How do I detect bladder stones early?

[Tortoisesarecool]

Hello everyone! I read about bladder stoned and I got very spooked. I was wondering if a tortoise was beginning to develop bladder stones, how would I know? I know they don't really eat or defecate but how long until you need to worry?

 

[Yvonne G]

Tortoises are adept at hiding ilness. You don't kow until the stone is large enough to cause discomfort and poor appetite.

 

[Tortoisesarecool]

Tortoises are adept at hiding ilness. You don't kow until the stone is large enough to cause discomfort and poor appetite.

Would soaking 1-2 times a week reverse any minor stones already present? Or would it keep growing until you eventually see the tortoise in pain.

 

[wellington]

Good proper diet and hydration will help to prevent from a stone even developing. However, even then there is a slight chance they can still get one. But diet and hydration is the best preventative.

 

[Tortoisesarecool]

How quick can they develop?

 

[Megatron's Mom]

I'm far from an expert, but here is what happened to my sulcata.

I got two tortes for valentines day. I was told they were late hatched late the year before? Who knows what that meant. Anyways, my sully weighed in at 40 grams weight gain was slow about 2 grams the first week, nothing the next week, 1g the following week and 1g each week after that. My leopard torte who I got at the same time was gaining much more then the sully and even though she started smaller she passed the sully in weight pretty quick.

So this continued for a month with small weight gains. Then one day while she was soaking I nothing her bum to be swollen. I figured I would leave her soak longer thinking she had to poop still. Well it was 40 mins later and it's still like that. I picked her up to get a real good look and it seems off. I found some tweezers so I can try to feel what was going on. I tapped the spot where I thought was a turd but it made a sound I wasn't expecting.

I jumped on here and started searching the old posts came across a post about urates. I read many many posts trying to figure out what the heck I need to do. I tried to break the urate apart with the tweezers ever so gently. Also lube her up with Vaseline to help it slide out. Giving my torte plenty of breaks to relax and maybe push it out herself. After all she did get it out that far. Well at one point it shifted enough and I was able to help get it out. It was the size of a pencil eraser out of my poor sully's butt. She was bruised from the experience and stayed hidden for the rest of the day. I also made sure thanks to old posts by Yvonne G suggesting Mineral oil on the food to lube everything up nice and good incase of any other urates. My sully jumped in weight after all that turmoil was over and now 204g as of Saturday 6 months from when I got her. She is now bigger then my leopard torte as she should be.

If you are worried about your torte's start in life then soaking and good food are the way to go. If that doesn't help go ahead and give some mineral oil it will lube everything up and if there are any urates collecting it just might help to clear them out.

 

[Tortoisesarecool]

I'm far from an expert, but here is what happened to my sulcata.

I got two tortes for valentines day. I was told they were late hatched late the year before? Who knows what that meant. Anyways, my sully weighed in at 40 grams weight gain was slow about 2 grams the first week, nothing the next week, 1g the following week and 1g each week after that. My leopard torte who I got at the same time was gaining much more then the sully and even though she started smaller she passed the sully in weight pretty quick.

So this continued for a month with small weight gains. Then one day while she was soaking I nothing her bum to be swollen. I figured I would leave her soak longer thinking she had to poop still. Well it was 40 mins later and it's still like that. I picked her up to get a real good look and it seems off. I found some tweezers so I can try to feel what was going on. I tapped the spot where I thought was a turd but it made a sound I wasn't expecting.

I jumped on here and started searching the old posts came across a post about urates. I read many many posts trying to figure out what the heck I need to do. I tried to break the urate apart with the tweezers ever so gently. Also lube her up with Vaseline to help it slide out. Giving my torte plenty of breaks to relax and maybe push it out herself. After all she did get it out that far. Well at one point it shifted enough and I was able to help get it out. It was the size of a pencil eraser out of my poor sully's butt. She was bruised from the experience and stayed hidden for the rest of the day. I also made sure thanks to old posts by Yvonne G suggesting Mineral oil on the food to lube everything up nice and good incase of any other urates. My sully jumped in weight after all that turmoil was over and now 204g as of Saturday 6 months from when I got her. She is now bigger then my leopard torte as she should be.

If you are worried about your torte's start in life then soaking and good food are the way to go. If that doesn't help go ahead and give some mineral oil it will lube everything up and if there are any urates collecting it just might help to clear them out.

I'm not terribly worried right now but she hasn't eaten in a few days (although it's because she has been buried, I have a different thread on that) and she usually buries her waste (or eats it I assume). She still walks normally, doesn't have a runny nose, and I don't think she is in pain.

 

[Megatron's Mom]

I'm not terribly worried right now but she hasn't eaten in a few days (although it's because she has been buried, I have a different thread on that) and she usually buries her waste (or eats it I assume). She still walks normally, doesn't have a runny nose, and I don't think she is in pain.

Definitely does not seem like the same behavior I saw.

 

[wellington]

I'm not terribly worried right now but she hasn't eaten in a few days (although it's because she has been buried, I have a different thread on that) and she usually buries her waste (or eats it I assume). She still walks normally, doesn't have a runny nose, and I don't think she is in pain.

They don't bury their waste, they are not like a cat that way. It should be cleaned up daily so she can't eat it if that's what she is doing.

