Impaction advice

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x-sully-x

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Hi,

I am new to this forum and would love some advice and positive energy on this very daunting situation!
I have a 5 year old cheeky sulcata and recently she has been diagnosed with compaction and it has been deemed very serious as when she was x-rayed her gut was very enlarged :( . We suspect that the compaction has been caused by the substrate we have been using which was wood chip. This has now been removed I might add and for time being, until we get reptile carpet, she is on newspaper.

She lives in a large vivarium with an infra-red heat bulb and a UV-lamp- but we do try and get her outside to get proper sunshine when possible. She has a diet of very succulent foods- which needs to be changed as it is not appropriate for her at all! It's just a case of sourcing the foods that she needs.

To try and battle the compaction it has been advised by the vet to withhold food for a few days, bath her using reptoboost and plenty of exercise. This has been working fantastically so far and she has passed good amounts of wood chip.

The vet has also taken blood samples from her to check calcium levels, any signs of infection, liver and kidney function and blood count. The vet also wanted to do a barium study and possibly fit a feeding tube to provide plenty of fluids, the final stage being an operation if they thought it was appropriate.

What I would like to ask is- can this be resolved and treated? Because the way the vet was talking it sounded incredibly scary and serious which I do understand but I couldn't face loosing my little tort!!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated or anyone else's experiences!

Thank you
 

dmmj

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RE: Compaction advice

Impaction can be very serious, sometimes deadly, but I would think if your sulcata is passing the wood chips, further measures should not be needed, you might want to PM exoticdr ( a member here and ask his opinion), he is a vet and trusted member here on the forum.
 

x-sully-x

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RE: Compaction advice

Thank you very much for replying... Just desperately want to get her back to normal!!
 

ascott

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RE: Compaction advice

Soak soak soak...long (2 hours if you can keep her in and the water warm.....every day twice a day....in your food offerings be sure to offer her squash and some watermelon...not what is recommended as a regular practice but right now if she is moving the pieces you want to make sure she is as hydrated...(even over hydrated so to speak) and I know from experience with solidly packed sand in our old man CDT that the long soaks every day and I mean long soaks was what saved him....you want that wood substrate to be as wet and moist as possible so when it does pass it is not sharp either...you want it as pliable as possible......it took our old man about four to six weeks to get the impaction out enough that the then increased food intake further moved the rest out.....

This is what I would do....I would also be careful of the reptile carpet...it can be chewed on and stringy pieces consumed for a horrible result....

I hope you get her all clear so you can avoid the incredible invasive surgery......
 

Yvonne G

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RE: Compaction advice

Yes...I echo ascott's advice. Warm water soaks will make things move along. If you leave the tortoise in the water longer than usual until he starts to want to get out, that's even better. When he starts scrambling around in the water it makes him poop.

If you don't start to see the "stuff" coming out, you can put a dropper-ful of mineral oil down his throat. Mineral oil is non-absorbtive and just coats the material in his gut and intestines, making it slippery.
 

Tom

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RE: Compaction advice

In addition to the above, try feeding some aloe too. Works as a bit of a laxative.
 

x-sully-x

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RE: Compaction advice

Thank you for all your advice!! It's very much appreciated- going to implement your advice today and I will let you know how she goes :)
 

x-sully-x

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Hello,

Well good news today she has passed more wood chip which is very encouraging! I am off out tomorrow to get some watermelon... Blood results should be back tomorrow so I will know more again. Thank you for all your advice!!

:)
 

x-sully-x

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Hello again,

Had a phone call off the Vet this morning regarding sully's bloods. It turns out that she is a little bit anaemic- which the Vet said could be due to her being impacted (She would like to keep an eye on it), her calcium levels are good, white blood cell count is also fine and she is well hydrated. The vet said her protein was a little on the low side, but that could be due to the impaction that she has got at the moment.
When speaking to the vet I said that I would prefer to try and not be invasive if she is passing the wood chip naturally. Also as much as I love her money is an object, if need be I will pay for her treatment but would also like to keep the cost from sky rocketing! The vet agreed and said next time we take her they will take an X-ray to see if the gut has improved. If it hasn't the vet wants to fit a feeding tube to get more fluids into her on Thursday. She has also said for now to with hold food still- would this be okay?
She has passed even more wood chip today so I am extremely happy! Still continuing with the baths, she seems to be enjoying them more now and will sit in them for longer.
Cheers again everyone :)
 

Badger

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Hi x-sully-x.

I dont have any sulcatas but I do have a pair of Aldabra Tortoises which recently ran into a bout of pretty bad impaction.

I used Aspen as a substrate and one of them (Goldie) was quite happy eating it. Ultimately it led to impaction and he couldn't poo for a week. At the end, frequent soaks with reptile boost (2-3X a day) and as you said, plenty of excercise. One thing that worked well with us is that if your tortoise really have trouble with number 2, put him in the car for a 30 min ride. They get really restless in the car (at least mine does) and they pace around a lot which helps stimulate bowl movements. I asked the vet about this, after laughing for a while, he did mention that it generally does help, most likely because they pace around. But from what I read so far, it seems that at least he is pooing ok now!

