Melissa Herman
Member
Yesterday I took my 5 month old leopard tort to the vet for the first time! I've only had Moby for a little over a month now, so I wanted to go in and see if I had been taking care of him correctly. The vet I took Moby to is Dr. Shawn Hook in Madison, Wisconsin (on the tortoise vet list on TFO).
90% of the information I have is from this forum, and I'm trying not to learn as I go. I am trying to educate myself on everything beforehand as much as possible, and the vet was impressed with how much I knew compared to most coming in with baby torts. He asked where I learned such accurate, good information and I told him about TFO briefly.
In result of my researching I've, so far, been raising Moby healthily and correctly! My little baby got man handled by the big scary vet man, and he hated him so very much! It seemed like he knew the vet was coming, and he stored extra pee just for vengeance... Because he was a little turtle pee fountain on the Dr., it was hilarious.
There was only one small issue, his plastron shell was a little bit soft. Dr. Hook told me that I should add a vitamin supplement into his diet a couple of times a week to help with this, as well as doing calcium on his food more often than I was (maybe twice a week at most).
I used a recommended vet off of the list on this forum, Dr. Hook in Madison, Wisconsin. The vet seemed very well educated, and so did his assistant! She seemed almost as educated as he did about tortoises. As far as physically handling my tortoise, the assistant didn't even touch Moby. The doctor was a little bit rough, so it seemed to me, with my tort. He held him upwards almost the entire time he spoke to me, which was quite a while, and Moby obviously didn't like it. He peed ALL over him in he best of times. When the vet was trying to open his mouth to take a look, he kind of scuffed and scratched Moby's mouth with the metal tools he was using. But after about an hour they visibly went away. Other than that, it was great.
I wasn't sure what to expect with my appointment with Moby, and what I would hear as feedback. Everyone in the office was really nice and well educated. The doctor almost seemed more like a salesman than he did a vet at times, but I suppose you do what you've got to do. I was content with the knowledge of the staff, but I was a little disheartened by the slight roughness with my baby.
No staff had weighed my little tort, and it completely slipped my mind while I was in there. I feel like that's really important information that they missed out on, and so did I because I have not invested in a scale for my little dude Moby, yet.
90% of the information I have is from this forum, and I'm trying not to learn as I go. I am trying to educate myself on everything beforehand as much as possible, and the vet was impressed with how much I knew compared to most coming in with baby torts. He asked where I learned such accurate, good information and I told him about TFO briefly.
In result of my researching I've, so far, been raising Moby healthily and correctly! My little baby got man handled by the big scary vet man, and he hated him so very much! It seemed like he knew the vet was coming, and he stored extra pee just for vengeance... Because he was a little turtle pee fountain on the Dr., it was hilarious.
(STRAIGHT FORWARD INFO BELOW)
Were there any medical problems with my tort?
How was the vet with your tortoise?
What's your over all opinion about your experience?
I do have one complaint...