-_-Scooter-_-
2003-09-03 - Scooter is a wild female Red-eared Slider about 9 inches long that was found on a road hit by a car in the Houston area.
A kind passerby stopped and rescued her and got her to one of the GCTTS rehabilitators. If not rescued she would have surely died a slow painful death from infection.
She was started on antibiotics and her shell was repaired by one of the vet's offices in the area that helps us with ill and injured turtles.
Since her shell damage was severe and she sustained some nerve damage to her rears legs, it will take longer for her to heal. She will be in long term observation.
Her prognosis is unclear because of the nerve damage. At this time she does not use her rear legs much and scoots herself along when on land. She seems to swim ok using just her front legs.
At this early date we do not anticipate for her to ever be released back into the wild.
Your contribution to GCTTS will help pay for her housing, food, and medical needs.
Please note that some images of injured turtles may be disturbing.
Long Term Care Cases - Index
 |  |  |
Update - January 2004 - From the GCTTS rehabilitator caring for Scooter
Scooter, developed a problem with her eyes. She stopped opening them. Our vet sedated her to get a good look at her eyes. He saw nothing that looked like damage or blindness. He did think that her eyelids were puffy and that her cloaca looked puffy. Bloodwork showed high liver enzyme count but kidney functions looked normal. Scooter had slightly low total protein. No signs of respiratory infection.
Our vet thinks she could have latent liver damage from the original injury since she does have the nerve damage to her rear legs.
This prognosis was depressing, but our vet said to just feed her well and wait and see.
Her bridge areas that he cleaned from leaking patches several weeks ago look good. Thought you might like to see the areas that he removed patches and cleaned. The one area had a compression fracture that is already mending. The other area had missing bridge piece with skin or tissue exposed. That tissue is now thickening and healing well. Our vet plans to leave the patches as they are for the time being as long as the areas are healing and there is no leakage into the body cavity.
Back to Scooter's eyes. A couple of days after I brought her home from the vet, she started opening her eyes and eating more vigorously since she was seeing better and, I assume, feeling better. She hadn't opened her eyes in 2 weeks!
Our vet said she was OK to leave her in water most of the time. No more worry about keeping the areas dry. She seems less puffy and acts pretty normal once again.
I don't know if she is still having slow organ failure and will just have bad days or what was going on but she's happy so I'm happy.
I suppose this could happen again but as long as she is having a quality life, I'm going to keep her. She moves her right rear leg well to help expel droppings so maybe she will be able to dig a hole if she needs to lay eggs later. She moves it so well I don't understand why she doesn't use it more. I'm learning a lot from this big ole gal.
February 2004: Scooter had all of her patches removed by one of the GCTTS vets. Even though there is a gap where her carapace was fractured, the tissues there have healed well, she's water tight and her shell is solid. She has gained strength in her rear legs but still hesitates to use them to swim or walk. She is eating good and is otherwise acting like a normal RES.
May 2004: Scooter is being carefully monitored now to see if she is developing any eggs. Her abdomen is being palpated regularly to check for egg development and we are watching for any signs of a diminished appetite. If Scooter develops eggs, because of her rear leg impairment, she could have problems digging a hole to lay eggs in. If that happens we don't know if she will lay her eggs without a hole or whether she will retain them. If she retains them, she will have to see a vet and receive a shot to make her expel the eggs. Egg binding is a serious problem and can result in death if not treated.
She is starting to use her legs slightly when she swims and she is using her left rear leg to walk on land now. This is very good news!
12 Jul 2004: Scooter was recently placed into a large in ground community pond. She will spend the coming winter in this pond. She is still being monitored to see if she is going to have any problems laying eggs.