Testing Phantom for a Chronic Tortoise Disease in Florida

All right, friends. There is Phantom. And uh you know what? I want to be absolutely sure he's okay. So, we're going to take a ride to Dr. Mike's and we are going to do a test for a disease that has been running rampant in tortoises in Florida. And you're going to learn all about it today. All right, friends. So, as you know, keeping a large group of tortoises or even one tortoise can be a big and herculean task. You're always going to have sick animals. And after the winter we've had here in Florida, things are just dodgy at best. I mean, just the change in temperatures and

the drought into uh rain into damp weather can really cause chaos for some of these animals. Um, as you've seen, we were dealing with an issue of dehydration with Phantom. Uh I just want to be absolutely sure because some of the dehydration uh symptoms could also be considered symptoms or secondary symptoms of something called tink t i n c uh testadine intrauclear coxidia and galopicos tortoises in Florida have been dealing with this. It's a flaring up bacterial infection that could actually present itself as a respiratory disease in some species and as a lower GI problem

uh in other species. So, it's something that you need to test for. So, we're going to do that. I had a radiated tortoise test positive for it and that animal did not make it. So, it's very important to get early indication while he's still eating, while he's still moving. Uh, I want to just make sure that he's not testing positive for this disease. So, we're going to go talk uh to Dr. Mike. We're going to bring him to uh the vet, which is just what you do. You have an animal that you're a little nervous about. Well, the only way to be 100% sure is to get these tests

done. And with Phantom, it's very, very important. So, I want to make sure he's with us for a long, long time. So, uh, that's what we're going to do. We got him loaded up in the back here, and we're going to take him right to Dr. Mike. So, let's get to it. All right, back with Dr. Mike here at PGA Animal Clinic. It's always a fun time when I roll in because everybody gathers around to see what have I brought you today. So, um I wanted to talk about tink because it is prevalent in tortoises in Florida and gaps have been susceptible as we know we had the

radiated succumb to that as well. So, what do we know about it? So, I mean, we know a fair bit, but sadly there are a whole lot of questions that we don't have answers to yet. Um, basically, tink can affect different species differently. Um, I know we kind of briefly talked about that before where, you know, some species tend to come back, we do blood work, their liver enzymes are through the roof, they're having really bad GI signs and they're having, you know, that diarrhea, that liquid stool. Um some come in with upper respiratory symptoms and you know a lot of people

just think it's a oh it's just a URI. Um so you know we definitely see it affect each species a bit differently and the more information that specialists are putting together and researchers are putting together the more we're seeing trends with that. Um you know that I've definitely seen for the you know many radiates that I've diagnosed with it. um you know, their uric acids are through the roof. It really tanks their kidneys. Um as you can see, you know, I mean, hopefully his comes back negative, of course, but if it did come back positive,

it's certainly not causing any GI upset with him cuz that's a nice normal stool. That looks pretty good. Um so, so you know, that's not um you know, this is more just an abundance of caution. Yeah. Uh which is important to me. We you know, I know that you know, it's tink is on my property. Um, so we want to just be there's no getting rid of it. Um, there's no cure for it. So, a lot of times it depends how the animal presents clinically, you know, how sick they are, what symptoms they present with, um, if they're eating still. Yeah, he's eating. Um, so, you know,

if we had to treat him, a lot of times we're using a drug called penazaril. Okay. Um, for horse people that's marquee paste. Um, so we use it in all kinds of species. We use it in horses. We use it in dogs. Um, it's it's a drug that we have compounded and then we essentially treat them with it for a month. Um, and that is again not to cure the infection but to essentially suppress it. Okay. Um, some animals respond very well to that. So, you know, we'll have some tortoises, we'll put them on a month course. By the time they're four or five doses in,

they're already improving clinically. Um, you know, the ones that come in, you know, anorexic, um, you know, we're placing a feeding tube. Um, we're administering everything, you know, via the feeding tube. Um, but you know, for ones that are coming in eating, a lot of times we can, you know, like you're doing here today, you know, and so make a little Yeah. make him open his mouth. Yeah. Make a little uh special treat for him and get the meds in that way. Um, you know, and a lot of times we can kind of trick him into eating. All right. Well,

