MotherofDragons
Member
@Tom @Yvonne G @Markw84 @wellington and I know there are more of you, but these are the ones off the top of my head.
Responded to a FB post about this guy. Some of you may even recognize it, though I know the groups are unpopular. Anyways, the point is it is an ACTUAL rescue for me. I know people come here and say that, but I picked this poor guy up this morning.
I was directing the woman to CTTC and SDTTS for help and she seemed exasperated and a little hopeless in her own efforts to get the DT help and several vets refused to see them (I know some of you will be angry at these photos, but they were very nice and concerned). I offered if they were uncomfortable waiting for someone to reach out to them that I would be willing to pick him/her up and transport to SDTTS once they reached out to me. They were eager to get him help and asked me to take him.
I'm going to share just two ugly/sad pictures, GRAPHIC TRIGGER WARNING - you all love tortoises and you will NOT be happy. Let's focus on getting him help, not being mad at how this happened. Which for educational purposes this was an injury due to entanglement in landscape mesh he burrowed into.
I sent a PM to Tom already, but most people have day jobs. My most immediate concern is whether I can soak this tortoise. The previous owners said they found him this way 3 days ago, clearly this did not happen in 3 days- I can see the picked clean bone inside the dead part of his foot. I am certain he needs hydration. There is no indication of infection, this foot is self-amputating (nearly done by the looks of it) after circulation was cut off by the landscape mesh. It almost looks like only the bone is still connecting parts A & B like a drumstick. They realized he was stuck in his burrow and cut him free. He looks thin (but I'm not entirely sure how great of a judge I am on tortoise composition). There is a stench, but it's the dead foot, not any signs of visible infection, smells like a dead animal. He is mobile, was eating when I picked him up, and has no discharge via eyes or mouth. His eyes look a bit sunken in to me though, and his legs are soo soo scrawny for the huge 39yo guy that he is.
I am waiting to hear back from my SDTTS contacts so they can help, in the meantime, do you think it is safe to soak him with his foot this way? Obviously the dead foot will reek, but other than an offensive stench, does anyone agree this would be beneficial to him? He seems okay, he is taking it in stride, but I'm considering that however long it took his foot to get to this level of decomposition is how long he was stuck in his burrow in this 100 degree summer without food/water until 3 days ago.
Responded to a FB post about this guy. Some of you may even recognize it, though I know the groups are unpopular. Anyways, the point is it is an ACTUAL rescue for me. I know people come here and say that, but I picked this poor guy up this morning.
I was directing the woman to CTTC and SDTTS for help and she seemed exasperated and a little hopeless in her own efforts to get the DT help and several vets refused to see them (I know some of you will be angry at these photos, but they were very nice and concerned). I offered if they were uncomfortable waiting for someone to reach out to them that I would be willing to pick him/her up and transport to SDTTS once they reached out to me. They were eager to get him help and asked me to take him.
I'm going to share just two ugly/sad pictures, GRAPHIC TRIGGER WARNING - you all love tortoises and you will NOT be happy. Let's focus on getting him help, not being mad at how this happened. Which for educational purposes this was an injury due to entanglement in landscape mesh he burrowed into.
I sent a PM to Tom already, but most people have day jobs. My most immediate concern is whether I can soak this tortoise. The previous owners said they found him this way 3 days ago, clearly this did not happen in 3 days- I can see the picked clean bone inside the dead part of his foot. I am certain he needs hydration. There is no indication of infection, this foot is self-amputating (nearly done by the looks of it) after circulation was cut off by the landscape mesh. It almost looks like only the bone is still connecting parts A & B like a drumstick. They realized he was stuck in his burrow and cut him free. He looks thin (but I'm not entirely sure how great of a judge I am on tortoise composition). There is a stench, but it's the dead foot, not any signs of visible infection, smells like a dead animal. He is mobile, was eating when I picked him up, and has no discharge via eyes or mouth. His eyes look a bit sunken in to me though, and his legs are soo soo scrawny for the huge 39yo guy that he is.
I am waiting to hear back from my SDTTS contacts so they can help, in the meantime, do you think it is safe to soak him with his foot this way? Obviously the dead foot will reek, but other than an offensive stench, does anyone agree this would be beneficial to him? He seems okay, he is taking it in stride, but I'm considering that however long it took his foot to get to this level of decomposition is how long he was stuck in his burrow in this 100 degree summer without food/water until 3 days ago.
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