Pet Turtles And More

Recently while cleaning up, I came across the vet bill from (my male pet red ear slider turtle) Rex’s eye injury from over a year ago.

If you aren’t a long time reader here’s a picture of the injury, which you can read about it here: My pet turtle’s eye injury, My pet turtle’s eye injury part 2, and My pet turtle’s eye injury part 3 – recovery photos.

The total veterinary bill amounted to $163. Here’s what the charges were for:

• Metacam 2ml – Exotics
• Gentocin (only) Opht Soln
• Injacom Inj – Excotic (101gm+)
• Exotic Exam – Initial vs

The first three were pet pharmaceuticals (drugs). They were general made for pet drugs or a reptile formula – none of them were formulated specially for pet turtles. Here’s what each item was for:

Metacam. It’s an NSAID (non steroidal anti inflammatory) drug that controls pain and inflammation. We had to use a syringe to inject it into poor Rex’s mouth. A lot of other websites state that it has a palatable (tasty) taste and that dogs will easily accept it. Rex might have a dog-like name, but he’s a pet red ear slider turtle and it wasn’t easy giving it to him – he didn’t like it at all. After the first dose, he didn’t dare open his mouth again and it’s impossible to ’slip’ something it into a shut turtle mouth. We would put some of it on his turtle food, but he wouldn’t even go for that. It was hard, but being patient was the only solution. One time he even urinated on me when I was giving him (or trying to give him) some metacam. Aquatic turtle pee – I didn’t think I would ever come into direct with that outside of it being diluted and mixed in with the turtle tank water…

Gentocin (only) Opht Soln – or rather Gentocin Ophthalmic Solution. Gentocin is usually a spray-on drug that is used on pet dogs and cats for the treatment of lesions accompanied by swelling and/or itching. The type of Gentocin we got was in eye-drop form (not a spray) and it was the ophthalmic solution, which is made especially for use in eyes for treating/preventing infections, scratches, allergies, ulcers and similar. Each drop would immediately spill out from his eyes – turtle eyes seem so small compared to the size of the drops. Gentocin was easy to give to Rex and wasn’t difficult in any way.

Injacom Inj or Injacom Injection. Injacom is an injection (duh!) that was done by the vet. It contains Vitamin A, D3, and E. Apparently, the one dose the vet gave our pet turtle was enough as we weren’t given any to administer at home.

The fourth item (Exotic Exam – Initial vs) was the veterinary fee and was the most exam item at $91 (total bill was $163). Going to the vet wasn’t exactly cheap, but it was more affordable than I expected. And the peace of mind that my pet turtle was receiving the care and medicine he needed to recover is priceless. So yeah, take your pet turtle to the vet if s/he gets hurt!!

Anyway, Rex is a fully recovered and happy pet turtle and he looks like nothing ever happened to him!