Swollen Eyes, URI?

[Mitch4]

Took my box turtle to vet with swollen eyes and URI. Vet wanted $110 to do blood work. Got anti-parasitic, but he won't eat so I can't give this to him.
Vet didn’t treat issues, but wanted extra money to check issues.

 

[Tom]

Vet didn’t treat issues, but wanted extra money to check issues.

The vet can't tell you how to fix the problem without diagnosing the problem. Along those lines, I would not treat for parasites if a specific parasite in problematic numbers has not been identified. Wormer is poison.

These things are usually temperature related, or long term diet related. If you want us to attempt to diagnose and treat the problem, show us pics of the set up and tell us your four temperatures.
-Warm side, cool side, overnight low, and basking area.
-Tell us what heating and lighting equipment you are using to achieve those temps.
-What substrate are you using? How damp is it?
-What size is the enclosure?
-Size and age of your turtle?
-What do you feed your turtle?
-Any supplements?
-Did your turtle hibernate?

 

[Yvonne G]

Seems to me there are two separate issues here, and feeding the turtle poison for parasites isn't going to address either of them.

First of all, swollen eyes/not eating - you see this often in box turtles. When a box turtle stops eating first thing that happens is his eyes swell shut. Most likely he stopped eating because he wasn't warm enough. Turtles and tortoises can't digest their food unless their inner core temperature is upwards of 80°F. They need either the sun or a light to sit under to reach that temperature. Actually, YOU have to be the detective and try to figure out why he stopped eating. . . not warm enough?. . . wrong kind of food being offered? etc.

Temperature also has to do with URI, but unless the vet tested for URI I doubt that's what the turtle has. Runny nose is caused by stress.

Did the vet look for parasites in a fecal smear? Don't worry about using the de-wormer until you get this animal back on track. And I'm going to tell you how to do that, but YOU have to try to figure out why this all happened in the first place and correct that so it doesn't happen again.

Buy several jars of either Gerber strained carrots or strained squash (the carrots has more vitamin A, so that's what I use). Using a container with tall sides but a small footprint add the carrots and warm water in a 50/50% ratio. You want the mixture to come up to the middle of the turtle's sides. Place the turtle in the container and set it back inside the enclosure NEXT TO the light, but not directly under the light. Leave him in there for a half hour to 45 minutes. If you do this daily his eyes will be open at the end of the third day's soak.

To clear up the runny nose adjust the temperature in the enclosure to 85°F all over the whole enclosure, day and night. You'll have to cover the enclosure to achieve this.

Good luck, and keep us informed about what you learn as the detective.

 

[mark1]

Yvonne's carrot soaks and optimal conditions may do the trick , stuff does often overcome disease naturally .......

my only experience is with stuff i keep , environment is never the problem ................
if it were me ,i'd have gotten him him an ADE injection , a b complex injection and ran him through a course of ceftazidime ...... i'd say there is a better chance than not that he has a bacterial infection at minimum as a secondary disease ........ a primary cause , viral (nothing your gonna do but supportive care) environmental stress( fix his conditions , make sure his environmental conditions are optimal) ......if he didn't show improvement in 5-7 days , been my experience they should eat within a week .......... if not i'd consider getting more invasive , imo that's a last resort , or just continue to support him as best you can and hope for the best .....if he appears extremely ill fluid therapy can perk him up ........ if you can get him to eat , inject flagyl into a worm ( i doubt parasites is his primary problem) ...........once they get sick a lot of problems arise that are not a problem for a healthy animal ......

the reason there are not an abundance of reptile vets , is not a lot of folks are willing to put out $300 for a 50$ pet , that may not recover ........

 

[Mitch4]

Seems to me there are two separate issues here, and feeding the turtle poison for parasites isn't going to address either of them.

First of all, swollen eyes/not eating - you see this often in box turtles. When a box turtle stops eating first thing that happens is his eyes swell shut. Most likely he stopped eating because he wasn't warm enough. Turtles and tortoises can't digest their food unless their inner core temperature is upwards of 80°F. They need either the sun or a light to sit under to reach that temperature. Actually, YOU have to be the detective and try to figure out why he stopped eating. . . not warm enough?. . . wrong kind of food being offered? etc.

Temperature also has to do with URI, but unless the vet tested for URI I doubt that's what the turtle has. Runny nose is caused by stress.

Did the vet look for parasites in a fecal smear? Don't worry about using the de-wormer until you get this animal back on track. And I'm going to tell you how to do that, but YOU have to try to figure out why this all happened in the first place and correct that so it doesn't happen again.

Buy several jars of either Gerber strained carrots or strained squash (the carrots has more vitamin A, so that's what I use). Using a container with tall sides but a small footprint add the carrots and warm water in a 50/50% ratio. You want the mixture to come up to the middle of the turtle's sides. Place the turtle in the container and set it back inside the enclosure NEXT TO the light, but not directly under the light. Leave him in there for a half hour to 45 minutes. If you do this daily his eyes will be open at the end of the third day's soak.

To clear up the runny nose adjust the temperature in the enclosure to 85°F all over the whole enclosure, day and night. You'll have to cover the enclosure to achieve this.

Good luck, and keep us informed about what you learn as the detective.

 

[Mitch4]

Thanks Yvonne for responding. I have the baby carrots on hand and are soaking him as we speak. I will keep you advised of his progress. Also I was wondering how Turdy ( Trudy) was doing? Hope she is blossoming in her new home. Kathy Mitchell

 

[Yvonne G]

Thanks Yvonne for responding. I have the baby carrots on hand and are soaking him as we speak. I will keep you advised of his progress. Also I was wondering how Turdy ( Trudy) was doing? Hope she is blossoming in her new home. Kathy Mitchell

She fit right in with the rest of the crew and is doing very well. They are outside now and hard to find in the tall grass, but they all come back in at night for me to see them.

 

[Mitch4]

She fit right in with the rest of the crew and is doing very well. They are outside now and hard to find in the tall grass, but they all come back in at night for me to see them.