Cleft Palate

[phantom 8 uk]

My smaller sulcata was at the vets today as his beak was disformed and leaning to the side. We had put it down to being housed with our larger sulcata as he was always chasing her, just to be annoying.
The beak was clipped but we were informed that he has a cleft palate. The vet he is under is an excpert in tortioses and reptiles, so knows her stuff.
They cannot operate on his palate. Has anyone had the surgery performed or is it a case of monitoring food and growth?

 

[egyptiandan]

There isn't any surgery you can do to correct that in a tortoise. You just have to monitor what they eat and make sure to clean out the cleft after eating, as food does get stuck up there and can cause an infection.
If you do a search, there are a couple of tortoises on the forum that have cleft palates.

Danny

 

[phantom 8 uk]

Thanks for that Danny. The vet seemed to think something could be done surgically. I have seen the threads on cleft palates in other tortoises. I will have to monitor him daily and clean the cleft.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

You probably already figured out that these two tortoises need to be separated so the one doesn't bully and harass the other to the point that she quits eating. Poor thing will need all the help she can get. I wish I could remember which TFO members have dealt with cleft palate...I want to say Stells and maggie3fan, but I may be wrong. I believe they both said it was quite possible to feed/get these tortoises to eat, that it just took more time and attention.

Good luck!