Our visit to a reptile specialist

Moozillion

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Yvonne is about 2 hours south of San Fran and I'm about 3 hours south of her.

Just guys might just have to journey south a bit and visit some friends!

Thank you for the informative thread on your vet experience.

Good to know!!!! :) I'll mention it to hubby!
 

Moozillion

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SHE'S HOME!!!!!!!! :)
We just got home a little while ago. I set her in her tank on top of some of the plastic plants so she could rest in the water. She sat there for about 2-3 minutes, took a long hard look at her new basking platform and decided it looked suspicious. She suddenly scrambled down to her favorite corner under her heat lamp and is still there now.

She has a followup appointment next Thursday with Dr.Rich: he'll have a look at her, float her and draw blood to make sure her blood cell counts are back to normal. :)

I was anxious to get her back into her tank and settled down, so I did not even try to look at the red spots on her legs- they're fading anyway.

@Markw84 Mark, the doctor was not available when we were there to get her, so I was not able to ask him more questions about the Baytril. I will certainly see him at her appointment next week, so I will ask him then. :rolleyes:

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Markw84

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Good to know!!!! :) I'll mention it to hubby!

Don’t forget to visit the Turtle and Tortoise Resort.

2 hrs east and a bit north of SF
Then 2:45 to Yvonne’s
Then another 3 hrs to Tom
From there about 3 hrs to Olivenhain

Glad to hear Jacques is home. Hope the recovery continues with no issues
 

Moozillion

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Don’t forget to visit the Turtle and Tortoise Resort.

2 hrs east and a bit north of SF
Then 2:45 to Yvonne’s
Then another 3 hrs to Tom
From there about 3 hrs to Olivenhain

Glad to hear Jacques is home. Hope the recovery continues with no issues

What is the Turtle and Tortoise Resort?
 

Moozillion

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Don’t forget to visit the Turtle and Tortoise Resort.

2 hrs east and a bit north of SF
Then 2:45 to Yvonne’s
Then another 3 hrs to Tom
From there about 3 hrs to Olivenhain

Glad to hear Jacques is home. Hope the recovery continues with no issues

Thank you!! [emoji2][emoji173]️
 

MrMarg&me

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When I log in this thread is my first stop! Very happy Jacques is home with you and is continueing to heal! I have been very busy lately and I missed your post from yesterday. But today's is even better because she is home!:<3:
 

Moozillion

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That is what we call our place. What I built when we moved here a few years ago

You’ve seen my post on “building our turtle and tortoise resort”??

OHMYGOD!!!!! [emoji33]
I AM SO DUMB!!!!!!! [emoji33]
Your place is INCREDIBLE!!!!
I tell my husband that when we win the lottery [emoji849] I want to have a place like yours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would LOVE to visit!!!!!!![emoji2][emoji2][emoji2][emoji2]
Seriously- I mean SERIOUSLY!
I will get back with you a little closer to time- we’ll be out there in November.
[emoji2][emoji2][emoji2][emoji2][emoji2][emoji2][emoji2][emoji2][emoji2][emoji2][emoji2]
 

Moozillion

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When I log in this thread is my first stop! Very happy Jacques is home with you and is continueing to heal! I have been very busy lately and I missed your post from yesterday. But today's is even better because she is home!:<3:

Thank you so much, MissMarg&me!
[emoji2][emoji173]️[emoji2][emoji173]️[emoji2][emoji173]️
 

Moozillion

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Today was our one-week follow up visit with Dr. Rich.
((( During the week since she's been home from the hospital, Jacques has been acting increasingly normal with the single exception of still not eating. She ACTS interested when I drop salmon in her tank and has twice grabbed a piece, but then just dropped it. I dug up a worm out of the back yard- a small one, not a night crawler- and dropped it in for her. She was VERY interested and bit it several times, effectively chopping it up, but did not actually EAT any of it. o_O I finally scooped out the worm pieces after several hours, not wanting it to rot and foul the water.)))

