Help! Tortoise Foot Fell Off!

Elke

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Hi!

I had been worried about my little tort, because he hadn't been walking on one leg and it looked a little different. I took him to the place where I got him and they notice he had a little cut on his foot. I made an appointment for a vet for a few days later (their earliest appointment) and then couldn't make it because I had to stay at work. I scheduled another one for a few days after that, but his foot fell off before I could take him! He has been moving and drinking and eating perfectly normally, in fact he seems to be feeling better and moving around better without the foot? I just feel so bad, I hate the thought of hurting an animal! I still plan to take him to the vet, but any advice in the meantime? I have been keeping his water super clean to prevent infection, and maintaining the temperatures properly. He seems to be very alert and happy. He has a perfectly healed little pink nub.
 

wellington

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Omg, very weird. Keep the vet visit. You also need to try and figure out what happened so it doesn't happen again to his other feet or if you have other torts. Nothing was seen wrapped around it? I would think anything else that could have done that would had showed up in a sore first, where something wrapped around it would cut off blood flow until the foot died and fell off.
 

Elke

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Omg, very weird. Keep the vet visit. You also need to try and figure out what happened so it doesn't happen again to his other feet or if you have other torts. Nothing was seen wrapped around it? I would think anything else that could have done that would had showed up in a sore first, where something wrapped around it would cut off blood flow until the foot died and fell off.


I think that some of the skin that was trying to heal around the leg was causing some constriction.
 

Elke

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The is very strange. Nothing should be more important than taking him to the vet - nothing.


I agree, unfortunately the nearest herpetologist is over an hour away, and appointments are booked for a long time in advance. I am really trying to be a good and mindful tortoise parent.
 

wellington

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The is very strange. Nothing should be more important than taking him to the vet - nothing.
I agree, except when you get stuck having to work, there's nothing that can be done about that. If one loses their job, they would be able to afford a vet anyway. Now if they had to miss the appointment cuz they wanted to do something else, then that's inexcusable.
 

Elke

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Thank you very much. I will be sure to take him in for a check up. Unfortunately as a teacher, I frequently need to stay late at work to take care of a student, among many other responsibilities that come along with it....
 

SarahChelonoidis

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I agree, unfortunately the nearest herpetologist is over an hour away, and appointments are booked for a long time in advance. I am really trying to be a good and mindful tortoise parent.

You don't need a herpetologist, you just need to find a vet.
 

wellington

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Really? The vets that I use for my dogs all said that they won't see tortoises?
If they won't see him, then that's their policy. I stick the the herp vet. Too many "herp" vets and small animal vets don't know much about tortoises and/or have no experience with tortoises.
 

Pearly

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How about like an animal emergency clinic? And just ask for the first aid type of care? Anyone who knows the basics of pathophysiology should be able to look at it and at least clean the wound and dress it, give you some salve to keep it clean until you get to your herp vet. Even human doctor, or ... maybe you have a friend who was a Medic in military? Or fireman? Or EMT? It is imperative to keep it clean now, prevent wound/bone infection
 

Yvonne G

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I've seen this quite a few times before. In my experience, what happens is a hair gets wrapped around the leg. It goes unnoticed by the keeper. The loss of blood supply causes the part below the hair to die and it eventually falls off. It must be incredibly painful, but animals seem to be able to tune out this sort of pain better than we would be able to. I'm so sorry this happened, however there's not much to be done about it at this time.
 

Elke

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Wow, thank you so much for the information. I will contact the emergency vets in the area to see if it would be possible to get medicine to prevent infection. Thank you again. I just feel so bad. Thankfully he seems to be a very hardy and positive little tortoise.
 

ZEROPILOT

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Was there ever any blood?
How long have you had the tortoise?
Maybe it's the end result from an old wound?(especially if there was no blood)
Is there still a stump left? Is the stump red and bleeding or already mostly healed? With a stump, he should still be able to get around.
The condition of the stump will indicate how old the "cut" was/is.
 
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SarahChelonoidis

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Really? The vets that I use for my dogs all said that they won't see tortoises?

You need a vet that will see a tortoise, but a herpetologist is not the word for a vet that treats reptiles, it's the name for a scientist who studies reptiles and amphibians. An emergency vet clinic is your best place to start looking.
 

Elke

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Was there ever any blood?
How long have you had the tortoise?
Maybe it's the end result from an old wound?(especially if there was no blood)
Is there still a stump left? Is the stump red and bleeding or already mostly healed? With a stump, he should still be able to get around.


No blood whatsoever. It looked like the original "wound" was healing, so I thought he was doing better (still intending to take him to the vet though). It is bright pink, looks like brand new skin, and he has most of the leg, it is literally just the foot. He seems to be motoring around anyway......
 

ZEROPILOT

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No blood whatsoever. It looked like the original "wound" was healing, so I thought he was doing better (still intending to take him to the vet though). It is bright pink, looks like brand new skin, and he has most of the leg, it is literally just the foot. He seems to be motoring around anyway......
It sounds to me with the limited information that you have provided that the pet shop sold you a seriously wounded tortoise.
It would take a serious happening to sever one of those armor plated feet.
 

Yvonne G

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Wow, thank you so much for the information. I will contact the emergency vets in the area to see if it would be possible to get medicine to prevent infection. Thank you again. I just feel so bad. Thankfully he seems to be a very hardy and positive little tortoise.

You say it's a pink stub. This means it's not an open wound and there is no chance of infection.
 
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