Sulcata woke up acting unusual, not eating - help?

vladimir

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Thanks! We're going to try again in a little bit to give him the initial dose of Panacur.

It just occurred to me though - do I need to remove the substrate he's got in his enclosure now?
 

vladimir

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I have mixed the panacur with Mazuri and fed it to my sulcata.

I think that would work, my problem is he has shown almost no interest in Mazuri (or anything for that matter) for the past two days. At one point he opened his beak for a piece of Mazuri I was holding out for him, but when I gave it to him he dropped it and lost interest.
 

Jay Bagley

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Thanks! We're going to try again in a little bit to give him the initial dose of Panacur.

It just occurred to me though - do I need to remove the substrate he's got in his enclosure now?
Hello,
Glad the vet appointment went okay, and you have a pretty good idea what is going on now. Are tortoise had pinworms a few months ago, and I to struggled to get him to take his medication, we ended up doing the same thing the other member had just posted. We mixed it in with his Mazuri. We did change out the substrate while he was going through the treatment, from what I read and was told the worms eggs come out in the stool and are super sticky and will stick to the substrate, and possibly be digested again and the life cycle will start all over. We also kept him in a temporary enclosure till fecal came back negative.
 
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Kasia

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I think that would work, my problem is he has shown almost no interest in Mazuri (or anything for that matter) for the past two days. At one point he opened his beak for a piece of Mazuri I was holding out for him, but when I gave it to him he dropped it and lost interest.
Try the credit card trick. Put it between lower and upper beak and put pressure on it while holding his head. When he will open his mouth slid the credit card in so he will not be able to close it. Put a syringe with pancure in his mouth:) probably its better to do it with a second person. It worked for me and my stubborn leopard tort. Good luck
 

vladimir

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Try the credit card trick. Put it between lower and upper beak and put pressure on it while holding his head. When he will open his mouth slid the credit card in so he will not be able to close it. Put a syringe with pancure in his mouth:) probably its better to do it with a second person. It worked for me and my stubborn leopard tort. Good luck

It worked! For the most part - I forgot to ensure his head couldn't go back in the shell when we unloaded the syringe, so some of it came back out of his mouth, but I think he got most of it. I'd guess over half. I also used a piece of Mazuri to soak up some of what spilled on his plastron.

We gave him another long soak and emptied out all of the substrate from his enclosure,which was quite a chore. Currently the enclosure just has a plastic bottom, aside from the kane heat mat. Is it okay to leave him without substrate until after he gets better? I don't want him to end up getting reinfected due to dirty substrate or something.

The great news is he ate today! We tempted him with a piece of red bell pepper, and he couldn't resist it. After several bites of that, he had a few pieces of Mazuri, including the one that was soaked in the spilled Panacur.

He then went to town on some escarole, kale, and collards greens, which was a relief. He's not too happy about the changes in his enclosure now though. :rolleyes:

Thanks again for all of the feedback and concern. Hopefully he'll keep his appetite up, so the next dose won't require a credit card to get his beak open, and we can just use the Mazuri trick.
 

vladimir

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Vlad's appetite has been pretty good since he started eating shortly after getting the Panacur dosage. We removed all of his substrate yesterday, and at this point I'm leaning toward keeping him without substrate until at least after the next dose of Panacur. I would hate for him to get re-infected due to dirty substrate. :( Is it a bad idea to go without substrate for a few weeks while he's getting better?

Thanks again for all of the feedback :)
 

Kasia

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It's a good idea ;) and will save you loads of work. You can use something easy to clean up/ throw away in bits where he makes a pile full of love...;)
 

Jay Bagley

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Vlad's appetite has been pretty good since he started eating shortly after getting the Panacur dosage. We removed all of his substrate yesterday, and at this point I'm leaning toward keeping him without substrate until at least after the next dose of Panacur. I would hate for him to get re-infected due to dirty substrate. :( Is it a bad idea to go without substrate for a few weeks while he's getting better?

Thanks again for all of the feedback :)
Hey, how is Vlad? Is he 100% back to his old self, and have that voracious appetite back?
 

vladimir

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Hey, how is Vlad? Is he 100% back to his old self, and have that voracious appetite back?
Good morning Jay, thanks for asking. I actually meant to post an update yesterday, when I gave him the second dose or panacur. He's been doing great, and I was able to use the soaked mazuri trick to get him to eat the medicine yesterday. Although after about 10 pellets he started to catch on and spit them out, so I started soaking dandelion leaves in the medicine and he devoured them [emoji16]

We took all the substrate out the first day and he's been on a bare bottom with a few paving stones so he can climb closer to the RHP if necessary. I had some newspaper in under his feeding area but I discovered he had a mouthful of that at one point, so that had to go. Little troublemaker [emoji849]

I think I should probably get another test done to see if the worms have gone down at all, but his behavior seems normal. He has been enjoying being pampered while he was sick though [emoji16]

How's Sheldon doing?
 

