Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Things went great. She weighs 251g. The vet was very knowledgable... Not only does he specialize in reptiles and exotics, but he has dozens of different turtles and reptiles of his own as pets. He said she was most likely a wild caught because of all the scaring on her shell. Molly was very good and let him examine her without a fuss. He commented on how active and "friendly" she was and that she was probably less than a year old (which is a lot younger than I thought she was).

He gave me 3 tubes with Panacur in them and told me how to administer them myself. (Holding her head and having somebody squirt the stuff down the back of her throat) On a side note, he told me that it was probably possible to get her to eat it on her food but he had never tried it, but if she didn't eat it, I would be wasting the medicine. When I got home I wasn't too excited about forcing the medicine on her the "suggested" way so I got creative. I squirted some on a peice of mustard green and she ate it right up... Then I squirted the rest into the hollow part of a raw green bean and she finished it off. I was so happy I called the vet to brag about it. He seemed impressed... Seems a lot easier than the alternative.

Sarah,

I am very glad to hear you had a good experience and your tortoise is doing well.
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Stacey

I was a vet tech that specialised in exotics for 12 years and i have alot of experience with ivermectin. It was synthesized from toxin a type of worm puts out. It has a toxic effect on most kinds of invertabrates. When given to an animal such as a cow or a dog, it passes through the body unchanged. cow paddy's in a pasture that have treated with ivermectin do not break up very readily, because all the flies and beetles etc. that usually do this are killed by the ivemectin. There is also danger from rain run off into water ways, as it will have a toxic effect on alot of aquatic organisms.
Ivermectin is fairly safe to use on most species of vertabrates because it does not cross the blood-brain barrier. It is a actualy a paralytic agent and that's how it kills worms, mites, etc.
Tortoises are one of the few vertabrate species that ivermectin will cross over the blood-brain barrier. It will cause severe paralyses and death in higher amounts. Sometimes the results are not seen for a long time. If your vet wants to use it even in tiny amounts--run for the hills!(take your tort with you).
Also, vitamin injections, especialy any of the fat soluble type (A.D.E.and K.)are a no no. They will cause sloughing of the skin around the neck and and any area where the shot was given. This sloughing is very severe and does not show up for one to 4 months, so it is not usualy associated with the shot.
I got into a heated discussion with a vet once about this. The next day she told me that she went home and shot uo her pet desert tort with vitamins to prove I was wrong. Two months later I got my apology from her at her torts expense. This sloughing is not fatal if treated, but can leave scarring.
Also, all reptiles should always be given injections into the front half of the body because of a renal portal system they have causing the injection to go rite to the kidneys if given in the back half. This results in kidney damage and the drug being excreted out of the body before it has a chance to work. Fluids can be given in the back half.
Sorry for the long post, I was on a roll!

n/p

np