we're going to try and trick him into opening his mouth so you can get a culture of his uh is that what we're looking at? Not a culture, but we're doing a swab and we're going to send it out for PCR testing. So basically what that does is it tests for the genetic material from the actual parasite and then if it comes back positive University of Florida um Dr. Oabof up there he does DNA sequencing to confirm any positive results. So you know that you're you know you're not just getting some random positive you know and uh you can truly trust it because they confirm

with sequencing for every result. All right. Um, so we're going to actually take oralocoenal swab, meaning oral cavity up into those coal slits. We're going to get a really good swab there. And then we're going to also just, you know, to be really thorough, we're going to get a clo ankle swab as well. All right, man. Well, okay. Let me want me to get his mouth opening. You want to get us Should we get that going? Get him set here. I'm also going to grab a picture of that poo. I also want to take a photo of that. Um, you know, one of the things I had a friend

talking to me about, he's like, "If there was a streak in the poo, and I'm nervous. I don't know, like this mucus here, uh, right there. I don't know if that's anything to be concerned about, but I want to send that to a friend who's, uh, very sure up on tink, but anyway, um, the tests are going to be conclusive." All right, good deal. And, you know, like any test, you can get a false negative certainly. Um, you know, depending who you talk to, there are different recommendations so far as, you know, peace of mind. Um, but if we're having any evidence of

any type of clinical symptom or presentation that could be consistent with it, you know, we're we're definitely going to want to test and just, you know, do our best to rule it out. All right, doc. Thank you. What would you need me to do? U, we're just going to have him open his mouth. All right. Should be really easy. He's a tiny little guy, so we'll uh let me see if awkward. I'm just going to wedge him in here. I'll get you ready. Let's see if I can get him attracted to this. I'm going to have food. Maybe if we let him um He's pretty agreeable. You think so? Cuz I was

wondering if I could have him open. I don't know. When I was looking in there before, he actually let me open his mouth pretty well. Did he? Yeah. All right. So, here we go. She doesn't want that. That's okay. Smell it. Says, "What are you doing here?" This big guy. Oh, you're good. Okay. Just try and open it up. All right. Whatever you want to do. I mean, I was just letting him walk. And then is it something that if we just let him walk unrestrained, maybe he'll just open his mouth and you can Come on. You just eat fine. This is the actually Here we go. Get ready. I'm going to just lure him out.

I might be able to just get him to open up like this. Come on. There it is. Dangling bananas. This is the hardest part of the whole thing. I think when dealing with a tortoise. I mean, usually we get them on these guys on Aldabbras. You know, at least their personalities are such that, you know, a lot of times you can get it. I mean, a sata comes in, forget it. Exactly. You get maybe you get a cloakal swab, but you're okay, buddy. Probably just try and have him open his mouth for me. All right, you got it. Do what you want. You got it. You're okay. Come here.

Do you need me to do anything? Um, when I put my pinky over here in the corner of his mouth last time, he popped it open. I was hoping he was going to make it that easy again, but yeah, apparently he knows the trick now. Yep. Come on, left. You're okay. Come on. You're okay, buddy. Let's get you out here. Okay. Nice. Really well on the top. All right. Good job. Good deal. All right. Oh, that's the hard part. Awesome. That you want to make sure you get a good uh swab of that. And then I got to pick this up. Yeah. Thanks. I snapped a

shot of it. There's some turds there. Yeah. I'm always happy to leave you guys presents. Oh, yeah. Thank you. With my presents. Yes. All right. Phantom. Ph. Yeah, phantom's stinky. Um, all right. We're going to do the uh gray alien anal probe now. This is what we do. He's seeing a bright light and uh what's that movie from the '9s? Fire in the sky. Stressed me out, man. You want me to hold his tail for me? I can hold your tail. Great. I can do that. Thank you. Yeah, I'm a science fiction nerd. All right, we're going. Sorry there, buddy. Oh,

