Time out with T.O. — UNMC CT scan helps sea turtle eat again

You might call it serious medicine, extraordinary care … delivered on a hard shell.

Bubbles, a female Atlantic green sea turtle at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, had mysteriously stopped eating for eight months. Something was wrong, but a diagnosis was not readily apparent.

Tom O’Connor

That’s when the zoo turned to UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, for some answers.

The medical center had a large enough CT scanner to accommodate the 260-pound Bubbles.

Dangerous blockage

Anne Hubbard, M.D., professor of radiology at UNMC and a longtime supporter of the zoo, performed the scan last September.

The scan revealed a large mass in Bubbles’ cloaca, a sac near her anus that kept her from passing waste.

Bubbles — an Atlantic green sea turtle from the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo — gets a CT scan at UNMC.

Doug Armstrong, D.V.M., director of animal health at the zoo, used a variety of devices to clean out the clay-like mass, which consisted of fecal matter, calcium and minerals.

“The CT scan guided our treatment of Bubbles for the first six weeks,” Dr. Armstrong said. “We are very grateful to the medical center and Dr. Hubbard for helping us out. And so is Bubbles.”

New problems

Once the impaction was removed, Bubbles began to eat again. This continued for about four months before her appetite started to wane again.

Dr. Armstrong is now worried about ulcerous lesions on Bubbles’ shell, and he thinks she might have a virus or a problem with her immune system. The zoo first received Bubbles in 2003 after she was rescued near the Florida Keys. She had likely been struck by a boat propeller.

Bubbles down but not out

“We haven’t resolved all of her medical problems,” Dr. Armstrong said, “but discovering the bowel impaction was certainly an important step in Bubbles’ recovery.”

Although not in perfect health, Bubbles still welcomes visitors, Dr. Armstrong said, as she spends her days swimming around the Walter and Suzanne Scott Aquarium at the zoo.