Urgent Care :: the res can't see or eat from about more than a week

[sheeen]

hi,, my res had an eye infection several weeks ago and we used for her terramycin eye ointment and her eyes seemed to be better but after her eyes started to be healed a bit it was closed and she couldn't open it since then and therfore she couldn't eat ,, so pleeaaase help ,, inour country we don't have a vet that can deal with res ,,, i've tried many things like force feeding (but we couldn't open her mouth ) cod-liver on her eye lids , but nothing really seemed to be working

[sheeen]

can we add children dietary supplements to the water so that when she drinks from the water she will be somehow eating ??

[steve]

Try some unflavored Pedialyte mixed into the water. Are both eyes closed?

[sheeen]

yes both eyes are closed but one of them seems to open a little bit but she still can't see at all ,,, i feel that she is now totally blind ...
i want to ask a question ,,, here in our country i don't think I'll find Pedialyte so can we use any children dietary supplements ??

[ljapa]

Pedialyte is given to children who may be vomiting or have diarrhea. It has essential nutrients without really supplying calories. It is not milk based.

Any similar product should work. Often, it has added sugar to make it tastier. You want the kind that does not have sugar.

[sheeen]

thx so much

[steve]

Have you taken her out in the sun before?

[sheeen]

actually no since it's super hard to take her out to the sun ,, but I've put a (regular ) florescent bulb for them couple of times and they seemed to enjoy it ,, but i've read on this forum that regular florescent bulbs can't provide uvb , but i'll try to put them in the sun

[penelope]

Yes. They need uvb from the sun or a special bulb.
Sight and smell are an important part of them eating, so maybe offer some thing really smelly, like fish, right in front of its nose. If it's too small for fish, then maybe soak pellets in fish juice.
You can use a regular light bulb for heat, but will need another for uvb... so two bulbs at once so they can bask.
How is his or her activity level? Active or just laying around?

[sheeen]

she was very active and she is still, but normally due to not eating for a long while her activity is less
we have tried feeding her smelly fish , carrots , grapes and the pellets but she didn't accept any of them ,, actually before getting sick we tried to feed her grapes but she refused she didn't eat anything except the pellets ,,,
for her activity she is always scratching in the tank's glass as if she wants something from us ,, and her activity usually increase with sound

[steve]

Try using a large box, lined with towel or paper towel and let her soak up some sun for a few minutes. Check to see if there's any reaction. If there are no safe areas around you, try a local park.

[sheeen]

finally i was able to put them in the sun for a long while ,, at first they were scared then after a while both stopped moving and relaxed ,, they seemed to be enjoying the sun , but i had to pick them from the sun since the room temperature was about 38 c ,, now for the sick turtle actually few days ago she opened one eye ,, it was very cloudy but at least it was opened ,, she seemed to see a bit ,, but not much since she couldn't see the food , but after few days the eyes were shut again and today when i put them in the water and they were very sacred she tried to open her eye ,, but this time it wasn't cloudy ,, actually it didn't appear ,, it seemed like there was a third eye lid covering about 2/3 of her eyes ,,,,, i'll try to upload a photo for this strange eye when i put them in the sun tomorrow ,, now good news ,, the turtle was finally able to eat , actually the trick was that before getting sick before feeding them we were used to shake the food container to make them hungry so when i did that she knew the voice so we just put some pellets in front of her face and she ate ,, and that's how she is eating since then ,,, but actually the bad news is that both turtles are having RI and their movement is much less now ,, what shall we do since there is no reptile vet here and i don't think i'm gonna find turtle antibiotic here so what to do ???

[steve]

What makes you think they have RI?

[sheeen]

they form bubbles when breathing , sometimes the sick one open her mouth for breathing , she is now so much less active (she wakes up to eat then complete sleeping ) ,,, her friend doesn't have all these symptoms ,, she just rarely form bubbles
for the conditions of their habitat , actually right now we got them a new tank but we are still working on setup the tank so they are put in plastic container with shallow water ,, the water is changed many times , the temperature is always high (at least 30 c )

[steve]

I'd concentrate on having them eat regularly. Cold temperatures and breezes usually contribute to RI, I'm not sure thats the case here. There is definitely something going on but I'm not sure what it could be.