On Sunday’s edition of Dr. T, Lone Star Vet, we get an assorted group of ailing reptiles, birds, and mammals who need help.
This episode will specifically focus on wallabies, a bunny who needs to birth a baby, talking Amazonian parrots, and a family member’s turtle who really needs to fart.
During the episode airing this Sunday, Texas Avian and Exotic opens. Dr. Lauren Thielen’s (Dr. T) sister Mariah’s five-year-old turtle, Gallagher, is the first patient. She is showing signs of distress when in the water. She cannot sink properly and is struggling to navigate swimming, which is unusual for a slider turtle.
“Why the heck can’t she swim,” asks Dr. T as she tries to determine what is making Gallagher, the slider turtle, so off her game in the sink and swim tasks.
An ultrasound is used to figure out what is making Gallagher have difficulty in swimming, and the good news is that despite having swollen follicles, it turns out that it is a case of bad turtle gas.
Before the gas diagnosis, Dr. T thinks Gallagher might be egg bound. She says: “I took a look at Gallagher’s x-rays, and there’s no eggs,” worried now that there is something in the abdomen of the turtle that is problematic.
But the good news is that the follicle crisis is averted, and in our exclusive clip, Dr. T explains she has taken the gassy turtle home and hopes to have the reptile pass some turtle gas so it can comfortably swim again.
Also on the episode, we will meet Booger and Sampson (Bubbie is his preferred name), two double yellow-headed Amazon parrots who travel with their human mom, even visiting hotels and national parks. They are inseparable and clearly love their human mother.
Bubbie has a weird swollen and pink eye and Dr. Nixon will examine the bird to see what made Bubbie’s eye swell.
We will also meet Penny on the episode. The rabbit is having trouble having her second baby, which they have determined is likely in distress. The baby bunny fetus is not moving and does not want to come out. An emergency C-section may have to be performed to save Penny’s life.
Dr. T is quickly learning that each animal encounter is like being a detective, and she will even help a brave little gecko battling for its life after it was attacked by the family cat.
Who is Dr. T?
Dr. T, who was previously featured on the Nat Geo WILD show Dr. K’s Exotic Animal ER, runs a thriving practice in her home state of Texas. She got there after matriculating from Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine. She has also spent time in Florida at Broward Avian and Exotic Animal Hospital and the Veterinary Center for Birds & Exotics in New York.
She works at the Texas Avian & Exotics Hospital in Grapevine, northwest of Dallas. Dr. T is also an adjunct professor at the University of Miami Avian and Wildlife Laboratory, allowing her to offer case consultations to veterinarians around the nation.
Make sure to tune in Sunday and see how all the creatures fare with Dr. T.
Read our exclusive interview with Dr. Lauren Thielen here!
Dr. T, Lone Star Vet airs this Sunday, November 3 at 9/8c on Nat Geo WILD.