Urgent Care :: zinc oxide for shell?

[eyebrowdance]

my turtle (RES) just came down with a bad infection... yesterday one of her scutes came off completely (exposing the bone underneath) and we took her to an emergency vet, they cleaned her up, gave her an antibiotic, and coated the missing scute with zinc oxide (diaper rash cream).

is the zinc oxide ok for a turtle? we're taking her to the vet on thursday so i'll know for sure exactly how to proceed... the ER vet said it was waterproof and would be fine but it's clouding up the water in the tank and it's making me a bit nervous. and when i reapply it i can just tell the turtle is in a lot of pain i don't want to make it worse! should i be dry-docking until we see the vet?

[jozzep]

Dry-docking seems like a good idea to me.The wound would def heal better if it dried up.
Hope he gets better

[marisa]

Welcome. If the water were kept really clean and the turtle had a good basking area (and lighting), I don't see why he couldn't be kept in the tank until Thursday.

If you do dry dock, make sure he gets a chance to be in water for about 30 minutes twice a day to get hydrated and eat.

This is shell rot? Ask the vet about some Nolvasan (chlorohexidine) and silver sulfadine cream.

[eyebrowdance]

thanks. the vet said it was a fungal infection and also recommended dry docking. so we're starting that... turtle's not taking to it very well though. will she calm down eventually or is there something i can do to make it a little less stressful?

[marisa]

If you haven't, you might give her a cloth to burrow under.

Has the vet prescribed anything else for the shell?