I doubt it. Her symptoms are more indicative of some type of internal organ disease of some sort. Her white count was up, but she's been on broad spectrum antibiotic, which should cover bacterial infection. I doubt it's virus making her sick. Virus likes to replicate like crazy, very rapidly, hence the usually quick onset of symptoms that develop into acute illness, it's more like an avalanche, which either passes or kills the host, but I haven't heard of acute viral illness to go on for months. Again, my voice comes from human medicine but I think there are many similarities in all life forms even between cold and warm blooded ones. Plus when you told us about her white count being elevated you didn't mention lymphocytes (those numbers would typically be off in viral infection), so I'd lean against the "contagious" theory. It is always a good idea to keep UNIVERSAL PRECAUTIONS which means treating all of them as if they were contagious (without exaggerating)
As if you haven't enough on your plate Ed! I know its a worry with older dogs but hope its just a phase for him or maybe his meds need adjusting.
Good morning, and OMG! I was under the assumption that "fecal" was done on Bertha, but after all the reading I've done since last night I realize that it may have not covered PCR screening. Can you ask the vet is she had by chance sent the sample off for testing? I didn't have that acute awareness of this parasite being so prevalent, because I've just never heard of human case of coccidia. I know you have your hands full with working and caring for sick animals. Bless your heart. I know you maybe feeling drained physically, emotionally and financially. I have been following Bertha for a while and became attached to her and very fond of you as a fellow "animal fanatic" just like I am. I do not presume to give advise because I'm very new at tortoise keeping. What I am saying is this: if nothing else, call the vet and ask if she did the fecal test suggested by Tortadise (quoted above). From what I read coccidia i fairly common in dogs and cats, they catch it easily but sometimes don't develop symptoms until they are under some stress. Might want to run the "coccidia idea" by your dog's vet as well just in case. Coccidia doesn't seem to cross from animals to humans but I'm not sure about interspecies crosscontamination. There is lot of info about it online and a very good thread on this topic here on this forum. I still haven't had the time to figure out how to post links here, but you should be able to find it when you type key words : BUBONIC PLAGUE IN TORTOISES. Best of luck. I pray for positive turn of events for you. Take care
So sorry for your loss, sad. But the right thing to do. As for Bertha, I agree with you. Keep her seperate and see how she goes it alone. I'd bathe her still, every day. Been meaning to ask you for a while now. Are your other torts at mature breeding age. Is this something you would like to do? Raise juveniles from scratch?
I am so sorry...
