# Honey, the natural miracle for chelonia wound care!



## zesty_17 (Nov 13, 2011)

I have posted a few times about using honey for wound care, so here are some links for those interested in learning more about the good properties. 

I started using honey when our former vet began telling me of its healing properties with no side effects about 4 years ago. Then, I attended the turtle survival alliance conference last year and there were several vet presentations from all over the country & internationally with some amazing injury and recovery photos of turtles, along with the scientific data(sorry i dont have a copy of this, when i get it i will post it) of why it works. Essentially, honey works like hydrogen peroxide, drawing and eliminating the bad stuff from growing, while being mild enough not to kill healthy cells and perhaps encourage new growth, it also reduces inflammation. People always ask me about ants, and i have never seen any ants when using, not sure why. 

Some of the more current shell wound care for chelonia includes honey and honey comb specifically, using dry docking(for aquatic turtles) and packing the wound with comb then using suction to draw out the infection. Old ways of epoxy are being challenged (and thrown out) due to new techniques of wiring the shell together with clamps, zip ties, screws, etc with great success. 

Turtle/various issues i have used honey on... box turtle cloaca swelling, water turtle shell injuries, aldabra cloaca prolapse, softshell foot injury(mangled from another trying to eat it!), mud turtle face injury(abrasion), dart frog prolapse, scorpion leg injury(broken-honey acts like glue & promotes healing), lizard tail injury(lost tail & regenerating), lizard toe injury(cut end off), dolphin/manatee skin issues(fungal, abrasions, etc), my own cuts scrapes, etc... and i am sure i have forgotten some. Honey has also been used a lot with livestock prolapses/swelling usually interchangeable with sugar(reduces inflammation)

sites:
(if you don't want to look at all of these, i recommend the first 2 and last one)

http://www.manukahoneywoundcare.com/


http://blog.jekyllisland.com/uncategorized/what-do-bees-and-sea-turtles-have-in-common/

http://home.earthlink.net/~rednine/firsaid.htm

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Use-of-Honey-in-Wound-Care&id=2138362

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2008/nov/28/honey_may_be_key_ingredient_wound_treatment/

http://www.aiuc.it/upload/documenti/7/47/POG_FINAL_JWCpubl.pdf

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...sg=AFQjCNFMdXuODRd1B3xvnyHTf9E0d5r_ZA&cad=rja

http://www.benthamscience.com/open/tocvj/articles/V003/72TOCVJ.pdf

"Honey is another ancient remedy that is gaining renewed popularity as alternative treatments for antibiotic-resistant bacteria are pursued. Both honey and sugar paste are considered useful as topical antimicrobial agents, primarily as a consequence of their high osmolarity and ability to minimize water availability to bacteria (163). Although the dilution of honey in the presence of wound fluid is likely to reduce the efficacy of its osmotic effect, the slow and sustained production of hydrogen peroxide by some types of honey (e.g., manuka honey) is capable of maintaining an antimicrobial effect at a concentration approximately 1,000-fold lower than that commonly used in antiseptics (i.e., 3%) (163). Also, components of manuka honey such as flavonoids and aromatic acids, demonstrate antimicrobial properties (163). Honey is also an effective wound deodorizing agent, and this effect has been attributed to the rich supply of glucose that is metabolized by bacteria in preference to proteinaceous necrotic tissue, resulting in the production of lactic acid and not the malodorous compounds generated by protein degradation (163). The observed benefits of honey in infected wounds may also be attributed to the high glucose content and low pH, both of which are stimulatory to macrophages (56).

Despite the multifactorial benefits of certain types of honey in the management of many wound types, widespread acceptability is likely to be slow at best. This assumption is based on the fact that such therapy is ancient and therefore represents a regressive step rather than advancing toward new and innovative therapies, and it is also based on the wide variation in potency that exists in honeys derived from different floral sources (163). "
http://cmr.asm.org/content/14/2/244.full?ck=nck


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## Yvonne G (Nov 13, 2011)

Thanks, Krissy...'preciate it!


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## zesty_17 (Nov 13, 2011)

Amazing paper, i think this is the presentation I saw last year... sorry for the length. it has great photos though. 

http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-....,cf.osb&fp=d013020512624b3e&biw=1024&bih=390








emysemys said:


> Thanks, Krissy...'preciate it!



anytime! I actually used honey today, on a froggie's bum! lol.


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## ascott (Nov 13, 2011)

Very awesome!!!!! I LOVE HONEY....not to eat, can not stand the way it taste....but have used it myself as an aid....however, this is great information here and it is laid out well, I will absolutely save it.....


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## CtTortoiseMom (Nov 13, 2011)

Wow, really cool.


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## stephiiberrybean (Nov 13, 2011)

slightly off topic but we used Manuka Honey to heal my horses leg.
He had a wound so deep you could see his bone. It was very gory and almost killed him. Within a few months it was fully healed with a tiny little scar! 
It was amazing how quickly it worked to heal the cut up and cover the bone. It kept it from getting infected too and was so easy to use.
When the vets first said they were going to treat him with honey I honestly thought they were crazy! Now I use it on all wounds on all animals. 
Amazing stuff.


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