# is deworming common?



## ColleenT (Mar 30, 2016)

I deworm my horses and my dogs. Should i be worried about deworming my box turtles? they eat worms and mealworms and will soon be moving into an outdoor enclosure. They seem healthy. Do you deworm your turt/torts?


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## hingeback (Mar 30, 2016)

I deworm my tort


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## wellington (Mar 30, 2016)

An animal in my opionion should never be wormed unless they have worms. I never wormed my dogs, cats, horses, torts, etc, etc, unless their was a parasite present. This is also why I will not use the newer type of heartworm med that also is suppose to protect against a couple other types of worms. If there is nothing there, why give poison to your animal. 
So, no, unless it/they have worms


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## ColleenT (Mar 30, 2016)

Ho would you know? Are there signs of parasites?


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## wellington (Mar 30, 2016)

You have to take a fecal into the vets and have them check it.


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## mike taylor (Mar 30, 2016)

Yes there's signs . You can look at the poop you'll see them under a microscope . Most tortoises will get runny noses or wheezing sounds. At lest that is what my reds did . You can take your tortoises poop to a vet and pay 25 bucks to have fecal test done . If one sample has worms ,worm them all . Then clean bedding and put down diatomaceous earth in outdoor enclosures to kill any bugs/ worm in the ground .


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## ColleenT (Mar 30, 2016)

sadly i cannot take my turtle poop in for $25. The nearest vet who sees reptiles wants a $125 fee to come in first. Just for the initial visit. i know this b/c i had called about my Dart frogs about 1.5 yrs ago. They won't do a fecal without an overall exam first which is pretty pricey if you ask me. I guess i can afford it, but it makes me angry to have to pay such a high price for an initial exam.


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## mike taylor (Mar 30, 2016)

I had to pay for a office visit ,but now since they are in the system I can just drop off my samples. They charge me 25 bucks a sample . That's why I mix the samples in one jar and take that in . If it comes back positive all of them get wormed . With reptiles weight is a big deal . So weigh your tortoises once a week . If they start to drop weight something is wrong .


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## Linhdan Nguyen (Mar 30, 2016)

My torts parasite was visible to the eye . It was all in his poo and soaking water. The exam fee was $82 and a fecal test is $35. I didnt get the fecal test though since the worms were visible and she could tell what kind of parasite it was under the microscope. Of course she still suggested that it be sent out for testing


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## hingeback (Mar 30, 2016)

I saw a ton of tiny white worms wiggling on her stool when I got her.


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## ZEROPILOT (Mar 31, 2016)

My vet also wont do a fecal exam on a tortoise that she has not first seen.
If you SEE parasites in the poo, there is a problem and a high parasitic load. Otherwise, it has been my experience that most tortoises will have some parasite eggs in the poo if looked at under a microscope. Some vets will suggest that you treat, while others will say that the amount doesn't warrant it.
So while it would be somewhat normal to see a few eggs in the poo.(Under a microscope) It is not O.K. to see actual live worms in the poo.
Eggs get passed as part of the life cycle of the worms. Worms being passed would indicate a very high number of them.
I had an issue with round worms about two years ago that needed to be treated with three of my tortoises. A vet will weight them and give you the amount to administer. In my case it was Panacur. Same as for horses. It was quickly cured.
I would not attempt to give treatment by guessing how much to give or what strength of the drug to purchase.


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## ZEROPILOT (Mar 31, 2016)

ColleenT said:


> I deworm my horses and my dogs. Should i be worried about deworming my box turtles? they eat worms and mealworms and will soon be moving into an outdoor enclosure. They seem healthy. Do you deworm your turt/torts?


My dog is on heart worm prevention and was treated for tapeworms that were visible in her poop as a puppy. (Twice) A pill and then a shot. Two different drugs. Not panacur.


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## Kori5 (Mar 31, 2016)

My tortoise was lethargic and not eating much so we took him to the vet. They took a fecal exam and 2 types of worms were found. He was given 2 rounds of panacur. And after a few days he became more active and had a great appetite. I wouldn't deworm him if there wasn't a reason. He does spend half the year outside so parasitic infestation was possible. What I observed is after the drug, his stools became loose and it took 2 months for them to come back to normal. His gut flora was probably affected.


