# Kidney Failure



## Missmeg (May 14, 2020)

Hello, I am new here but wanted to know if anyone has had a similar experience. My tortoise has been sick for over 2 weeks. This last week I took her to the vet to get blood work and xrays to see what could be wrong. Her blood tests came back and she seems to be having kidney failure. She’s on a 2nd round of antibiotics, but still isn’t eating. I kept her at the vet over the weekend since she was so weak and they syringe fed her and kept her fluids up. Since being home, she let me hand feed her once but hasn’t been interested. 
Has anyone dealt with kidney failure? Is it something that can be reversed? I am sad to think about putting her down, but I also don’t want her to suffer. The vet wants me to bring her in every few days to syringe feed and hoping the antibiotics help this time. Just curious if she is likely to recover. I feel so bad.


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## Chubbs the tegu (May 14, 2020)

How old is ur tort? Ive been through this with a baby i purchased from a pet store. Started off dry ( breeder failure syndrome) he seemed fine for about 2 months but never got past 50 grams. There is nothing ur vet can do if this is the case .


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## Tom (May 14, 2020)

Missmeg said:


> Hello, I am new here but wanted to know if anyone has had a similar experience. My tortoise has been sick for over 2 weeks. This last week I took her to the vet to get blood work and xrays to see what could be wrong. Her blood tests came back and she seems to be having kidney failure. She’s on a 2nd round of antibiotics, but still isn’t eating. I kept her at the vet over the weekend since she was so weak and they syringe fed her and kept her fluids up. Since being home, she let me hand feed her once but hasn’t been interested.
> Has anyone dealt with kidney failure? Is it something that can be reversed? I am sad to think about putting her down, but I also don’t want her to suffer. The vet wants me to bring her in every few days to syringe feed and hoping the antibiotics help this time. Just curious if she is likely to recover. I feel so bad.


What species? What size? How are you housing it? We need more info.

Kidney failure is common and fatal in babies that are given the usual dry start.


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## Missmeg (May 14, 2020)

Chubbs the tegu said:


> How old is ur tort? Ive been through this with a baby i purchased from a pet store. Started off dry ( breeder failure syndrome) he seemed fine for about 2 months but never got past 50 grams. There is nothing ur vet can do if this is the case .


She is about 5. I purchased her from a pet store about 5 months ago. So I’m not sure if she wasn’t properly taken care of or not. She also escaped one day and went 3 houses down. Wondering if she also ate a plant with weed killer or something. The vet seemed like she may not make it and from what I’ve read kidney failure isn’t treatable. Just wondering if anyone has had a tortoise who recovered before having to put her down. I just want to make sure I’m doing everything I can.


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## haydog_99 (May 14, 2020)

Missmeg said:


> She is about 5. I purchased her from a pet store about 5 months ago. So I’m not sure if she wasn’t properly taken care of or not. She also escaped one day and went 3 houses down. Wondering if she also ate a plant with weed killer or something. The vet seemed like she may not make it and from what I’ve read kidney failure isn’t treatable. Just wondering if anyone has had a tortoise who recovered before having to put her down. I just want to make sure I’m doing everything I can.


Sorry, kidney's don't recover hopefully the damage isn't so bad that you get compete failure. Best of luck.


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## Missmeg (May 14, 2020)

Tom said:


> What species? What size? How are you housing it? We need more info.
> 
> Kidney failure is common and fatal in babies that are given the usual dry start.


She is a Russian tortoise. About 6 inches long. She gets to roam my yard in the day and at night she has a 20 gallon tank. She has retire bark with coconut fiber. Her lights are on a timer so she’s also getting 12 hours in case she’s not outside as long. Her tank is always 80 degrees on one end and the basking side is between 95-100. She eats leafy greens, never any fruit. I also soak pellets for her. She also gets warm soaks. I’m really thinking she ate something bad since this happened right after she escaped.


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## Yvonne G (May 14, 2020)

I just wonder if the parameters for judging "failure" is different for tortoises than what vets are used to seeing. Reason I wonder is kidney failure is often diagnosed and quite often the tortoise snaps out of it.

Read our care sheet and make any corrections to yur husbandry that are necessary, soak the tortoise daily and hope for the best

(the most important part of my advice is for you to correct the way you're caring for the tortoise according to how it's stated in our care sheet. Nine times out of ten the tortoise is sick because he's not being cared for properly.)


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## Tom (May 14, 2020)

Missmeg said:


> She is a Russian tortoise. About 6 inches long. She gets to roam my yard in the day and at night she has a 20 gallon tank. She has retire bark with coconut fiber. Her lights are on a timer so she’s also getting 12 hours in case she’s not outside as long. Her tank is always 80 degrees on one end and the basking side is between 95-100. She eats leafy greens, never any fruit. I also soak pellets for her. She also gets warm soaks. I’m really thinking she ate something bad since this happened right after she escaped.


