# Leopard tortoise wont poop. Help! Many vet visits no answers



## Holly Thompson (Aug 14, 2017)

WE NEED HELP! I'm hoping someone on hear might have some insight: She is 3.5 years old and has had by the books husbandry. Tortoise table with all the proper lights, heat and humidity. She gets soaks at least twice a weak. She has a large outdoor enclosure for the summer, It's planted with all edible plants plus a ton of weeds. 3 months ago she stopped eating. I took her to the u of g where they deal with exotics and we did blood work and an cat scan. Her blood work came back and everything seemed fine just a bit dehydrated. The cat scan showed that she was packed full of food! We put her on antibiotics so the food wouldn't start rotting. After a week she was eating again. We kept her on antibiotics for a little while after this. About 3 weeks after this she stopped pooping but was still eating! I started giving her soaks at least once daily and tried some pumpkin, cucumber etc trying to get things moving. It didn't work so back to the vets we went. We did x rays and it showed that she was full of gas and her intestines were extremely inflamed. There was no obvious obstruction. Next we decided to give her barium and track it through x rays for the next couple of days. She was also put on a metecam ( a pain killer ) and more antibiotics in the mean time. ( no batryl ) The next couple of x rays showed that the barium was kind of spotty and not the white type of line that you would expect to see going through the intestines. On day 6 when the barium should definitely have exited it could still be seen just sitting near the large intestine. However the x rays were still not detecting an obstruction like a rock or substrate. We did more blood work and it came back still looking ok but she was very low in protein. She managed to pass a little hard piece of poop and I had them test it for parasites. It came back negative! So here I am with no clear answers and just a poor tortoise who is sleeping all day, eating 40% of what is normal and still not pooping! I feel bad poking her everyday and we are not getting anywhere! Can anyone help???


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## leigti (Aug 14, 2017)

@ Deadheadvet @Yvonne G
Hopefully somebody will be along soon with some good ideas. Is she getting plenty of exercise? Because walking and moving around will help get things going in the digestive track. Have you double checked all the temperatures?


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## ZEROPILOT (Aug 15, 2017)

I'm curious about what the temperatures are and humidity.
Also, just your basic tortoise keeping.
What type of tortoise?
Can you give us photos of the enclosure, etc?
Without UV, warmth, etc. Digestion can be affected.


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## ZEROPILOT (Aug 15, 2017)

leigti said:


> @ Deadheadvet @Yvonne G
> Hopefully somebody will be along soon with some good ideas. Is she getting plenty of exercise? Because walking and moving around will help get things going in the digestive track. Have you double checked all the temperatures?


Unfortunately, @deadheadvet is no longer with us.


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## wellington (Aug 15, 2017)

I too would like to hear numbers for temps and humidity. 95-100 basking is needed for the food to be properly digested. Too low and it won't help too high and she may not be basking. 
In the mean time try putting her your bath tub for the warm soaks and make her have to walk around. Make the water deep enough she can't just lay there. Keep an eye on her at all times and keep the water warm. Leave her in for an hour or so unless she finally poops


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## Yvonne G (Aug 15, 2017)

Well ya see. . . "By the books husbandry. . ." and "proper lights, heat, etc." Doesn't give us the info we need in order to help you. Depending upon which books you're going by, the books are wrong. And what's 'proper' to you may be pretty far away from what's 'proper' to us.

Start off by reading our care sheet and making adjustments to your husbandry accordingly. Clear your mind of all the old info you have stored in there about how to care for a young leopard tortoise and start fresh.

We now know that even though leopard tortoises come from Africa, that doesn't mean they come from the dessert. They hatch out during the monsoon season, when grass and weeds are plentiful and conditions are warm and HUMID.

Start off by soaking your young tortoise in warm water daily for a half hour or more each time. Use a container he can't climb out of, and something big enough so he can scramble around, trying to get out when he's tired of being in there. Scrambling around, trying to climb the sides, lots of movement in the water, never fails to make them poop.

Of course, I'm only guessing here, but my Spidey Sense tells me the tortoise is chronically dehydrated. 

Good luck, and please keep us in the loop.


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## leigti (Aug 15, 2017)

ZEROPILOT said:


> Unfortunately, @deadheadvet is no longer with us.


Oh yeah, I forgot. I wish he would come back.


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## Bee62 (Aug 15, 2017)

Soak, soak, soak in warm water that always stays warm during the soak. Keep your tortoise warm and in humid conditions night and day.

Please answer the questions that we already asked.

When your tortoise is impacted this method could be the last try to get things loose:
Buy a woman vibrator and put your tortoise on the vibrator. The vibrations can help the intestine to pass hard stool. 
This is no joke ! It works and can save the life of your tort.


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## Meganolvt (Aug 15, 2017)

If the barium didn't come through then there is an obstruction. They can have partial obstructions too.


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## Shaif (Aug 15, 2017)

Hi! I'm a Doctor, but of the human type. 

I do barium studies daily (but again-- on humans). In my patients, the flocculation, or "spottiness" of the barium indicates inflammation and mucus buildup. This can be a sign of colitis. 
Is there any way a new/different food was introduced? New changes in husbandry? 

I wish I had more to offer, but I can tell you that true obstruction causes dialated loops of bowel. Your doc would see that--it's not subtle. 


Wishing you the best.


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## Bee62 (Aug 16, 2017)

Shaif said:


> Hi! I'm a Doctor, but of the human type.
> 
> I do barium studies daily (but again-- on humans). In my patients, the flocculation, or "spottiness" of the barium indicates inflammation and mucus buildup. This can be a sign of colitis.
> Is there any way a new/different food was introduced? New changes in husbandry?
> ...



I have a question: Is barium not toxic ? I remember it is. 
Confused...


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## Shaif (Aug 16, 2017)

Bee62 said:


> I have a question: Is barium not toxic ? I remember it is.
> Confused...



Hi! 

It's not toxic at all. Can make constipation worse, but that's about it.


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## Bee62 (Aug 16, 2017)

Shaif said:


> Hi!
> 
> It's not toxic at all. Can make constipation worse, but that's about it.



Thank you !


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