Advice on deworming please

[batchick]

Hi all

I have just given Ned a soak as he was seeming a little lethargic (he's an adult angulate who lives in our garden, so doesn't get frequent soaks). He urinated in the water and after getting him out I noticed that the urine and urates were wriggling. Looking closer, there were tiny worms.
Can someone advise on treatment? We are in South Africa, so probably don't had the same brands of any meds that you have - so active ingredients to look out for would be great. Any naturally deworming plants?
Thanks.

 

[Eweezyfosheezy]

I recommend to get a stool sample and take it to your local vet (preferably a reptile specialist), you need to find out which exact parasites he has and which exact meds he will need to take if he does in fact need meds.

 

[Yvonne G]

Here in the states we use Panacur (fenbendazole) for the parasites you can see (round worms, etc.) and Flagyl (metronidazole) for the amoeba type. But you'll have to get your dosages from your vet.

 

[batchick]

Thanks. I think we get panacur here. Am taking the dogs to the vets for their annual shots on Monday, so I'll chat to them then. I was surprised to see the worms in the urine.

 

[batchick]

I lucked out. There's a new vet at our clinic who has three tortoises and so knows them well. Nice to know there is a vet local to us who doesn't have to rely on google.

 

[batchick]

Does anyone know how long drugs to clear the parasites should take to work? The Vet gave me two syringes of meds - one at the time of the visit and one for three week's after the visit. I gave Ned his first dose of meds getting on for a week ago and have just been looking at his poop and there are still plenty thready worms there. I'd have hoped to have seen some impact - am I hoping too much?
I think the Vet thinks all should be resolved after the second dosing. After how long from the second dosing should I expect there to be no parasite?
Thanks

 

[Thalatte]

The first dose basically kills the worms so he will still poop them out. Usually by the end of week two to middle of week three is when you will see a decrease in he number of worms. Then the second dose will kill any eggs and worms that the first missed.
Are you making sure to clean and sanitize his enclosure after every poop?

 

[batchick]

Thanks Thalatte. The worms still looked pretty lively. He doesn't actually have an enclosure - he has the run of the whole of our back garden (We're in South Africa and in his natural habitat). I'll keep an eye on what passes and report back to the Vet after the second dose.
I've got a Vet who has three tortoises of the same kind as ours and he seems to know his stuff.

 

[Thalatte]

Well that's different then. But you should still pick up the feces if you see them.
Good luck with the deworming!

 

[batchick]

Will do. He largely goes in the same part of the garden.

 

[Thalatte]

Wish mine would do that...he goes in his burrow which is really hard to clean.
The reason for picking up after him is so that he doesn't get reinfested.

 

[batchick]

I guess we're lucky with him. For some reason, he has always headed down the passageway towards the compost pile to go. Nice and easy to tidy as that area's paved. It also gives me a chance to check on his general health - clean walkway = not pooping tortoise.

 

[biochemnerd808]

When treating with fenbendazole, you will still see some live worms in the stools - but they are weakened by the meds, so they got flushed out.

I found that 2 weeks was too long a wait between treatments. In that time the kind of worms Mo got had already laid eggs that hatched and matured enough to lay new eggs. So it was recommended to me to do a 3rd and 4th treatment, this time only 10 days apart. Fenbendazole is very safe, as long as the tortoise gets enough water (I fed a little wetter food than normal and gave extra soaks, plus Mo always has access to water). Mo had a really bad case of worms, for a few days he pooped solid globs of worm bodies. The second round (so the 3rd/4th dose 10 days apart) knocked out the worms, finally.
If the worms your tortoise had were a bad enough case to be able to see them with the naked eye, being pooped and peed out, then a 3rd/4th dose might be necessary, and I'd recommend having that set of dosages only 10 days apart, not 3 weeks.

Good luck!

Thanks Thalatte. The worms still looked pretty lively. He doesn't actually have an enclosure - he has the run of the whole of our back garden (We're in South Africa and in his natural habitat). I'll keep an eye on what passes and report back to the Vet after the second dose.
I've got a Vet who has three tortoises of the same kind as ours and he seems to know his stuff.

 

[batchick]

Thanks. I caught Ned peeing today and there are plenty of visible worms in the urine, so I think I will chat to the vet about increasing the dosing. Ned also is thirstier than usual. It might be because its summer, but I'm starting to think it might be related to the parasites.

 

[biochemnerd808]

Any update?

Thanks. I caught Ned peeing today and there are plenty of visible worms in the urine, so I think I will chat to the vet about increasing the dosing. Ned also is thirstier than usual. It might be because its summer, but I'm starting to think it might be related to the parasites.

 

[batchick]

Thanks for checking up. No. I will chat to the vet when I do the second dosing. It has been a crazy week this side and just haven't had moment to get to the vet. The challenge is that taking him to the vet in the afternoon slot, after work, in very stressful for the tortoise as that is when he is all active. So maybe Saturday morning slot.