Russian tortoises need a large enclosure. a 20 gallon is WAAAAAAYYYYYY too small. They need something like 4x8 feet indoors, and larger outdoors. Cramping them up in a tiny enclosure causes problems over the long term.

If you bought her at a pet store, she's probably much older than 5, but that is inconsequential.

Poisoning while roaming the neighborhood is a possibility, but sometimes the wild caught pet store tortoises just don't do well. Most of them die after a few months. Some of them survive and do fine, but for a pet, you'd be much better off with a captive bred tortoise.


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## Missmeg (May 14, 2020)

Yvonne G said:


> I just wonder if the parameters for judging "failure" is different for tortoises than what vets are used to seeing. Reason I wonder is kidney failure is often diagnosed and quite often the tortoise snaps out of it.
> 
> Read our care sheet and make any corrections to yur husbandry that are necessary, soak the tortoise daily and hope for the best
> 
> (the most important part of my advice is for you to correct the way you're caring for the tortoise according to how it's stated in our care sheet. Nine times out of ten the tortoise is sick because he's not being cared for properly.)


Thank you for your input. I’ve been reading and making changes based on what I’ve seen on here. I think I will continue with antibiotics and daily soaks. I’m really hoping she snaps out of it, just curious about the time frame and just scared I’m keeping her alive and she’s in a lot of pain. Makes me feel better that she could get better. Just trying to gauge the probability of her getting better. This last visit cost me over $600 and another round of that is rough due to recent circumstances. But, if it’s likely she can recover I will do it for her.


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## Missmeg (May 14, 2020)

Tom said:


> Russian tortoises need a large enclosure. a 20 gallon is WAAAAAAYYYYYY too small. They need something like 4x8 feet indoors, and larger outdoors. Cramping them up in a tiny enclosure causes problems over the long term.
> 
> If you bought her at a pet store, she's probably much older than 5, but that is inconsequential.
> 
> Poisoning while roaming the neighborhood is a possibility, but sometimes the wild caught pet store tortoises just don't do well. Most of them die after a few months. Some of them survive and do fine, but for a pet, you'd be much better off with a captive bred tortoise.


She’s only in there at night, but yes I agree she needs a bigger house. We just purchased a new for her I just went with what the pet store suggested at the time not knowing. The vet also said pet store tortoises don’t always do well because you don’t know their history. At this point I’m just trying to weigh our options with the kidney test results. Thank you for your response.


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## mark1 (May 14, 2020)

why antibiotics ? what kind of antibiotics ?


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## Missmeg (May 14, 2020)

mark1 said:


> why antibiotics ? what kind of antibiotics ?


Sorry she had a respiratory infection with this before her test results came back. She did Fortaz and now baytril. The vet said to finish them since her infection is almost gone.


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## Maggie3fan (May 14, 2020)

You do realize that the antibiotics won't help kidney failure...did the Vet tell you what his GFR rate is? That is a vip number in kidney disease...it tells you exactly the failure rate sorta...


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## Missmeg (May 14, 2020)

maggie3fan said:


> You do realize that the antibiotics won't help kidney failure...did the Vet tell you what his GFR rate is? That is a vip number in kidney disease...it tells you exactly the failure rate sorta...


Yes, the antibiotics were for her respiratory infection. She then got worse and after blood work we found she was having kidney issues. I’m at the vet now so I will ask about it. She just said the uric acid was double what it should be. For now, they syringe fed her and gave her fluids. I will be back on Monday so hoping she improves a little by then.


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## mark1 (May 14, 2020)

I would ask about sub q fluids at home , and I do believe b complex stimulates appetite , and makes them feel better …….. did she recently come out of hibernation ? I would keep her temps 80-85 and not depend on her to regulate her own temp …...I believe off blood work levels may also just indicate dehydration ? i'd keep her in as optimum conditions as I could and bother her as little as I had too …… when was the last time she ate on her own ? I've never been a fan of force feeding them , not there isn't a place for it , but to me it's among the last resorts …….it takes months and months for them to starve to death ……...


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## Missmeg (May 14, 2020)

mark1 said:


> I would ask about sub q fluids at home , and I do believe b complex stimulates appetite , and makes them feel better …….. did she recently come out of hibernation ? I would keep her temps 80-85 and not depend on her to regulate her own temp …...I believe off blood work levels may also just indicate dehydration ? i'd keep her in as optimum conditions as I could and bother her as little as I had too …… when was the last time she ate on her own ? I've never been a fan of force feeding them , not there isn't a place for it , but to me it's among the last resorts …….it takes months and months for them to starve to death ……...


