Urgent Care

Hello I have a outdoor (pond) RES that got bit by a family members dog about a year ago on the back leg, I remember seeing it looking swollen, but recently I got a good glimpse of it and it looks raw (kinda pinkish around the wound) and maybe infected. There seems to be almost a hole where its claws used to be and just doesn't look good. The thing is it happened so long ago and she seems to be completely fine, no strange behavior, still very friendly and seems to be doing quite well, I would think if it was something serious she would have died or we would have noticed her looking sick and unhealthy. I was just looking for any help or info anyone might be able to give me since I am no turtle expert and just want her to be healthy. Just a couple facts I might add, she's a pond turtle in my backyard pond which is about 15 feet x 8 feet and probably 2-3 feet deep, she just started coming out and basking again because she was tucked away for the winter and I didn't see her for a long time, I'll feed her every now and again (worms, snails, slugs, strawberries all from my backyard) but for the most part she lives off the pond which has lots of mosquito fish, goldfish, crawdads and lots of pond lilies and vegetation. Any info helps, thanks a lot - Barton (there will be pictures of the turtle too I will upload with this message)

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How big is your turtle? Her shell is about 9-10 inches long
How long have you had it? About 3 years

What is the water temperature? Not sure since its an outside pond, it probably get warm in the summer and cold in the winter, but if i had to guess an average it's probably about around 60 degrees. I live in Santa Cruz, CA if that helps at all
Did you use a thermometer? No
Are you using a water heater? No
How much water is in there? A lot it's about a 15 foot x 8 foot pond that ranges from 2-3 feet deep
Are you using a water conditioner? No
Are you using any filtration? No

What is the basking temperature? It's outdoor so its hard to tell normal sunny day from 60-75 degrees this time of year
Is there a basking light? The sun
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? Yes a few of them
What kind is it or what is it made out of? flat rocks and circular rocks, located in the middle of the pond and edges of the pond
Is there a UVB light? Only the sun

What have you been trying to feed it? she loves worms, snails, slugs, chopped up crawdads, strawberries, blue berries, tomato, cooked bits of chicken ( doesn't really like lettuce or spinach or any sort of vegetable I try to feed it)
When was the last time your turtle ate? I fed her a little bit of chicken (always cooked of course) probably 5 days ago

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? 15 foot x 8 foot pond that ranges from 2-3 feet deep
Is the tank near a window? No tank outdoor pond
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? Not much activity out by the pond pretty mellow all day long

Have you read the Basic Care section? No
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? No

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? No, just an injured looking leg that she can swim fine with and really doesn't seem to be affecting her, it just looks bad

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Thanks a lot for reading, cheers

It doesn't look too bad, though you need to get a hold of her for a proper examination. In that second to last pic, it looks almost like an exposed piece of bone. Sometimes when the skin in thin in some areas, it might look pinkish, like in the webbing.

i did pick her up out of the water the other day, and looked at it close it was kinda hard to see because she tucked it in and it was dark under her shell, should i try to pull her foot out to get a close look or will that hurt her leg & do you think it will heal over time or stay in the condition its in now? thanks for the reply btw this is a cool forum for RES

My personal opinion if its been a year what you see is what you get.. It has scarred over and healed the way it is. I have seen quite a few wild turtles with missing appendages and old wounds.. Probably from when they were babies and some bird tried to get them or a snapper.. But they have all healed up and were doing fine. Turtles have an amazing ability to heal.. So many times we had wild turtles come to feeding with fish hooks in their faces.. only one we had to capture to remove the hook.. All the others just eventually worked their way out.. And all the turtles healed up great. Let me tell you the pond was not nearly as clean as we keep our captive turtles. So somehow they are beautifully designed to heal in really dirty water.. It's kind of of an odd looking healed wound. But I would imagine if it was gonna kill her it would have happened within weeks of the injury..

@unclejoe, hey thanks a lot for the input

Urgent Care :: My turtles leg looks bad (dog bite 1 year ago)

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