We had some good news with a bit of bad news at the vet. We love Trevor's vet--very knowledgeable, and she always takes a lot of time with us (we were there for over an hour, and they have 5pm appointments which is awesome), despite how busy she is.
This time a bird was in there whose owners had let it fly into a window (we were told this would have been preventable with wing clipping), and it probably won't make it. We're told stories about lots of irresponsible owners she sees, so I'm glad we could be a little easier for her. Hubby came with me as usual. It's awesome how involved he is with our baby.
1. No coccidia showed up this time! Yay. It could still come back, but a clean test is hopeful. Earlier this year Trevor tested positive for it, was treated with three courses of Albon, and was still positive. No symptoms ever, so we left it alone and it looks like the numbers went down enough to come up negative. We were told that even CB torts like Trevor have various parasites from their mothers (see #2 below). I'm ordering a book from the library to read up more about it.
2. He has pinworms. Treating with two courses of three days each (two weeks apart) of Panacur. I double checked the dose online and it looks correct. He'll eat the paste on food that we hand feed, but gives us a strange face like "You tricked me humans!" hehe I guess of the parasites, worms are the easiest to treat. Hubby was freaking out until I told him coccidia are worse. Vet still thinks it is likely he's had these all along and it's unlikely we introduced them to him. The vet said he had a smaller amount of these, but best to treat as he's younger and if he gets sick on top of this it could be bad.
3. He has a dry spot on the very tip of his tail, a brown ring, that will likely fall off. Vet thinks it was caused by our crazy heat wave (house was in the 90s and I was trying to cool Trevor down as much as we could) over the summer, and won't cause him any harm. Silly me had thought it was dirt or something. Hopefully it doesn't hurt him. Probably nothing I could do about it either, although it makes me feel bad.
4. He is a tentative boy. He had to get his internal temperature taken (he didn't like that!) and she said something about his stuff being more outwards, and she says male at this point. She personally trusts that a lot more than the outer indicators.
5. He was big enough for the rectal thermometer this year (I was surprised how far those things go in!), as well as the Doppler to listen to his heart (the sensor has to fit in his shell around his neck). Last year he wasn't. I think he's probably the smallest they have treated, from how they acted.
6. Vet thinks no pyramiding (he's lumpier than I'd like), and he's growing at a really nice pace. She called him chubby, but I think in a good way as she liked his growth pace from the chart I brought, and didn't say he needed a diet. We went from the all he can eat diet to the set amount a few months ago anyways.
7. Overall we got kuddos for being good parents so that felt good. She hadn't seen Trevor for a full visit since last December when we first got him, and she was a lot more hesitant about our abilities at that point (rightfully so). We moved his yearly visit up a bit to hopefully avoid the colder weather. Last year we took him in while it was snowing. This year it was in the 50s, so not as bad. I'm hoping he'll have a negative fecal re-test in a few months. I want to continue taking him yearly while he's still growing, and then probably just drop of fecal samples and only go as needed. It gets quite expensive, but I try to think of it as an investment in his having a long and healthy life. Trevor had fun in the car in his travel tub (big enough to be an enclosure by some people's car standards), trying to get traction so he wouldn't slide around when I hit the brakes. We were both sweating as the heat was on really high for him.
8. We are 3/3 for Trevor pooping on the vet! Go little guy. It had a spot of red. Hubby thought it was blood, but I was quick to point out he's been eating flowers all week. lol The flowers I got at the expo lasted a week before spoiling. Very nice. I wish I would have got the information of the people selling them to see if they were local enough that I could pick more up, as we don't have a garden.
Best wishes
This time a bird was in there whose owners had let it fly into a window (we were told this would have been preventable with wing clipping), and it probably won't make it. We're told stories about lots of irresponsible owners she sees, so I'm glad we could be a little easier for her. Hubby came with me as usual. It's awesome how involved he is with our baby.
1. No coccidia showed up this time! Yay. It could still come back, but a clean test is hopeful. Earlier this year Trevor tested positive for it, was treated with three courses of Albon, and was still positive. No symptoms ever, so we left it alone and it looks like the numbers went down enough to come up negative. We were told that even CB torts like Trevor have various parasites from their mothers (see #2 below). I'm ordering a book from the library to read up more about it.
2. He has pinworms. Treating with two courses of three days each (two weeks apart) of Panacur. I double checked the dose online and it looks correct. He'll eat the paste on food that we hand feed, but gives us a strange face like "You tricked me humans!" hehe I guess of the parasites, worms are the easiest to treat. Hubby was freaking out until I told him coccidia are worse. Vet still thinks it is likely he's had these all along and it's unlikely we introduced them to him. The vet said he had a smaller amount of these, but best to treat as he's younger and if he gets sick on top of this it could be bad.
3. He has a dry spot on the very tip of his tail, a brown ring, that will likely fall off. Vet thinks it was caused by our crazy heat wave (house was in the 90s and I was trying to cool Trevor down as much as we could) over the summer, and won't cause him any harm. Silly me had thought it was dirt or something. Hopefully it doesn't hurt him. Probably nothing I could do about it either, although it makes me feel bad.
4. He is a tentative boy. He had to get his internal temperature taken (he didn't like that!) and she said something about his stuff being more outwards, and she says male at this point. She personally trusts that a lot more than the outer indicators.
5. He was big enough for the rectal thermometer this year (I was surprised how far those things go in!), as well as the Doppler to listen to his heart (the sensor has to fit in his shell around his neck). Last year he wasn't. I think he's probably the smallest they have treated, from how they acted.
6. Vet thinks no pyramiding (he's lumpier than I'd like), and he's growing at a really nice pace. She called him chubby, but I think in a good way as she liked his growth pace from the chart I brought, and didn't say he needed a diet. We went from the all he can eat diet to the set amount a few months ago anyways.
7. Overall we got kuddos for being good parents so that felt good. She hadn't seen Trevor for a full visit since last December when we first got him, and she was a lot more hesitant about our abilities at that point (rightfully so). We moved his yearly visit up a bit to hopefully avoid the colder weather. Last year we took him in while it was snowing. This year it was in the 50s, so not as bad. I'm hoping he'll have a negative fecal re-test in a few months. I want to continue taking him yearly while he's still growing, and then probably just drop of fecal samples and only go as needed. It gets quite expensive, but I try to think of it as an investment in his having a long and healthy life. Trevor had fun in the car in his travel tub (big enough to be an enclosure by some people's car standards), trying to get traction so he wouldn't slide around when I hit the brakes. We were both sweating as the heat was on really high for him.
8. We are 3/3 for Trevor pooping on the vet! Go little guy. It had a spot of red. Hubby thought it was blood, but I was quick to point out he's been eating flowers all week. lol The flowers I got at the expo lasted a week before spoiling. Very nice. I wish I would have got the information of the people selling them to see if they were local enough that I could pick more up, as we don't have a garden.
Best wishes
