Blue Ridge Wildlife Center Patient of the Week: Snapping Turtle

This patient was full of surprises! Photos / BRWC

This Snapping Turtle came to us after a fishing hook was removed from their neck. Originally, the plan was to simply evaluate the wound from where the hook was pulled, but the turtle’s abnormally quiet demeanor prompted our veterinary staff to get radiographs.

Radiographs revealed MULTIPLE hooks and rigs. Many sinkers are made with lead, but thankfully this turtle did not have any lead sinkers in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) nor elevated blood lead levels.

You can make out the metal in this radiograph image quite easily. We use radiographs like this prior to surgery to help determine where in the GIT the foreign objects are, but also if they need to be removed.

If a stable granuloma (small mass of immune cells that encapsulates the foreign object) has formed around a hook and there is no lead sinker or other toxic metal involved, it may be safer to leave some hooks if they are not causing blockages.

In this case, it was clear that some of the hooks were relatively fresh (meaning sharp and able to puncture through the GIT) and they were also causing systemic signs in this turtle, so they needed to come out.

Our staff was able to take this turtle into surgery on the same day as intake to remove the foreign objects.

Our Hospital Director, Dr. Jen, was assisted by one of our veterinary students and one of our vet tech students for this procedure. As a teaching hospital, exposing students to a wide variety of procedures on many different species is a top priority. Not only will this turtle benefit from our care, but so will the turtles our students treat in the future.

During surgery, severe inflammation was noted throughout the GIT and there were multiple areas where the tissue itself had become fragile.

This surgery lasted nearly three hours. Due to this turtle’s compromised state prior to surgery, he had a rough time with the anesthesia and recovery. Our amazing veterinary and vet tech students provided breaths by positive pressure ventilation (squeezing an ambu-bag to provide air to the lungs at regular intervals) for nearly 8 hours until the patient began breathing on his own and could be extubated.

This photo shows some of the removed fishing gear. As you can see, one hook (the largest) is relatively fresh and luckily had not yet perforated the GIT.

The other pieces had granulomas beginning to form around them. This ability to form granulomas helps turtles and birds survive with some of these foreign bodies inside them by effectively walling it off.

Unfortunately, when there are enough foreign bodies, this technique is often still not enough. In this case, the volume of foreign material and the positioning of some of the granulomas were causes blockages and irritation in the tract.

After this turtle has healed from surgery, we plan to perform additional diagnostics to better assess the functionality of the tract and his long-term prognosis.

In the meantime, this turtle is receiving strong pain medications and antibiotics. We’re hopeful for a full recovery prior to October 1st so that they can be released this year!

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