Re: Your Russian Tortoise and your IGNORANT veterinarian

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Posted by becky on December 13, 2000 at 14:03:31:

In Reply to: Re: Your Russian Tortoise and your IGNORANT veterinarian posted by LauraO on December 13, 2000 at 13:44:23:

: Vets can mess up too. I am from NY (in fact i recently adopted a box turtle through NYTTS) and my herp vet is generally very good, but he has done some questionable things. The last one was the suggestion that Panacur is toxic to chelonians, based on page 167 of Mader's book Reptile Med & surgery. I called many other herp vets with good repuations, rehabbers, breeders and the like. None of them had had bad experiences giving turtles panacur, and figured the text page to be anecdotal. When I told my vet this he said it mentioned that panacur can make a turtle anorexic. That is NOT the same as being toxic, and I am willing to bet he even misinterpreted the passage even more than that. Still, he is very good overall. It is very possible your Russian had worms before you fed it the improper diet. Virtually all Russians have worms upon import. I am still treating two of mine for them now. If insects and earthworms caused parasites, many other turtles as well as lizards and such, would be constantly suffering from internal parasites. But this is not the case. If you do not want to advertise this vet's name on forum, please email me because I would like to know the name. Maybe then I can mention this to NYTTS and get some advice from them.

Oh, I'm sure that the tort had the worms before they got it. I just think that they were aggravated by the humidity, stress and improper diet. I don't blame the vet for not knowing about Russians; however, I think he is responsible for dishing out information about a species that he is obviously unfamiliar with just so he can charge $120. I also think he is at fault for not checking the animal for parasites that were obviously present (to the inexperienced eye). NYTTS is a very reputable organization and I'm sure there are other vets at that center that do know what they are doing, which is why it was on the NYTTS list. I recognize that this is an isolated incident, but it reinforces the need to spread the kinds of great information we get from these forums. No one should have to pay $120 to find out how to kill their tortoise.

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: : : Vets can mess up too. I am from NY (in fact i recently adopted a box turtle through NYTTS) and my herp vet is generally very good, but he has done some questionable things. The last one was the suggestion that Panacur is toxic to chelonians, based on page 167 of Mader's book Reptile Med & surgery. I called many other herp vets with good repuations, rehabbers, breeders and the like. None of them had had bad experiences giving turtles panacur, and figured the text page to be anecdotal. When I told my vet this he said it mentioned that panacur can make a turtle anorexic. That is NOT the same as being toxic, and I am willing to bet he even misinterpreted the passage even more than that. Still, he is very good overall. It is very possible your Russian had worms before you fed it the improper diet. Virtually all Russians have worms upon import. I am still treating two of mine for them now. If insects and earthworms caused parasites, many other turtles as well as lizards and such, would be constantly suffering from internal parasites. But this is not the case. If you do not want to advertise this vet's name on forum, please email me because I would like to know the name. Maybe then I can mention this to NYTTS and get some advice from them. : Oh, I'm sure that the tort had the worms before they got it. I just think that they were aggravated by the humidity, stress and improper diet. I don't blame the vet for not knowing about Russians; however, I think he is responsible for dishing out information about a species that he is obviously unfamiliar with just so he can charge $120. I also think he is at fault for not checking the animal for parasites that were obviously present (to the inexperienced eye). NYTTS is a very reputable organization and I'm sure there are other vets at that center that do know what they are doing, which is why it was on the NYTTS list. I recognize that this is an isolated incident, but it reinforces the need to spread the kinds of great information we get from these forums. No one should have to pay $120 to find out how to kill their tortoise.

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