SO: the visit with the doctor was mixed. He floated her first thing and said she's floating "perfectly!" so that's great! She also swam around considerably more strongly than she had previously. She is definitely more active and stronger than she was, and gave him quite a bit more trouble in the exam and drawing blood: waving her legs, kicking and pushing at him, peeing twice etc. He was pleased to see that and kept remarking how much stronger and more active she is.
But her blood count came back as still very high. When I first brought her in, her white blood cell count was 30,600 and today her white count was 30,400 which is really no different. The only part of the blood count that was better is that the cells showing inflammation are WAAAAYY down- totally back to normal!!!! :) He says he doesn't know what to make of the continued high white blood count. Although he sees "quite a few tortoises" per year, he only sees about 3 mud turtles per year.
He wants to contact 2 vets he knows at the LSU veterinary school (one in particular who sees lots of mud turtles) and present the case for their interpretation and recommendations. He will call me back next week.
I am very grateful for ANY professional who won't let their ego stand in the way of saying "I don't know what to think of this." And even more grateful that he's continuing to pursue the answers for Jacques.

@Markw84 I asked him "what's the big deal with Baytril?" His experience is that it's a very, very useful medication. Because A) It covers a very wide range of organisms. B) It is Injectable so you can be sure you got the right amount of medicine into your patient (as opposed to oral ) and C) It is very low in side effects. He says that in a PERFECT world, you want to culture whatever organism is causing the problem, (which in some cases would require biopsy) so you can match it precisely with the best antibiotic for it; this takes at least 72 hrs, and usually more. But in the REAL world, time is not always on your side when you have a sick animal. Apparently many, many vets automatically use it first line for any and all infections in reptiles. It'll get 80% of pathogenic bacteria- but that means it won't get that last 20%. It also does nothing for fungus, parasites, viruses etc, etc, etc.
His belief is that it is so widely used by so many vets that it probably gets used inappropriately, so those animals get no benefit.

Thanks again to everyone for their interest and support for my little Jacques!!:)
I will post his report here next week!
 

KrissyLeigh

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Thanks for the updates!!! Can you feed her bloodworms? I don't know much about mud turtles, but my turtles go crazy for them and they are brightly colored which may help.... my turtles also go crazy for live crickets. :)
 

Moozillion

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Thanks for the updates!!! Can you feed her bloodworms? I don't know much about mud turtles, but my turtles go crazy for them and they are brightly colored which may help.... my turtles also go crazy for live crickets. :)
Thanks bunches, Krissy!
Where do you get blood worms? Do you get them live?
Do you use the pinhead crickets or the regular sized crickets? Do you just drop them on the top of the water or release them underneath?
 

Moozillion

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I definitely agree with the necessity of using an exotic vet!!! I recommend the VCA animal hospitals - they are just as you described with the incredibly detailed questionnaire and vets who ask detailed, knowledgeable questions - lighting, diet, substrate, etc.

I have had to take in a rat with a URI, bearded dragon with a bacterial infection, and one of my tortoises who had a coccidia overabundance (2 of the 3 came like that from the pet store, I'm not a bad owner!). For all species they fixed them, no issues since, and I was incredibly impressed with their knowledge, diagnosis, and treatment of the animals.

Best of luck with your little one, I know how stressful it can be!

PS - for my rat they put her in a nebulizer, which is a box type thing that flows medicated air over and around them and when she came back she was all wild eyed and looked like she just got a bad salon blowout, hahahaha!
Hey, Krissy- did you manage to get a photo of your wild-eyed rat with the nebulizer "salon" blowout?:D
I've never kept rats, but I have a friend who does and she says they're amazing animals. :):<3:
 

KrissyLeigh

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Thanks bunches, Krissy!
Where do you get blood worms? Do you get them live?
Do you use the pinhead crickets or the regular sized crickets? Do you just drop them on the top of the water or release them underneath?

I get frozen bloodworms - they are in the aquarium section of pet stores. And small/medium crickets - pinhead are super small, the turtles have trouble catching/eating them that tiny. I release them, live, on top of the water. Once they are wet they can't jump out, but they scoot across the water and my turtles have great fun chasing, catching, and eating them! They can't get enough crickets, ever! My staple food is still pellets but the crickets make are a good healthy, stimulating treat. The activity may trigger her appetite. :) Best of luck!

And rats are amazing animals - they are a lot of work to keep as a companion animal, like having a tiny dog, but totally worth it. My last rat was trained to come when I called, would wrestle with my hand, play with me, etc. Super sweet.
 

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