Was it medicine to break up a bladder or kidney stone? I would like to know if there is an alternative to surgery in situations like this. In humans they sometimes use ultrasound to break up stones so they are small enough to pass. I wonder if that has ever been tried in tortoises.
When Baby Runt went to the Univ. Of Florida Vet. Hosp. in critical condition, she was compacted. She wasn't eating, drinking, pooping, or urinating. She would hardly move. They did an MRI and found her intestines were a bunch of twists and bottlenecks. She couldn't pass fecal matter. She didn't have a stone, but if it were just a stone, unless it was so large that it interfered with bowel movement, she wouldn't have been so critical. I had asked about using a sonic method to break up the blockage, but instead, they put in a feeding tube, was fed Colyte solution 4000ML, and metronidazole 250 MG. What that did was keep her electrolytes up and it would cause the intestines to contract. In a sense, it would force the fecal matter down the intestines and expel it. After about three weeks, it worked! She's been fine ever since. I sometimes give her the medicine and crush the pill into her food when she's a bit constipated. As far as the stone goes, it has crossed my mind with my larger tort who does have a stone, although he has his lived with it. I'm waiting until I have a little more money to have him evaluated at the vet hosp. One of the things I'll be asking is the pulsating method to try and break up the stone. If that doesn't work, I may have to seek surgery, although I've been fighting it for a long time now.
Thank you. I'm so worried Charlie will develop a stone. He has no symptoms but he is the age at which so many of them seem to have this problem. I'm hoping you'll discover a treatment that doesn't require surgery.
Just make sure you soak him often, and keep greens that can produce urates away from his diet. He should be fine. If you see urates that are gritty, it means he's a bit dehydrated and needs more soaks for longer periods of time.
She's still not eating but she has been pooping a lot and it's looks a almost like hardened tar but it's getting softer the more that comes out and there is even some urates. she Is definitely looking better in every way but yes I'm worried very much about her not eating. Hopefully getting all this old gunk out of her will get appetite going.
