Help! swollen jaw area, bleeding

Paranub

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Dec 10, 2015
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Last week we noticed that it looked as if he had caught his jaw with his claw. He always uses his claws to push food around to the front of his mouth. It looked a little swollen and a scale looked to have been lifted slightly.
We bathed him twice a day and now the scale has fallen off and looks almost back to normal,

however, his lower right hand side jaw still looks swollen and when he opens his mouth wide, you can see that the connecting skin between his upper and lower jaw is bleeding. As he uses his claw to move food, it worsens the bleeding. Never to the point of it actually bleeding drops of blood though.

I have also noticed him struggle once his mouth is open wide to close it again. Almost as if as he has to align the jaw before it will shut?

An album showing a few of what i have mentioned. bellow!
http://imgur.com/a/jamYs

Please advise!
 

Yvonne G

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That's a fairly common injury. For the time being, until it has a chance to heal, cut his food up into tiny pieces so he doesn't have to open his mouth wide to bite the food. You can dab a bit of Neosporin on it to keep a scab from forming... to keep it soft.
 

Paranub

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That's a fairly common injury. For the time being, until it has a chance to heal, cut his food up into tiny pieces so he doesn't have to open his mouth wide to bite the food. You can dab a bit of Neosporin on it to keep a scab from forming... to keep it soft.
Thank you, i knew it had to be self inflicted, he never goes outside without being supervised like a hawk (im far to over protective!)
Just noticed it one day. I'll look out for this neosporin or something similar. i can see a battle on my hands to dab it on though. Through it all he doesn't seem phased by the injury, eating as normal. no flinching when i touch the area as if to say "ouch that hurts"
 

Pearly

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Awww! Poor baby! Try to chop up some cactus and mix the chopped greens with it, very fine chop, to like ground consistency. Add some soaked mashed Mazuri. This will keep him well nourished without the effort and reinjuring his mouth while eating. With this "cactus/Mazuri purée diet" he won't ave to open his mouth quite that wide to get in a hefty amount with each bite ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1474518414.859097.jpg this is how I do it, cactus on the bottom of the pic, greens on top, soak few Mazuri pellets, mash them up and you're good to goImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1474518554.361513.jpg my babies are RF so they do eat fruitImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1474518609.519138.jpg breakfast is served ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1474518714.195388.jpg here they are getting little treats
ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1474518772.574561.jpgno fruit that day just Mazuri, cactus and the greens.
Keep him warm and soaking is great. Not sure if antibiotic ointment has nasty taste in case he gets some inside his mouth, but you can even use plain Vaseline (petrolatum jelly) to keep it soft. When it dries up, it takes longer to heal as every time he opens his mouth the wound will split open and start bleeding. When kept clean and soft with Vaseline it will start healing very quickly, especially if you feed him well, keep warm and well hydrated
 

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Gillian M

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Awww! Poor baby! Try to chop up some cactus and mix the chopped greens with it, very fine chop, to like ground consistency. Add some soaked mashed Mazuri. This will keep him well nourished without the effort and reinjuring his mouth while eating. With this "cactus/Mazuri purée diet" he won't ave to open his mouth quite that wide to get in a hefty amount with each bite View attachment 187524 this is how I do it, cactus on the bottom of the pic, greens on top, soak few Mazuri pellets, mash them up and you're good to goView attachment 187525 my babies are RF so they do eat fruitView attachment 187526 breakfast is served View attachment 187527 here they are getting little treats
View attachment 187528no fruit that day just Mazuri, cactus and the greens.
Keep him warm and soaking is great. Not sure if antibiotic ointment has nasty taste in case he gets some inside his mouth, but you can even use plain Vaseline (petrolatum jelly) to keep it soft. When it dries up, it takes longer to heal as every time he opens his mouth the wound will split open and start bleeding. When kept clean and soft with Vaseline it will start healing very quickly, especially if you feed him well, keep warm and well hydrated
So sweet @Pearly . Thanks for sharing, though I know this is not the issue. Sorry.
 

Gillian M

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Last week we noticed that it looked as if he had caught his jaw with his claw. He always uses his claws to push food around to the front of his mouth. It looked a little swollen and a scale looked to have been lifted slightly.
We bathed him twice a day and now the scale has fallen off and looks almost back to normal,

however, his lower right hand side jaw still looks swollen and when he opens his mouth wide, you can see that the connecting skin between his upper and lower jaw is bleeding. As he uses his claw to move food, it worsens the bleeding. Never to the point of it actually bleeding drops of blood though.

I have also noticed him struggle once his mouth is open wide to close it again. Almost as if as he has to align the jaw before it will shut?

An album showing a few of what i have mentioned. bellow!
http://imgur.com/a/jamYs

Please advise!
Hi @Paranub . How is your tort today? Hope to hear he's better.
 

Paranub

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Dec 10, 2015
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Hi @Paranub . How is your tort today? Hope to hear he's better.
Hes being his usual self. My wife made the food for him today so i didn't get to see him eat, but as always, i've come home to an empty plate.
Thankfully the injury isn't effecting his appetite at all. We will continue with chopping up his food for a while and see if he heals better.
 

Gillian M

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Hes being his usual self. My wife made the food for him today so i didn't get to see him eat, but as always, i've come home to an empty plate.
Thankfully the injury isn't effecting his appetite at all. We will continue with chopping up his food for a while and see if he heals better.
Oh at least he's eating. ;)

Sincerely hope he recovers soon, and please keep us updated. :)
 
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