Joey’s Pet of the Week – Turtle Trouble

By Scott Lackenby | Dated January 4, 2017

Hey everyone!! Happy New Year!! I lost track of the days, thought today was Tuesday and almost forgot to do my post! Ah, the joys of two weeks of multiple public holidays!! It’s going to take this clinic cat a few more days to settle into 2017 I think!! Anyways, how was your New Years celebrations? It was nice and quite at GVH. The boarding cats and I were tucked up safely away from the scary fireworks. I hope you all had a great time ringing in the new year.

My star this week is a sweet little turtle that was brought into us by a kind member of the public after being found in a gutter in Zetland. Yep, all the way in over in the inner east of Sydney. The poor little guy had some cracks in his shell, which can be really bad for turtles. If the shell fractures are too severe, they have to be euthanized. Dr John Morgan contacted Dr Bree Talbot from the wildlife service at Sydney Uni to work out the best plan of action for this little guy. She recommended performing some Xrays to determine the extent of the shell fractures.

Getting ready to Xray Mr Turtle

Luckily, they were not too serious, so the fractures were flushed with sterile saline, they were treated with an antibiotic cream and the fractures were bandaged up. The turtle was also given an injection of some anti-inflammatory pain relief. Luckily for the turtle, Nurse Janie was on duty this day, and her years of working at Taronga Zoo made her extremely qualified to take care of bandaging a turtle. This little guy was now ready to go to a wildlife carer for some TLC. Nurse Emma called our good friends at Sydney Wildlife Service who organised a turtle carer to look after him. Nurse Janie would need a follow up visit with Mr Turtle in two days to check on his fractures and re-bandage them if needed. Bandaging a turtle is not something we do everyday, but it’s nice to be able to help our amazing wildlife!

All bandaged up and ready to go!

Well, better go. I’ve been a somewhat laid back clinic cat these past few weeks, and all this typing has made me tired. Time to find a quiet spot for a little nap. Meows for now, love Joey xoxo