Hermann Tortoise Head Twitching

[Tobys Mum]

Hi I am new to this so please bear with me,
I have had my tortoise for seven years, and about 4 months ago we noticed that our tortoise was not eating right, so we took (what we thought) our boy tortoise to the vets, we were then told 'she' had swollowed a stone, something that they do i know, but this one was big for her and it looked like she was going to have trouble passing it.
The vet told us that she was not well enough for an op, so tried liquid parafin. it moved a little but not enough for the vet, he wanted to put her down, we told him that we wanted to try her on liquid parafin every day, because it had moved it a little and I wanted to give her a fair chance. Well that was three and a half weeks and I have not taken her to the vets again for fear of them putting her down.
Now though her head has begun to twitch and this is a new symptom. What should I do?
Am I wrong to keep trying even though she does not look in pain.
HELP please

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Tobys Mum:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

Is the tortoise able to pass feces? Does he eat? Over here in the States, we call liquid parafin, mineral oil, and that's the treatment I would use too. But if it hasn't worked in almost a month, and you don't want to opt for surgery, then the most humane thing to do would be to put the poor tortoise out of his misery.

A stone that size is blocking everything inside the tortoise and its very uncomfortable for him. It probably causes him to strain, trying to push it out.

I wish you all the best in making this hard decision. I know its not an easy one.

 

[ascott]

Did the vet take an xray to confirm that a large stone had been swallowed?