he cant get injections because there is practically no where to inject him.
and in order for me to give him his medicine i have to make him mad at me so he will try to bite me so his mouth is open to get the syringe in it.. =/ for two weeks!

examination= $53
eye drops= $11.41
vitamin A capsule=$7.68
enrofloxacin=$9.60
tax= $2.52
overall=$84.21
a member of the family that just so happens to have a shell = priceless

[Starchick]

Advice on getting him mad: be patient. The first time we had to do that with Napoleon it took 45 minutes. But it got a little quicker each time.

[rockstar]

yeah.
im already trying to work on my patient skill!
i got a little bit of the medicine in his mouth, but he spit up most of it..
and then when i would try to put the thing in his mouth he would move his head alll around.
so im waiting for him to calm down a bit before i have to give him the rest.. or at least a little bit more.

but hey, if patience is what i need to make him better then thats what i will get!

[Tenodera]

Ooohh... I hope he gets better!!

[xsavingsaturdayx]

aw poor thing. I'm sure he will get better though. A lot of keepers have gone through vitamin A deficiancy and gotten out okay. Did the vet tell you what to do for the fungus? If not..you can check this out and try a less intense version of the reccomended treatment: http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/medshell.htm

I'm sure he will be okay

[Threepwood]

Good luck. Hope your turtle comes out okay.

[rockstar]

well thankgoodness at my work we have smaller syringes.. we deal with bottle feeder kittens and puppies and other animals { even amonkey once!} that need super small syringes.
so maybe tomorrow i can get some smaller ones because these syringes just are wayy too big for his mouth... and no, she didnt tell me about the fungal treatment.
thanks so much for your support!


and by the way.. baby food does NOT smell good!

[xsavingsaturdayx]

she should have told you something. if fungus is left untreated it can turn into septicemia (blood poisoining) over time. maybe someone else can give some better advice on how to treat the fungus.

sounds like you got the rest covered, though.

[SpotsMama]

On the fungus, you should probably get the other problems other control before you try to treat it as treatment can be rather stressful and you don't want to stress out your turtle until he's stronger.

Here's what I did for my turtle's shell fungus. The big difference is going to be that my turtle was grown before I ever started treating him whereas little Nimrod is tiny.

I got a product called Hibiclense at Walgreen's. It's a handwash for people. I put a little in a dish then diluted to half strength with water. I then dipped a soft toothbrush in it and gently scrubbed Spot's shell with it, taking care not to get it on his head or in his eyes. I then rinsed him thoroughly in the sink. Hibiclense is a soap so it's important to get it all off or it will be irritating. I did this every other day for a week. A couple of months later, I repeated the process.

Since the main cause of fungus is the shell not getting a chance to dry out, I dry docked Spot several times (ie, kept him out of water overnight).

I also corrected all the things that had been wrong with his setup - too numerous to list here - that caused his problem in the first place!

I think dry docking overnight would be too stressful for a little bitty turtle. If it were me and my turtle was so little I'd just keep him in a dark, safe box for a couple of hours with a towel or washcloth in it to make it soft. I'd repeat this several times over the course of a week.

Also, I would probably just rub the Hibiclense solution on his shell with a tissue or papertowel instead of using a toothbrush because it would be gentler on his tiny shell.

Of course, with something like shell fungus, the essential thing is to correct whatever is wrong in the setup so it doesn't happen again. This means the water has to be kept clean, the turtle has to be able to bask frequently so he completely dries off, he needs good UVB light and he needs a good diet with plenty of calcium. If your water is very alkaline (high ph) it's probably advisable to lower it to around 7 plus or minus a little as lower ph is unfriendly to fungus.

And...I realize that you just got little Nimrod so it's nothing that you've done that has caused this problem. Sounds like you really care about him and are making a serious effort to take care of him. Good for you - and good luck to both of you.

[DavidY]

That's good that your getting your turtle proper treatment. I hope he gets better soon. What kind of work do you do? That must be cool working with baby animals for a living. Also anything you can get into your turtles mouth will have some benefit even if he spits a lot of it out. There will still be some medication that remains inside that he will swallow, plus the medicine should start to get absorbed through his mouth immediately.

[rockstar]

as with the fungus, she didnt tell me how to treat it but i called her last night and she said how at the moment since it is very small and its in the "joints" of the scutes so when he sheds, which she said probably wont be too long, it will be easier to treat, so she said right now to worry about the things that could kill him.

and today after i my madre gets home im going to ask her to take me to petsmart.


this morning he was a bit more cooperative with the medicine, i think it was because the stuff i give him in the morning has to be refridgerated so the cool-ness felt good in his mouth or something because he only went in the water yesterday to try and hide from me { i think he knew what was coming =p}
and its very good to hear that even when he spits out most of it some of it is already being absorbed.
because i think i got more of that vitamin A last night on my hand then he got in his mouth!

and its not as much as a living, as volunteering, but i do more things there than the people who work there do, im just a year too young to be hired.
oh, and as for the type of work i do, its at the humane society. i mainly get to work the the newborns, make sure they are healthy and get them to good foster homes.
and the monkey.. wasnt a baby.. it was huge.. and not to mention.. scary! he almost strangled me ! long story.. that we arent here to talk about.. maybe some other time.

[jenaero]

So he's not eating voluntarily? I had to give oral meds to my boxie and I found it easier to inject a worm with the meds and then he'd eat that... but his appetite was good.

[rockstar]

no, he isnt eating voluntarily.
thats why i have to syringe feed him nasty stinky baby food.
all he does is sleep on the back of the rock formation.. thats why im a bit confused of the fungal issue, because isnt htat caused by the water?
and he hasnt been in the water for at least two weeks.. well at least not voluntarily.. i had to put him in the water, and spray him with water.
but whatever.. im working on fixing htis problem, if the little goober decides he wants to eat on his own then there is always food available.

[virusspawn]

hey how big is your turtle

[rockstar]

1 and a half inches