yeah. Woo. That tickles. Sorry, big guy. Wow. You really got to get that thing in there, eh? Yes, sir. Okay. All right. Such a nice bedside manner you have, Doc. All right. Well, jokes aside, this is a very thorough test. Couple of days and we should find out the answer. Actually, takes about two weeks. Two weeks? Yep. Oh gosh. Um, this is stressful. So, we're not going to know the answer in this video, but I will of course update you guys. In the meantime, what can I do prophylactically to help this guy out? I mean, as long as, like you always do,

you're going to make sure he's hydrated. You're going to soak him. You're going to make sure he's continuing to eat. Um, if anything there changes, you'll just let me know right away and um and we'll kind of go from there. All right, Doc. What's your name again? Janessa. Doc. Janessa's got the touch. Look at that. She's got them. Yeah. I don't know, man. I don't know if you're losing it, Dr. Mike. She's got him. You're the one sticking things up his butt. She's just scratching his neck. Holy smokes. All right. Very good. Well, let's get this guy wrapped up. I know you've got a lot going on here. They're always doing

something cool here at the clinic, PJ Animal Clinic here in Palm Beach Gardens. He's doing a big remodel there. They're You might have heard some uh jackhammers going on. But throughout all that remodeling, animals are being cared for and they are still open. So, if you would like, visit them on Instagram, PJ Animal Clinic, and Dr. Mike Gillan on Instagram as well. There's a saw going, huh? Making this place better. All right, we're going to get Phantom home and hydrated. All right, so we are home. He's been soaking and he's super active. He's wanting to get

the heck out of here. So, we're going to get him back up and put him back in the enclosure, and I'm going to give him some cactus just to make sure he's happy. Uh, I love the fact that he was walking around so much at the doctor's office. And, um, you know, we're just going to keep an eye on him. I wanted to be thorough because, you know, obviously, it's important to know. Uh, if he does have any kind of bacterial infection like tink, we're going to want to make sure we aggressively treat it. And uh hopefully we learn more about this disease and therefore we're able

to treat it even better than we are now. All right, let's get him up and at him. All right, there buddy. You soaked long enough. Oh, we tilt him up. There we go. Oh god, that's that's a heavy boy. 117 lbs is no joke. Let's go for a walk. All right. But it's just what needs to be done when you've taken on the responsibility of caring for these beautiful animals. It's what we do here at the camp. And uh I love my job, as Greg the pond guy would say. But let's stop over here. Go grocery shopping. See what we got here. Oh, this looks good. This one actually.

Take this whole thing cuz I'm sure Socrates will be pretty happy to have some as well. Okay, here we go. Such a cool enclosure. What a beautiful, tranquil sound. Let's go ahead and get these guys or get Phantom back in here cuz I feel like if he's moving around, he's it's it's just always better to be kind of conilelesing in your own home, don't you think? Oops, that got caught. There we go. My awesome new gates. So fancy. All right, Phantom. We don't have to go too far. Let's just go ahead and put you right in the nice sun. And I love these Rubbermaid bins if you have larger tortoises because they have

a little ramp. There you go. Here. Look, Phantom. Get on that. What do you think? He's had a lot of action lately. Lots of action. Will he eat with all that action? Oh no. Come on, phantom boy. We'll go ahead and throw it out a little bit further. Here comes Socrates. She's missing her friend. There we go. Just throw it out there for him. He's curious. We've been proddding him for a while. Come on. There you go. That's a boy. There he is. Oh, that's good news. Again, guys, just because an abundance of caution,

as you know, it's been a rough one for me this week. Well, not this week, this winter. And uh I just want to make sure we don't have any more problems. In other good news, we have definitely made some improvements as far as our female river turtle. She's completely submerged. She's eating again. So, even though they got sick, we get them better with the help of Dr. Mike and his amazing staff at PGA Animal Clinic. So, give them a follow, find them on Instagram and other forms of social media. Here comes Socrates. Hello, young lady. Go ahead and eat that. Come here,

buddy. And that's it, friends. Just another update on our guy Phantom. I'll be seeing you soon. Don't forget to go to patreon.comcamkennon. Hey, you dropped it, dude. patreon.com/camken for more videos and behindthe-scenes hy jinks as well as a live video with me every single Thursday 400 p.m. Eastern. Now you guys share and be nice. I'll see you guys again soon. Just do it.