It's been a while since I updated. Here's my guy now. He's back outside during the day but comes in at night. The flesh is healed over and new scales are growing in, though he's still missing several fingernails, part of his tail, and the nostril area.
It's been a while since I updated. Today marks 2 months since the attack. The last scab (on the tail) fell off in the bath today. The nasal area is still open and likely will be permanently... oh well. New scales have grown in on many of the injured parts, and it seems like the rest will...
Yeah, it's kinda freaky looking! I couldn't find many pics of healing tortoises so it was a little worrying at first.
There are 2 or 3 cats that roam around my property -- not sure if they are neighborhood cats or feral. They're obviously slacking though! Wish there was a creature I could...
The protrusion didn't swab off cleanly, though now it's a smaller red spot. For now, I'm just keeping it clean and hydrated with antibiotic ointment.
Today was the first day he's really been acting like his old self. In other words, he walked through his food repeatedly and knocked over the...
A large scab came off today. Most of the flesh underneath is white/pink and even, but there's a pea-sized yellowish protrusion. The vet suspects that it might be some old pus, and suggested to gently debride it with a q-tip. Wish me (and the tortoise) luck...
@richosullivan Wow, what a long journey for your little one! Best wishes for him from me and my tortoise.
Lots of scabs peeling off these days. The ones on his front legs look like they will come off soon. Still eating like a pig, though I'm a little concerned that he's not moving around too...
My tortoise recently suffered a brutal rat attack. Your tortoise has a chance of surviving, but I agree that you need to get it to a vet ASAP for the woulds to be evaluated and properly cleaned and to assess what treatments he will need to keep infection from taking hold and to promote healing...
The tortoise was living in an outdoor enclosure 24/7. The rat attacked him one night when he was sleeping. He'll be inside for a while until he's fully healed and I can figure out how to best protect him outside going forward.
Yes, when I saw wild Hermann's tortoises in Europe, many of them had very bad shell damage (probably from dogs as well) that had healed up ok. Pretty amazing considering the level of trauma and unsanitary conditions!
Vet today said that everything is generally healing up great. The peeling...
Today he finally ate! 3 full weeks after the attack, and about 10 days after the last antibiotic injection. I made him a fancy plate of strawberry, papaya, and tomato... but it was the Mazuri that did the trick.
There has been a little improvement of the respiratory symptoms, but he's still...
That video above was right after the last dose of antibiotic injections. It got a bit better for a few days, but was more pronounced yesterday, so the vet has prescribed some antibiotic nasal drops. Got some pretty impressive tortoise boogers yesterday.
We've been having a hot and humid spell...
In essence:
There is not a long history of using artificial light and heat sources for reptiles, and many products on the market for this purpose were designed for other uses (household lighting, paint drying, etc.) and not optimized for reptiles
When tortoises bask under natural sunlight...
Vet says the tortoise is doing very good. He gained 80 grams (!!) from the soaks since the last visit 3 days ago. The cuts show no signs of infection, so we are done with the antibiotic shots for now, but I'll continue applying silvadene until the wounds are fully healed. He does have some...
Thanks! The vet was very busy and only had time to give the tortoise the next antibiotic shot and some fluids. I gave him a soak afterwards (mostly water with some pedialyte) and it went very well. No more panic, and he drank deeply. I'll continue with 2 x daily soaks. Wish I'd tried it...
Aww, what a cute little guy! And what sad injuries. Poor guy. :( How long ago did it happen?
I'll ask the vet tomorrow about soaking -- he seemed to have some concerns about soaking while the wounds were healing, and I'm concerned about the balance between the healing benefits of being...
Another vet visit yesterday, where he got more antibiotics and some fluids. We've had some setbacks -- the wound cleanings (1x day) and ointment applications (2x day) seem to be massively stressing him out now. He (attempts to) run and climb frantically after his treatments, emitting some...