I don't mean to worry you too much, just and FYI, my expereince with the impaction was particularly bad and after the incident, Goldie developed a pretty bad infecction as well, most likely explanation is that the hard matter causing the impaction caused some internal bleeding and given his weakened state, got infected. After that, he wouldn't eat and was very inactive. At that point, the vet said he had a very high white cell count, low red blood cell count (aneamic), kidney problem. He spent the next 4 days in hospital getting soaks and antibiotic injections. Glad to report that after 2 weeks of antibiotic shots, he is all better and back to normal now!!

I really dont mean to scare you, and given that your sully is already pooing and your vet had already carried out the test, it sounds everything is being done already. Just wanted to share my rather unfortunate incident just in case, if you see the same symptoms (tired, inactive, lost of appetite despite seemingly able to poo), it might give you something to look out for.

As I said, really didnt mean to worry you. I wish your sully a speedy recovery!!!!
 

ascott

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Soak soak soak :D and if your tort is good with long soaks all the better...if your tort is willing to soak for along time...let her soak like a pot of beans ....if she is acting normal otherwise (grazing..stomping...basking) then a bite or two of some yummy food with mineral oil in it or on it would be good as previously shared by Yvonne....anything helpful that will keep all greased up....wet and moving...lol
 

x-sully-x

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Thank you :)
Just unsure about what to do, the vet wants to see us again on Thursday but I am in work so no one can take her. She offered wednesday morning but then a day is lost of her moving the wood chip. Do you think more time would be best to keep things moving naturally? And if she stops her motions or her behaviour changes get her up there ASAP. The plan would be to take her back sooner rather than later just awkward with bank holidays and work!!
 

x-sully-x

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Well she is still passing the wood chip :)
She is very active and I think she enjoyed her brief encounter with watermelon. She is very pekish today and wants to munch on everything in sight!
We are ringing the vet tomorrow to find out when we can start introducing small amounts of food and arrange another x-ray to see how much she has passed!
She has done so well really proud of her and so happy that she is passing it :)
 

Laura

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why no food? I would think that would help move things along.... Dont overfeed, but give soemthing.. soft foods, moisture.. keep the gut working..
what is the Vets reason?
 

ascott

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Well...my first instinct would to give additional time to allow her to move the chips out if she is indeed still doing that....I would keep an eye inner behavior very closely...if she is still wanting to be active that to me is key....and if she is being soaked long periods of time every day and she shows some interest in the food offerings I personally would wait a bit to track the poo....now, some folks would say rush the tort to the vet ...but what comes to mind is a whole lot of stress for your tort...and stress can cause her to naturally shut down..stop moving...stop wanting to do her normal routine...and if you have to leave her at the vets office they will be doing the same things you would be..and what I mean by that is they will be hydrating her albeit likely not as gently as you do...they would be feeding her..again not as gently or naturally as you would but likely force feeding which to me would likely be stressful as that is in no way natural....also a vets Office has a different mentality than you would...they have a tendency to get things done on a schedule which most times does not allow for time...I mean if they decide to surgically remove anything that would likely result in the entry by the shell being opened....this in itself now creates all issues she does not yet have to deal with and perhaps not need to....now, I am in no way trying to tell you what to do but rather just sharing what I would and have done in a situation with a tortoise dealing with impaction....sometimes the tort can absolutely work it out and successfully do so especially with the aid and determination of its person....which ever way you decide I wish you all the best and hoping your girl gets all back to normal soon...
 

x-sully-x

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Just a brief update as not much has changed. We have been giving Sully small offerings of watermelon which she has enjoyed and we managed to okay this with the vet. We are taking her back to the vet on Friday for another X-ray to see what progress has been made.

She is getting rather hungry now and tried eating the newspaper so that has had to come out of the vivarium now!
She hasn't poo'd now for 2 days but I can't really worry too much because the weather has been terrible here and she hasn't been able to benefit from the sunshine and when we let her out into the flat all she wants to do is burrow into the heater. We are continuing with the baths and she is being kept well hydrated. I fully expect her to go pass more wood chip tomorrow, if not then time to worry.

She is happy and chirpy in herself though.

Hope all is well
 

ascott

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Oh gooooood!!!!!!

And I would not be prepared to worry....if she has been passing good amounts of wood....and she is showing appetite....chances could very well be that she has passed a significant, if not all, amount of the chips and perhaps is actually good? Suppose it all depends on the way you want to look at it....I say this because you mentioned she is showing strong signs of a healthy appetite....

Keep up the soaks, keep her a nice hot basking spot and please do let us know how she is doing.... :D
 
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