 

[Tortoisesarecool]

They don't bury their waste, they are not like a cat that way. It should be cleaned up daily so she can't eat it if that's what she is doing.

I don't mean she buries on purpose but if I don't find it in time she'll run around and eventually cover it up.

 

[Tom]

Hello everyone! I read about bladder stoned and I got very spooked. I was wondering if a tortoise was beginning to develop bladder stones, how would I know? I know they don't really eat or defecate but how long until you need to worry?

Urates are formed as a by-product of protein digestion. Normal hydration helps to clear the urates out while they are still in a liquid form. In a dehydrated tortoise, or a tortoise that is fed too much protein regularly, the urates will congeal and form a "stone".

Prevent this by keeping the tortoise well hydrated and monitoring protein intake. They need SOME protein, but not too much or too often. Soaking your tortoise frequently will help prevent stone formation. There is no such thing as soaking too much. Every day for 2 hours is not harmful, but not necessary either. Soaking an adult two or three times a week should be adequate for most housing situations, but you can do more if you want.

 

[PEI]

I want to share some information that I know about stones.
My English is not good, there may be many typos.

Unfortunately I found some stones in my Indian star tortoise a few days ago.
He is only about 5cm and when he arrived last Saturday I noticed he was in very bad spirits and slept almost all day !
He didn't eat and was sleeping while soaking. I couldn't wake him up even if I caught him.
At the same time, I also discovered that he had severe edema at the base of his posterior thigh.
The next day I took him to the vet and had an x-ray.
We found that there were 4 stones in his body. These stones pressed on his internal organs and caused him to not eat or drink.
He can't even discharge urine on his own, and all the urine is accumulated in the thighs---this is the reason for edema in the thighs.
The vet determined the stones were too big to be removed by soaking.
To this day, he is still hospitalized in preparation for subsequent stone removal surgery.

 

[Tom]

I want to share some information that I know about stones.
My English is not good, there may be many typos.

Unfortunately I found some stones in my Indian star tortoise a few days ago.
He is only about 5cm and when he arrived last Saturday I noticed he was in very bad spirits and slept almost all day !
He didn't eat and was sleeping while soaking. I couldn't wake him up even if I caught him.
At the same time, I also discovered that he had severe edema at the base of his posterior thigh.
The next day I took him to the vet and had an x-ray.
We found that there were 4 stones in his body. These stones pressed on his internal organs and caused him to not eat or drink.
He can't even discharge urine on his own, and all the urine is accumulated in the thighs---this is the reason for edema in the thighs.
The vet determined the stones were too big to be removed by soaking.
To this day, he is still hospitalized in preparation for subsequent stone removal surgery.

Are we talking about actual stones that have been eaten and are in the digestive tract, or are we talking about built up urates forming a "stone" in the bladder?

 

[Tortoisesarecool]

I want to share some information that I know about stones.
My English is not good, there may be many typos.

Unfortunately I found some stones in my Indian star tortoise a few days ago.
He is only about 5cm and when he arrived last Saturday I noticed he was in very bad spirits and slept almost all day !
He didn't eat and was sleeping while soaking. I couldn't wake him up even if I caught him.
At the same time, I also discovered that he had severe edema at the base of his posterior thigh.
The next day I took him to the vet and had an x-ray.
We found that there were 4 stones in his body. These stones pressed on his internal organs and caused him to not eat or drink.
He can't even discharge urine on his own, and all the urine is accumulated in the thighs---this is the reason for edema in the thighs.
The vet determined the stones were too big to be removed by soaking.
To this day, he is still hospitalized in preparation for subsequent stone removal surgery.

I am so sorry about your tortoise. I hope he gets better soon ):

 

[Tortoisesarecool]

Are we talking about actual stones that have been eaten and are in the digestive tract, or are we talking about built up urates forming a "stone" in the bladder?

We're talking about built up urates.

 

[Tom]

We're talking about built up urates.

How do you know that? I was asking PEI.

 

[Tortoisesarecool]

O

How do you know that? I was asking PEPEI.

Sorry I thought you meant the whole thread.

 

[PEI]

Are we talking about actual stones that have been eaten and are in the digestive tract, or are we talking about built up urates forming a "stone" in the bladder?

I think we are talking about actual stones.
I don't know what caused it and which organ it is in, but I can attach an X-ray.

He was an imported individual, and I guess maybe he was forced to stay in the wrong environment when he was born, which caused these stones.

 

[Maggie3fan]

I had a 17 year old Sulcata who died from the surgery to extract a very large stone. I had him from the time he was 2 years old, he got soaked almost daily and was fed a diet that was very good, yet he still got that large stone. Now I pick up any available urates and feel them. However, it was my personal experience that my tort died even tho he got the best of care growing up.

 

[PEI]

Sorry I thought you meant the whole thread.

The Sulcata and Indian star tortoises are the species of tortoises in which stones are most commonly found in my country.
Cases of stones in other tortoise species are relatively rare.

Vets sometimes hold lectures to teach tortoise owners how to provide the right environment, high fiber, and daily soaking to reduce the occurrence of stones.

Anyway, I just want to share my experience with stones and tell you that if your tortoise has no symptoms of illness, don’t be so anxious and enjoy raising tort.