Hi all,
The neighbor brought me a female eastern box turtle that appears to have very recently been hit by a lawnmower. The carapace is not fractured - just sliced off on the left side of the dorsal. I can see the lung functioning -- no organs were damaged and there is a bit of tissue still over the lung. I have used sterile saline solution to cleanse the wound and I have set up a plastic wading pool in my guest room with newspapers for her to hide under -- she's actively trying to escape -- all limbs are working perfectly so no spinal damage. I didn't find any fly eggs, but they are so tiny, I might have missed some == a lot of mud in the cavity that I washed away with the saline solution -- I hesitate to tape over the cavity as I don't want to be pulling tape off to examine for maggots. Since she's inside the house, in a relatively sterile environment (newspapers as opposed to soil) - I was hoping I could leave the wound uncovered.
I'm in Wichita, KS and don't have access to an exotic vet (although I'm new to the area - so maybe???) I think she should have an antibiotic injection -- do you? Also, I have an antiseptic wash with an anesthetic in it (benzolkonium chloride with lidocaine hydrochloride 2%) but I don't know if I should use it since it's for external use only. I'm sure she's in pain - poor little thing, with an open wound like that. She's lucky it wasnt a 1/4" deeper or it would have pierced her lung! Oh, I blocked off the central air duct and opened the windows in the room (they have screens to prevent flies coming in) so she'll have the same temp as she's used too. Please let me know what else I should be doing and please advise on the antibiotic injection. I'm retired and on a limited income so can't afford a lot of veterinary expense, but I think I could manage one visit.
The neighbor brought me a female eastern box turtle that appears to have very recently been hit by a lawnmower. The carapace is not fractured - just sliced off on the left side of the dorsal. I can see the lung functioning -- no organs were damaged and there is a bit of tissue still over the lung. I have used sterile saline solution to cleanse the wound and I have set up a plastic wading pool in my guest room with newspapers for her to hide under -- she's actively trying to escape -- all limbs are working perfectly so no spinal damage. I didn't find any fly eggs, but they are so tiny, I might have missed some == a lot of mud in the cavity that I washed away with the saline solution -- I hesitate to tape over the cavity as I don't want to be pulling tape off to examine for maggots. Since she's inside the house, in a relatively sterile environment (newspapers as opposed to soil) - I was hoping I could leave the wound uncovered.
I'm in Wichita, KS and don't have access to an exotic vet (although I'm new to the area - so maybe???) I think she should have an antibiotic injection -- do you? Also, I have an antiseptic wash with an anesthetic in it (benzolkonium chloride with lidocaine hydrochloride 2%) but I don't know if I should use it since it's for external use only. I'm sure she's in pain - poor little thing, with an open wound like that. She's lucky it wasnt a 1/4" deeper or it would have pierced her lung! Oh, I blocked off the central air duct and opened the windows in the room (they have screens to prevent flies coming in) so she'll have the same temp as she's used too. Please let me know what else I should be doing and please advise on the antibiotic injection. I'm retired and on a limited income so can't afford a lot of veterinary expense, but I think I could manage one visit.