Thanks for the advice. I will be syringe feeding her at home. She hasn’t eaten on her own in a couple weeks. She came home from vet Monday and I took her in today so they could feed her again. She was able to open her mouth and I put food in her mouth and she ate it, but she will not do it on her own without my help.


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## Yvonne G (May 15, 2020)

I'm with Mark1 on the force feeding. Tortoises have a very slow metabolism and the food you put in her stomach today is probably still in there tomorrow. It's very difficult for one to know when the stomach is empty enough to be able to accept more food, and it's quite easy to put too much in. I just wouldn't do it.


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## Ahesch (May 15, 2020)

Good luck to you! 
I am experiencing a similar issue with one of my 14 yr old sulcata torts. She seemed disinterested in food etc and was not herself. Vet treated as upper respiratory infection and I added humidifier to winter indoor housing (OH). It didnt't make a huge difference but breathing was better so took her to a specialist in Cleveland who kept her for a week with subqu fluids and antibiotics. Vet said liver enzymes were way off which could be due to lack of food so she is home now with a feeding tube and doing substantially better. She goes back for check up next Friday. In addition to her tube feeding, I try to entice her with smashed up stuff via mouth and have seen a new level of interest last few days. It is a long shot but we are trying.


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## Missmeg (May 15, 2020)

Ahesch said:


> Good luck to you!
> I am experiencing a similar issue with one of my 14 yr old sulcata torts. She seemed disinterested in food etc and was not herself. Vet treated as upper respiratory infection and I added humidifier to winter indoor housing (OH). It didnt't make a huge difference but breathing was better so took her to a specialist in Cleveland who kept her for a week with subqu fluids and antibiotics. Vet said liver enzymes were way off which could be due to lack of food so she is home now with a feeding tube and doing substantially better. She goes back for check up next Friday. In addition to her tube feeding, I try to entice her with smashed up stuff via mouth and have seen a new level of interest last few days. It is a long shot but we are trying.


Thank you! I will continue soaks. I go back to the vet Monday. Good luck to you, too!


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## mark1 (May 15, 2020)

Ahesch said:


> so took her to a specialist in Cleveland



may i ask the name of the vet ?


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## Missmeg (May 15, 2020)

mark1 said:


> may i ask the name of the vet ?


Dr. Beckes @ Aloha Animal Hospital in Vegas.


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## Ahesch (May 16, 2020)

mark1 said:


> may i ask the name of the vet ?


Barberton Veterinary 
Dr Vasquez 
Dr Griggs


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## Missmeg (May 16, 2020)

So a little good news! Today, I put her outside with some food even though she hasn’t been eating on her own and she took a few bites. She seemed to have a hard time swallowing and seemed to be in some pain. She also had a little fluid coming out of her nostrils. Guessing she still has some fluid from her respiratory infection. We see the vet on Monday for some more fluids so I will update.


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## Missmeg (May 18, 2020)

mark1 said:


> I would ask about sub q fluids at home , and I do believe b complex stimulates appetite , and makes them feel better …….. did she recently come out of hibernation ? I would keep her temps 80-85 and not depend on her to regulate her own temp …...I believe off blood work levels may also just indicate dehydration ? i'd keep her in as optimum conditions as I could and bother her as little as I had too …… when was the last time she ate on her own ? I've never been a fan of force feeding them , not there isn't a place for it , but to me it's among the last resorts …….it takes months and months for them to starve to death ……...


Hey, just wanted to update you since you suggested going home with fluids. Today, I put Harrison outside with some food and let her be. Within a few minutes she ate all the greens and a little zucchini! It was the first time she ate in weeks! We had an appointment with the vet to be shown how to administer her fluids. I told them she finally ate, but they seemed reluctant for her to get better. They said her kidney results suggested renal failure but to keep up fluids and that eating was a good sign. They said 1-2 times a week and in a month they will recheck her blood. Hoping for the best, but they did leave me with some feeling of doubt. I’m certain she ate some weed killer. Hoping I can flush her system and she can improve. Warm soaks, too. I’ll keep you posted.


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## mark1 (May 19, 2020)

eating is always a good sign , she has to feel better ……..


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## Missmeg (May 30, 2020)

Update! After Harrison’s 2nd round of antibiotics for her RI she was still not eating. The vet thought she was having kidney failure. I think her kidney levels tested high because her blood was drawn after her first set of antibiotics so figured that’s what could have thrown it off. 

I took her back in and got some sub q fluids to administer at home. After about 4 days from her first injection she started eating on her own. We gave her the 2nd round and now she is eating 3X a day! She is peeing frequently and a couple days ago started pooping. She seems a lot more active and starting to seem like her normal self. In a couple weeks I’m going to retest her blood and see if there has been any improvements. She’s been getting 30 min warm soaks a day, as well. Really happy she has seemed to have a turn around and hoping her kidney levels are better.


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