Well, 2-year old my eastern mud turtle, Jacques, is sick again.
She had quit eating, so at the suggestion of forum members, I increased the light in her tank. She ate pretty well for about 2-3 days, so I thought we were home free, but then she quit eating again.
At a loss for what to do, I took her to the vet. This is an experienced exotics vet who treated her aspiration pneumonia successfully; he also has contacts at the LSU veterinary school and got consults on her case in the past.
Her white blood cell count is elevated again, indicating that she has an infection. Normal white blood cell count for aquatic turtles is 20,000 and hers was 25,000. That's not as bad as when she had her pneumonia, when her count was 30,000, but it's still very abnormal.
They have no clue where the infection is. She floats evenly (not lop-sided), dives and swims like usual. She is NOT anemic. Her eyes are bright and clear. She does not struggle to breathe, strain or gape her mouth. She has no nasal discharge, no bubbles and the skin inside her mouth looks entirely normal. She moves vigorously when stimulated.
They kept her for a week with antibiotic injections and tube feeding, and I brought her home 2 days ago.
But she's not acting any differently: hides in her cave and won't eat. She does not hang out over her heater or try to bask, and her water temperature is 80* She already has a follow up appointment in 2 weeks if she is still not eating.
I can't imagine what else I could do.
I have confidence in my vet, but I just feel kind of drained in trying to get her better.
I'm open to suggestions.
But maybe I just need to chill, try to be patient and accept that we don't always have answers...
She had quit eating, so at the suggestion of forum members, I increased the light in her tank. She ate pretty well for about 2-3 days, so I thought we were home free, but then she quit eating again.
At a loss for what to do, I took her to the vet. This is an experienced exotics vet who treated her aspiration pneumonia successfully; he also has contacts at the LSU veterinary school and got consults on her case in the past.
Her white blood cell count is elevated again, indicating that she has an infection. Normal white blood cell count for aquatic turtles is 20,000 and hers was 25,000. That's not as bad as when she had her pneumonia, when her count was 30,000, but it's still very abnormal.
They have no clue where the infection is. She floats evenly (not lop-sided), dives and swims like usual. She is NOT anemic. Her eyes are bright and clear. She does not struggle to breathe, strain or gape her mouth. She has no nasal discharge, no bubbles and the skin inside her mouth looks entirely normal. She moves vigorously when stimulated.
They kept her for a week with antibiotic injections and tube feeding, and I brought her home 2 days ago.
But she's not acting any differently: hides in her cave and won't eat. She does not hang out over her heater or try to bask, and her water temperature is 80* She already has a follow up appointment in 2 weeks if she is still not eating.
I can't imagine what else I could do.
I have confidence in my vet, but I just feel kind of drained in trying to get her better.
I'm open to suggestions.
But maybe I just need to chill, try to be patient and accept that we don't always have answers...
I double checked, and she's actually 3 years old: I got her in November 2015 as a teeny-tiny juvenile. That first winter she was active and ate well. i don't remember how she behaved the winter of '16 but my hubby thinks he remembers her slowing down a little. Then last winter was when she had the near drowning accident (on Dec 8, 2017 ) so EVERYTHING was totally atypical after that. At 3 years old, I kind of think she's at her full growth, but I've never kept aquatic turtles before, so I really don't know. If she has more growing to do, I don't think it's much. I have NOT yet got her into her new tank, for various reasons that I won't bore you with. I hesitate to stress her further with a new environment when she's not well. But I don't know...