Jay Bagley

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Good morning Jay, thanks for asking. I actually meant to post an update yesterday, when I gave him the second dose or panacur. He's been doing great, and I was able to use the soaked mazuri trick to get him to eat the medicine yesterday. Although after about 10 pellets he started to catch on and spit them out, so I started soaking dandelion leaves in the medicine and he devoured them [emoji16]

We took all the substrate out the first day and he's been on a bare bottom with a few paving stones so he can climb closer to the RHP if necessary. I had some newspaper in under his feeding area but I discovered he had a mouthful of that at one point, so that had to go. Little troublemaker [emoji849]

I think I should probably get another test done to see if the worms have gone down at all, but his behavior seems normal. He has been enjoying being pampered while he was sick though [emoji16]

How's Sheldon doing?
Good morning, wow I slept in...hate the time change lol. Glad to hear he's doing better. When I was making Sheldon his food yesterday afternoon, it got me thinking if your guy was eating better or not. Hope your next fecal sample comes back clear, and definitely keep us posted.
 

vladimir

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Figured I'd post an update here. Took another sample in the other day about 2 weeks after the second panacur dose, and he tested positive again for pinworms. Not sure if this time was better or worse than before.

I'm supposed to go to the vets office tomorrow to pick up more medicine - should I ask about doing a third round this time?
 

Jay Bagley

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Figured I'd post an update here. Took another sample in the other day about 2 weeks after the second panacur dose, and he tested positive again for pinworms. Not sure if this time was better or worse than before.

I'm supposed to go to the vets office tomorrow to pick up more medicine - should I ask about doing a third round this time?
That sucks man, was hoping you had them beat. My vet recommended and did give me three doses at 2 weeks apart. Hopefully the next one will come back better.
 

Kasia

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Figured I'd post an update here. Took another sample in the other day about 2 weeks after the second panacur dose, and he tested positive again for pinworms. Not sure if this time was better or worse than before.

I'm supposed to go to the vets office tomorrow to pick up more medicine - should I ask about doing a third round this time?
Is he acting normal? Eating and active, no weight loss? If yes I would not give a 3 dose. I deworm only if I see the symptoms ( yearly after winter most of the time). My Nini ( leopard) always scores flagellates and Ruffin ( Russian) for pinworms. Most of the time the load is not big enough to give symptoms so I just leave it as it is and when they acctually have problems I deworm. In my opinion it just sticks, do a check up every 6 months or so but if he gains weigh as he should I would wait.
 

vladimir

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Is he acting normal? Eating and active, no weight loss? If yes I would not give a 3 dose. I deworm only if I see the symptoms ( yearly after winter most of the time). My Nini ( leopard) always scores flagellates and Ruffin ( Russian) for pinworms. Most of the time the load is not big enough to give symptoms so I just leave it as it is and when they acctually have problems I deworm. In my opinion it just sticks, do a check up every 6 months or so but if he gains weigh as he should I would wait.

Thanks for the input @Kasia - he occasionally has some days where he acts a little strange, but I'm not sure if it's just that he's restless and wants to get outside in the warm weather.

I think I'll follow up with the 2nd dose of this round of Panacur as scheduled and then monitor his symptoms. I'm afraid I'll keep bringing in samples to the Vet and they'll keep testing positive :confused:
 

zovick

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Normally Panacur is given for three days in a row as Jay noted above, then after a two week interval, another three days of Panacur is given. Some vets I know even recommend a third round of Panacur two weeks after the second round.

Also, just FYI, the drug of choice for pinworms (according to my exotics vet a few years ago) is oxfendazole (Benzelmin). Not sure whether it is still sold in the US or not, though.
 

Jay Bagley

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Normally Panacur is given for three days in a row as Jay noted above, then after a two week interval, another three days of Panacur is given. Some vets I know even recommend a third round of Panacur two weeks after the second round.

Also, just FYI, the drug of choice for pinworms (according to my exotics vet a few years ago) is oxfendazole (Benzelmin). Not sure whether it is still sold in the US or not, though.
Hello, I didn't do it for 3 days in a row. My vet gave me three doses. Give one dose, wait 2 weeks give the second dose, wait another 2 weeks and give the third dose. Sorry if I made that confusing in my last post.
 

zovick

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Hello, I didn't do it for 3 days in a row. My vet gave me three doses. Give one dose, wait 2 weeks give the second dose, wait another 2 weeks and give the third dose. Sorry if I made that confusing in my last post.

Are you certain you weren't supposed to give the three doses on three consecutive days? Most reptile vets recommend three days in a row, then two weeks off, then another three days straight of medication, as I said.

Is your vet a reptile/exotics vet?
 

Jay Bagley

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Are you certain you weren't supposed to give the three doses on three consecutive days? Most reptile vets recommend three days in a row, then two weeks off, then another three days straight of medication, as I said.

Is your vet a reptile/exotics vet?
Yes, she is a exotics vet. Only one in our area. Thats what she said to do, and the instructions on the medication said. I'm not trying to counter what you said, only going by what she said. This is my first tortoise, and first time I have ever dewormed anything other than a dog. Does anybody else have any input on this?
 
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