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## deadheadvet (Mar 31, 2016)

We allow clients to bring in fecal samples without an exam. That being said, if the fecal is positive we can not by law dispense any medication without an exam of said animal. There must be an established veterinary-client relationship in order to legally dispense any medication. So for those of you who call and want meds w/o an exam, now you know why we will always say no.


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## ZEROPILOT (Mar 31, 2016)

deadheadvet said:


> We allow clients to bring in fecal samples without an exam. That being said, if the fecal is positive we can not by law dispense any medication without an exam of said animal. There must be an established veterinary-client relationship in order to legally dispense any medication. So for those of you who call and want meds w/o an exam, now you know why we will always say no.


Thanks for that clarification. It makes perfect sense.


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## ColleenT (Mar 31, 2016)

deadheadvet said:


> We allow clients to bring in fecal samples without an exam. That being said, if the fecal is positive we can not by law dispense any medication without an exam of said animal. There must be an established veterinary-client relationship in order to legally dispense any medication. So for those of you who call and want meds w/o an exam, now you know why we will always say no.



Totally reasonable. It's just hard to justify the cost of $125. I would happily pay up to $85 for an exam, but i hate that the closest reptile vet is charging that much.


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## FujiBaird (Mar 31, 2016)

If you are just curious about the potential presence of worms, a non-reptile-specific vet may be able to examine your stool sample for the presence of parasites... I guess they look similar across many species. A dog/cat vet office did that for us (~$25), and when they found a worrying level of parasite eggs, we took Roma to a reptile vet for a confirmation fecal & treatment (~$85). 

Roma had diarrhea and was not consistently putting on weight, stuck at around 90 grams, until after the parasites were treated. He's been growing like a weed since!


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## deadheadvet (Mar 31, 2016)

We send all fecals out to a reference lab. There are very specific parasites that tortoises get that do not require deworming. I do not deworm for Pinworms (Oxyuris) or Nictotherus nematodes. They are not harmful and if misinterpreted on a fecal exam, you could be potentially doing more harm than good by deworming. Panacur which is commonly used, can be damaging to the tortoise if given too high a dose. Some dewormers will affect appetite as well.


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## deadheadvet (Mar 31, 2016)

As far as the charge for the reptile vet, can not comment as to that charge. It could be said that it is a total of the exam plus fecal, etc. If it is just for the exam, than you are paying to see a specialist. I recently had a tortoise of my own that had a bladder stone. I don't have the equipment to do a plastronotomy, so I shipped her to another vet for surgery. great outcome, back to normal, eating well. 2,000$ was the cost. Wasn't going to let the tortoise die.


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## ColleenT (Mar 31, 2016)

i think i am going to look around for a less expensive reptile vet and hopefully find one. I'm not looking for bargain basement prices, i just feel that price is a bit high. My turtles show normal looking fecals and i am fairly sure they are doing ok. they are eating and soaking on their own. I guess that will be ok until i find someone.


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## Jodie (Mar 31, 2016)

ColleenT said:


> sadly i cannot take my turtle poop in for $25. The nearest vet who sees reptiles wants a $125 fee to come in first. Just for the initial visit. i know this b/c i had called about my Dart frogs about 1.5 yrs ago. They won't do a fecal without an overall exam first which is pretty pricey if you ask me. I guess i can afford it, but it makes me angry to have to pay such a high price for an initial exam.


That stinks. I would check around. My close vet doesn't do exotics at all, but will do a fecal for me. They send them out anyway. My tortoise vet is a long way away, and dog and cat vet is very close.


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## ZEROPILOT (Apr 1, 2016)

Just a thought.
I printed out photos of parasite eggs as well as worms common in my tortoises and for $30 scored a very high quality Japanese high powered microscope at a yard sale.
Another $20 for a box of glass slides and I was ready to do my own diagnosis. (before calling the vet)
There are a lot of things in tortoise poop that can look like eggs, but only worms look like worms and not everything is dangerous, as previously posted.
I'm anxious to take one of my diagnosis to the vet and see if she agrees next time. However, all test so far have been clear. I check maybe one random poop every 2-3 months.
Eventually I'm hoping to be able to self diagnose my own tortoises and treat by weight. (Clearly, I'm NOT at that point yet.) And thankfully, it seems as though worm infestations may be in my past.
I'm not planning on adding any other tortoises to my small herd.
B.T.W. I also spent over $2,000 nursing a sick tortoise back to health. 
You can only do what you can do.


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