Bubbles on neck

[TuckerDucker]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the bubbles on my redfoot's neck? My exotic vet gave him two vitamin A shots a week apart and said he was good to go, but it's been about a month since then and the bubbles are still here. Is it anything to be worried about?

 

[wellington]

Why did the vet give him vit A shots?
Don't let them do that again.
In fact, find a new vet.
I don't know if there is anything you can do. Maybe @Yvonne G can help
Your tort looks very dry. They need high humidity 80%.
Read the care sheet and make needed improvements.

 

[TuckerDucker]

Why did the vet give him vit A shots?
Don't let them do that again.
In fact, find a new vet.
I don't know if there is anything you can do. Maybe @Yvonne G can help
Your tort looks very dry. They need high humidity 80%.
Read the care sheet and make needed improvements.

I'm not sure, but the vet said it looked like he had a vitamin A deficiency. I think this just puzzled the vet since my tort has been acting normally and eating/drinking and active. I appreciate the reply, we've been soaking him every couple days and moistening the peat moss. that's mixed throughout the enclosure.
Why is Vitamin A not a good thing to give him? Just so I know some talking point when I talk about it with another vet

 

[wellington]

It's very easy to overdose and it will make their skin fluff off. It's also too easy to get vitamin A in them without an injection.
I have had my tortoises since 2011 and have never taken any to a vet except one that needed help laying her eggs.
Most of the time, you are better off not taking them to a vet. They usually do more damage then good.

 

[TeamZissou]

This looks like some sort of generalized edema rather than a vitamin A overdose, which usually manifests as severe skin peeling.

Is this why you took your tortoise to the vet in the first place? As Wellington said, there's often no benefit in taking an otherwise healthy tortoise to a vet for a checkup. It sounds like your vet is probably not experienced with tortoises if they gave it a Vitamin A shot. Tortoises rarely get low vitamin A problems because they get a lot of pre-vitamin a carotenoids in their food. It's easy to tip them into an overdose through supplementation ore injection, however, which is the risky part with vets and most supplements on the market.

Is there swelling in other places? I believe generalized edema could indicate renal problems or something else systemic.

 

[TuckerDucker]

This looks like some sort of generalized edema rather than a vitamin A overdose, which usually manifests as severe skin peeling.

Is this why you took your tortoise to the vet in the first place? As Wellington said, there's often no benefit in taking an otherwise healthy tortoise to a vet for a checkup. It sounds like your vet is probably not experienced with tortoises if they gave it a Vitamin A shot. Tortoises rarely get low vitamin A problems because they get a lot of pre-vitamin a carotenoids in their food. It's easy to tip them into an overdose through supplementation ore injection, however, which is the risky part with vets and most supplements on the market.

Is there swelling in other places? I believe generalized edema could indicate renal problems or something else systemic.

He looks good everywhere else and is acting normal, it's just on his neck. Is there anything else I should be looking for?
And his regular diet does have vitamin A, so it sounds like you're right that it probably wasn't a vitamin A deficiency

 

[wellington]

Is that the injection site, on his neck?

 

[TuckerDucker]

Is that the injection site, on his neck?

No, they injected it in his leg. The air bubbles were there before the injections

 

[wellington]

No, they injected it in his leg. The air bubbles were there before the injections

Oh good, that scared me.

 

[TeamZissou]

He looks good everywhere else and is acting normal, it's just on his neck. Is there anything else I should be looking for?
And his regular diet does have vitamin A, so it sounds like you're right that it probably wasn't a vitamin A deficiency

Tortoises very rarely suffer from low vitamin A. They would have to be on a very poor and improper diet for that to happen. It's more common in turtles fed lots of live food which lacks vitamin A. If your vet gave vitamin A injections, that's usually a sign that they do not know much about tortoises. They might remember something vague about vitamin A with regard to turtles and automatically assume that's the issue when they see a tortoise patient.

 

[TuckerDucker]

In case anyone in the future runs into this issue and is searching the forums: it was suspected pneumonia. He got an antibiotic injection every three days for a week and a half, and his bubbles are gone and his eyes are looking a lot better! I can't remember the antibiotic name, but it was not Baytril.

The new vet was also puzzled at first, but she was awesome and went above and beyond doing her research to help him.

 

[ZenHerper]

Were any of the bubbles ever needle-aspirated? That is, do you know what was inside them: air, fluid, etc.?

 

[TuckerDucker]

Were any of the bubbles ever needle-aspirated? That is, do you know what was inside them: air, fluid, etc.?

No, but we did get xrays done. I'm not sure how to interpret xrays, but my vet said it indicated pneumonia