Hey, I don't really post here often but I thought I would share my recent experience with a local vet (Animal Medical Hospital) in my little town (Ashland, OR.) This is an office that sees mostly average household pets, but advertises itself as an exotic vet as well.
I decided to have my young Sulcata Delaware see a vet because she weighs 3 grams less this month than 2 months ago. Not that much of a difference, I know, but when you're 50g total I figure it's important to sweat the small stuff. Plus, she is supposed to be gaining weight.
We saw a Dr. Scott Knox.
I didn't like him almost immediately. He acted like seeing a tortoise the size of a silver dollar was beneath him. He also asked me absolutely NOTHING about how I care for her. I was basically the only one talking, except when I pressed him for info. Some of the more interesting tortoise care facts I gleaned from Dr. Knox were:
1) It is important to keep tortoises absolutely dry, because of the risk of bacteria and infection. The best substrate is, apparently, dry newspaper.
2) My young Sulcata is digging in her substrate (coconut fiber/orchid bark) because she is trying to hibernate.
3) I should feed her wet dog food to help her gain weight. (When I told him I had read about how protein is bad for tortoises, he said that this is only true when they are older.)
He never asked me what I feed her, what kind of lights I had, what I kept her in, or if I soaked her.
I told Dr. Knox that Delaware had spent the majority of her summer in an outdoor enclosure, and I was concerned she had picked up parasites. He said he didn’t want to worm her without first doing a fecal test.
We left it with me planning to return with a fecal sample, but I’m pretty sure I am not going to do that.
I noticed after I got back from the vet that the multivitamin I have been sprinkling D’s food with 1x weekly contains Calcium. Normally, I sprinkle her food everyday with a Calcium supplement. Since the vet, I stopped giving her any supplement at all- and lo and behold, she has gained 2 grams in one week. I’m pretty sure I was just overdosing her, so she stopped eating as much.
I’m usually a stickler for following medical advice, but in the case of Dr. Knox, his information was just so glaringly outdated that I really can’t believe anything that he told me. I’ve heard of people having bad experiences with exotic vets before, but I’ve definitely never had it happen to me to this degree. This guy clearly hadn’t even taken the time to Google the word “tortoise.†And yet, I paid money for his advice! It seems like someone should be regulating this kind of thing. Very frustrating.
I decided to have my young Sulcata Delaware see a vet because she weighs 3 grams less this month than 2 months ago. Not that much of a difference, I know, but when you're 50g total I figure it's important to sweat the small stuff. Plus, she is supposed to be gaining weight.
We saw a Dr. Scott Knox.
I didn't like him almost immediately. He acted like seeing a tortoise the size of a silver dollar was beneath him. He also asked me absolutely NOTHING about how I care for her. I was basically the only one talking, except when I pressed him for info. Some of the more interesting tortoise care facts I gleaned from Dr. Knox were:
1) It is important to keep tortoises absolutely dry, because of the risk of bacteria and infection. The best substrate is, apparently, dry newspaper.
2) My young Sulcata is digging in her substrate (coconut fiber/orchid bark) because she is trying to hibernate.
3) I should feed her wet dog food to help her gain weight. (When I told him I had read about how protein is bad for tortoises, he said that this is only true when they are older.)
He never asked me what I feed her, what kind of lights I had, what I kept her in, or if I soaked her.
I told Dr. Knox that Delaware had spent the majority of her summer in an outdoor enclosure, and I was concerned she had picked up parasites. He said he didn’t want to worm her without first doing a fecal test.
We left it with me planning to return with a fecal sample, but I’m pretty sure I am not going to do that.
I noticed after I got back from the vet that the multivitamin I have been sprinkling D’s food with 1x weekly contains Calcium. Normally, I sprinkle her food everyday with a Calcium supplement. Since the vet, I stopped giving her any supplement at all- and lo and behold, she has gained 2 grams in one week. I’m pretty sure I was just overdosing her, so she stopped eating as much.
I’m usually a stickler for following medical advice, but in the case of Dr. Knox, his information was just so glaringly outdated that I really can’t believe anything that he told me. I’ve heard of people having bad experiences with exotic vets before, but I’ve definitely never had it happen to me to this degree. This guy clearly hadn’t even taken the time to Google the word “tortoise.†And yet, I paid money for his advice! It seems like someone should be regulating this kind of thing. Very frustrating.