Old Injury, Turned Infection, Could Have Taken Turtle’s Leg: Patient 24-1448

Injuries and infections are not uncommon out in the wild but for this Eastern Box Turtle, the odds were stacked against him. A prior injury, which turned to infection, almost took his leg!

What is that??

Patient 24-1448, a male Eastern Box Turtle, was brought into the center after being found in quite a shocking condition. There was an infectious mass on his hind right leg which had grown to be half the size of his shell! While we don’t know 100% what caused this, it is likely that there was either a cut or puncture that became infected under the skin.

Once the infection started, it began to grow under the skin leaving the turtle with this large round mass on its leg. Luckily, the infection in this turtle's leg did not get worse than it was, as that may have caused pain, further injury, or even death for the turtle.

Mass Removal!

Upon the initial exam for this turtle, the staff was shocked to see the size that this mass had grown to be. They spread lidocaine on his leg and prepared themselves to open up the mass. When they attempted to pull fluid out, and nothing came out, they knew something was different about this mass. 

We were luckily able to get in touch with our good friends and veterinarians Dr. Miller and Dr. Balmer to help figure out what the next steps were for this turtle. After some deliberation, Dr. Balmer was able to take the turtle and successfully surgically remove the mass in his leg! While removing the mass, it was noted that the inside the mass was a yellow/gray, clay-like substance similar to what is commonly found in ear abscesses, which are common in Eastern Box Turtles. 

Right back where he left off!

After nearly two full months of daily care, physical therapy, and meds, this turtle was ready to get back where he came from. After the successful surgery, we needed to make sure that his leg did not become infected once again. Because of this we had to do his care a little differently. Due to the dissolvable stitches, we had to be careful not to get his hind right leg wet because that could cause the stitches to dissolve too early and allow bacteria to enter the incision. 

Along with being careful not to wet the incision, we also had to check the incision often without pulling his leg out, which proved to be a difficult task on some days. Once he began walking on his hind right leg a little more and the incision began looking better and better everyday, we were confident that this turtle would be ready to go in no time! After all of this care, the turtle was placed back exactly where he was found, and with a much better looking leg, was ready to be back out in the wild, where he belongs.