Urgent Care :: Cost of turtle penis amputation?

[angelamayg]

My sliders penis was bitten about three weeks ago and has still not gone back in... I'm finally going to take him to the vets tomorrow but am nervous about the cost... does anyone have a guess of about his much it would cost to get amputated? I know that's going to be the outcome. I'd just like to be prepared. Than you!

[steve]

I think it varies between the severity of the injury and your location. Is it still swollen? Bleeding? Have you tried honey or sugar?

[angelamayg]

yes I've tried all of that.. it's just swollen to where he cant get it back in.. not too too bad. not bleeding at all. I think it may be starting to rot though.

[angelamayg]

ugh they're wanting me to just drop my baby off and will call me with where they want to go from here and give me costs then. they wont even give me an estimate!

[angelamayg]

http://i39.tinypic.com/2q87igo.jpg here's a picture of it before he was dropped off my poor little man

[steve]

Poor guy Hopefully it won't be too bad.

[angelamayg]

the vet took the dead skin off but he had to stay overnight cause they had to take note of then what they thought. the amputation would have only cost around $$150 us dollars. way less then I was thinking in case anyone else had this problem!

[steve]

Thanks for the update, hopefully they can help him without surgery!

[angelamayg]

took him home this afternoon.. after an hour his penis was stuck back out... went back to vets office, after another $35 later on the way home it comes back out on the way home! the tech said it may come out occasionally but now it's coming out every half hour! at least I can get it back in myself.. but I feel like it's been no help. I'm so confused!

[steve]

Is it still swollen? Was there any dead tissue? Can he defecate normally? What have they been doing for him?

[angelamayg]

its not very swollen at all.. they took off all the dead tissue and said to put sugar on it for the swelling then push it back in with qtips and then dap honey on the hole opening. keeping him dry docked for a week. and he can defecate.. I think him defecating is making it come back out too. I'm really getting overwhelmed. it takes 15 minutes to get it back in for it to just come back out thirty minutes later. my husband wants me to just drop him off in a lake at this point, obviously I could never do that. the vets are closed today... my husband's pretty adamant we're not spending anymore money on him anyways. I just don't know what to do now. I was so hoping he would be just fine when we brought him home yesterday.

[steve]

Is there any damage/rip to the cloaca (the opening)? Did they give you a timetable? His injury was not delt with quickly, so I think there needs to be more patience to the situation. Dropping him off at a lake or anywhere else will not help the turtle.

[Green Mango]

Sounds like the vet didn't give you quite enough information... most don't mind you phoning for clarifications. Then at least you'd know whether he needs to go back. I hope he's OK.

[angelamayg]

she said since it keeps coming out she could do a " purse string suture" to help keep it in. I tried finding exactly what this is online but I couldn't find anything to detailed.. What exactly is this procedure? Is it suture the penis inside or does is keep the cloaca from opening too big? thank you do much for all of your information by the way. you've been so much help Steve

[steve]

I think it's to keep the cloaca from opening too big. Poor fella, it's probably still swollen and very sensitive. What's being done with his living arrangements? The other turtle?