Desert Tortoise Restless Movements While Sleeping

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I got the blood work back. WBC, Lymphocytes, Monocytes, Eosinophils and Azurophilic Monocytes we're all high. They haven't called me with what that means yet, so currently I'm not entirely sure what I should be doing. But hopefully will get a call and better understanding soon.
 

zovick

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I got the blood work back. WBC, Lymphocytes, Monocytes, Eosinophils and Azurophilic Monocytes we're all high. They haven't called me with what that means yet, so currently I'm not entirely sure what I should be doing. But hopefully will get a call and better understanding soon.
High white blood cell count is usually indicative of an infection. Thus, I am thinking it probably has a mycoplasma infection if it is not full blown pneumonia which should have been seen on the X-ray but according to your vet, it was not.

You might want to get the tortoise to that more tortoise-experienced vet Tom mentioned for a more informed opinion, IMHO.
 
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The vet said the elevated blood levels could be indicative of a lot of things from inflammation, to parasites, to brain legions, to cancer - and tell us that there's definitely something he's fighting but not specifically what it is. We're still waiting on him to pass stool so they can check for parasites, but since he's started dragging his back left and walking wobbly on his front left leg he suspects something neurological, possibly brain legions, possibly something else neurological - all of which he says can be very difficult to diagnose. He gave me a non-steroid anti-inflammatory to give him which he said was pretty low risk - in case that helped, but he was hesitant to give any anti-parasitics without a specific diagnosis since they can have harsh side effects for desert tortoises.

⁠Aside from that he asked for more videos to post to some colleagues to see if anyone else had any ideas what it could be. Dr. Molnar's office isn't open over the weekend. I'm calling around other vets as well, but if anyone has a recommendation for any really good vets to diagnose tricky neurological conditions in Los Angeles it would be greatly appreciated.
 

ZenHerper

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While we've mainly seen him do this only while he's asleep, we did catch him doing it this morning with his eyes open (but while lying down) and he also did this weird behavior at the end of the video where he tries to bite his leg:

Is he drooling or swallowing a lot when he's not eating?
 

ZenHerper

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Would something stuck in his throat show up on X-ray?
So xrays films show contrast between different types of matter in the body.

Mineral-rich things like bones, eggs, bladder stones, swallowed rocks show up white. Air is black. Everything else is somewhere in between.

Even with an animal that is lying perfectly still with the neck stretched out, it would be hard to see something like a thorn stuck in the throat, unless it has caused a good knot of inflammation/abscess. For a tortoise whose natural inclination is to hold the head back inside the shell while being handled for xrays, visualizing something like this is very hard indeed without an extensive, close exam under sedation.

Tortoises can get herpesviruses. On rare occasions, herpesviruses can cross into the brain and cause lesions (little spots of damaged tissue). Brain lesions can cause weird symptoms with the muscles, posture, gait, coordination, etc.. Most of the time, herpes causes a lot of symptoms and problems with the inside of the mouth: blisters (that can become infected and cause painful inflammation of the mouth), a yellow coating of the inside of the mouth (that can get so thick it interferes with breathing), hyper-salivation, nasal discharge, and the like.

Your tortoise is doing some weird things, and his basic bloodwork is indicating that his immune system is in an activated state over something.

Since his motor symptoms are rapidly progressing, I third the advice to get onto Dr. Molnar's schedule asap.
 
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Have calls out to Dr. Molnar, Dr. Greek in Yorba Linda - and a couple VCA hospitals with exotic departments in Los Angeles. Gort's been seen by two vets now, both think it's something neurological but both say further diagnosis is beyond their capabilities. In the meantime he's on anti-inflammatories and antibiotics because they said the risk of either was small and they could potentially help.
 

ZenHerper

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Both drugs can damage the digestive flora - use a reptile-labelled probiotic daily (at a separate time from the meds) to keep his gut bacterial cultures alive.

Let us know what you find out.
 
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We got him into the exotics wing at ACCESS in Culver which kept him for observation and a CT scan. He's been on antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and a nerve pain med and so far the episodes of thrashing when he's at rest have completely subsided. He still, however has difficulty walking on his left side, but other than that he's been perfectly normal and happy. The CT scan came back normal as well (which is good and bad) so they want us to monitor him at home for two weeks to see if he improves or remains stable before subjecting him to an MRI. The vet was hesitant to think it was anything brain-related and thought it was more likely something spinal or neck (either injury or inflammation) but is unsure as to a diagnosis without seeing anything on the CT. Will update when we know more and if he improves or further declines. Thank you all on this thread for your help!!
 

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