Scary fecal

[Texas Panther Man]

The vet was informed that the patients keeper had seen parasites in a fecal float. To me any educated caring vet would have come back in and said we did the float and didnt see what your referring too. Would you like us to do a smear also for X amt of $$ to see if we can get a conclusive answer to your issue. The vet dropped the ball bottom line.

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

The vet was informed that the patients keeper had seen parasites in a fecal float. To me any educated caring vet would have come back in and said we did the float and didnt see what your referring too. Would you like us to do a smear also for X amt of $$ to see if we can get a conclusive answer to your issue. The vet dropped the ball bottom line.

I agree the vet could have been more proactive and offered a smear. Personally I think both should have been done as a fecal examination. Especially since parasites were suspected to be there.

In regards to them being a qualified reptile vet, it shouldn't matter. A fecal is a fecal is a fecal. Doesn't matter if it came from a dog , cat, reptile or mongoose. The vet should be able to identify any of the infections/infestations below and/or their eggs weather they are familiar with reptiles or not.

HOOKWORMS
ROUNDWORMS
WHIPWORMS
TAPEWORMS
GIARDIASIS
COCCIDIOSIS
strongyloides

 

[Todnedo]

Well the best part is this is not my reptile vet but she is close so I take fecals to her. she has done 5 in the last week and a half looking for coccidia.

When I dropped of the sample I told the receptionist tell the vet to look for parasites and protazoa. This lady had no clue and said "we have to send them out to be checked" I said Dr. Smith does them in house. She said" oh yeah give us a call when you are ready for them" I had the 10 bucks in my hand to pay like I always do but I wasn't going to tell the dumb dumb how to do her job so I walked out thinking I'll have to stop back to get meds anyway. So there loss not mine

 

[lslcronk]

Well the best part is this is not my reptile vet but she is close so I take fecals to her. she has done 5 in the last week and a half looking for coccidia.

When I dropped of the sample I told the receptionist tell the vet to look for parasites and protazoa. This lady had no clue and said "we have to send them out to be checked" I said Dr. Smith does them in house. She said" oh yeah give us a call when you are ready for them" I had the 10 bucks in my hand to pay like I always do but I wasn't going to tell the dumb dumb how to do her job so I walked out thinking I'll have to stop back to get meds anyway. So there loss not mine

Just an FYI for next time, the receptionist in a vet clinic is usually a high school student, a retired lady or some other person who really has absolutely no training in being a vet or a technician. She had no idea what you were talking about cuz they are there to mainly answer phones and make appts. That was going to be ny next suggestion actually, if you are not trusting the results from the vet, have them send them to thier lab. The lab will have the capability to look for and identify way more than the clinic.

 

[lslcronk]

I agree the vet could have been more proactive and offered a smear. Personally I think both should have been done as a fecal examination. Especially since parasites were suspected to be there.

In regards to them being a qualified reptile vet, it shouldn't matter. A fecal is a fecal is a fecal. Doesn't matter if it came from a dog , cat, reptile or mongoose. The vet should be able to identify any of the infections/infestations below and/or their eggs weather they are familiar with reptiles or not.

HOOKWORMS
ROUNDWORMS
WHIPWORMS
TAPEWORMS
GIARDIASIS
COCCIDIOSIS
strongyloides

In this case, I kind of agree. There are specific parasites to certain species and they can all look a little different. But these are very commoly seen, you are correct. My argument here is only that she didnt say she couldnt identify them, she just didnt see any eggs, which happens a lot due to different breeding cycles, egg laying cycles etc. Not the point though. I dont know her or the clinic. I am just trying to advocate for those in vet medicine, that just because they "failed" in this case (I dont think they failed, they were not thourough and results were not to the owner's liking) but that does not automatically make them the worst vet ever who should be barred from vet medicine. There are a lot of ppl who hate vets on here, I am a vet tech and it makes me crazy seeing some of the posts cuz not a lot of these "haters" understand what is truly going on, they just start getting nasty lol Just a voice from the other side of the debate. Hope I dont get hate mail! haha

 

[Todnedo]

Ok this vets sucks... I took her in a new sample she did a float and a smear.
She called me and said both were Clean.
I told her I did a smear and saw 3 moving protazoas and roundworm eggs. I told her I could bring the slide in so she could see for herself. She looked at it and said she couldn't ID them. but she would call her friend to help her ID them. so later she called and said they were coccidia and coccidia eggs. I took a sample to my regular vet and she Id'ed them as Balantidium flagellates.

 

[lslcronk]

lol Todnedo...I give! I dont think I would take any other reptile related samples to the vet in question! It might be worth your time to drive!

 

[Seeco]

I think that, with the average vet treating a chameleon, it is best to second guess their abilities. Not being a hater, just a realist. I'll never forget the time the vet assistant came to me all goofy and said "I really had to rip her off my hand! We had to take 9 x-rays because she would not stay still!" -- Like it was the chams fault for being so wimpy...