How is your tortie doing please. Mine has always had periods of dark green slimey urine as you have pictured, but no testing ever came back positive for any health issues over the past two or three years.
?Liver failure (green urine)
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How is your tortie doing please. Mine has always had periods of dark green slimey urine as you have pictured, but no testing ever came back positive for any health issues over the past two or three years.
I swear I've seen another thread about another tortoise with this same exact issue. Perfect health but unexplained green pee. Maybe it wasn't this forum?
Hi:
I've been reading your post about your Leo having dark green mucous-ey urine, and I posted a question, but no response yet.
I've had a dwarfed redfoot who was SERIOUSLY ill when we rescued him... He still has bouts of this same, exact dark green slimey urine. I've had it tested at 4 different vets, and all the stuff comes back normal.
I can't find a trigger, but I'll tell you what helps- and it was an accidental "find" because he went in for a "cold" with inflamed nictitating membranes at the same time the green pee started last year.... Usually it is only the green urine, or only the swelling of the nictitating membranes, never both together.
The swelling membranes is thought to occur due to bacterial infections of the tear ducts. So I found a wonderful, very smart vet that gave me 20mg/kg of Ceftazadime, alternating front legs Sub-Q, injection ever 3rd day for 7 doses.
This not only clears up the mild bacteria infection in his eyes- about the 3rd dose clears up the dark green, mucous-ey pee too. Then she told me she suspects it is a urinary tract infection because of his consistent clearing due to the Tazicef.
Just wanted to mention this to you, as we now give the Ceftazadime (Tazicef is the name brand) each time we see the nictitating membrane swelling OR when he starts getting the mucous-ey green pee.
Hope this helps,
Karen
I've been reading your post about your Leo having dark green mucous-ey urine, and I posted a question, but no response yet.
I've had a dwarfed redfoot who was SERIOUSLY ill when we rescued him... He still has bouts of this same, exact dark green slimey urine. I've had it tested at 4 different vets, and all the stuff comes back normal.
I can't find a trigger, but I'll tell you what helps- and it was an accidental "find" because he went in for a "cold" with inflamed nictitating membranes at the same time the green pee started last year.... Usually it is only the green urine, or only the swelling of the nictitating membranes, never both together.
The swelling membranes is thought to occur due to bacterial infections of the tear ducts. So I found a wonderful, very smart vet that gave me 20mg/kg of Ceftazadime, alternating front legs Sub-Q, injection ever 3rd day for 7 doses.
This not only clears up the mild bacteria infection in his eyes- about the 3rd dose clears up the dark green, mucous-ey pee too. Then she told me she suspects it is a urinary tract infection because of his consistent clearing due to the Tazicef.
Just wanted to mention this to you, as we now give the Ceftazadime (Tazicef is the name brand) each time we see the nictitating membrane swelling OR when he starts getting the mucous-ey green pee.
Hope this helps,
Karen
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Still getting occasional bouts of green pee... Sometimes when severe, it is mucousy. But otherwise she is growing normally and seems healthy!
bile is yellow.. and would be a fecal issue...
so this is either diarrhea or green urine.. from something...
acting normal?
Bile for tortoises and turtles is not yellow- it is called biliverdin and has a normal green pigment for chelonians and pond turtles...
I just had another bout of the mucous-ey green pee with my little redfoot, so I contacted a research vet and started reading more veterinary medical articles.
There seems to be consensus that this green mucous-ey urine in tortoises is called "biliverdinuria" and indicates a large amount of bile retention- then they expel the excess bile (from the liver) into the cloaca, which then vents with the urine stream...
I just read a great article that says Green Urine (Biliverdinuria) in tortoises is suggestive of hepatopathy, cholestasiss, could be due to viral/bacterial infections of liver or kidneys, or bile duct obstruction (then when bile builds up to abnormal level, can vent at once, creating the various density of green color in the urine.)
For Cholestasis, diets rich in carbs and proteins are indicated, along with oral administration of soluble Vitamin A, D, E, and K - and my little one LOVES high protein diets - such as fish and shrimp and eggs, while my other tortoises just sniff and walk away...
If the green urine is due to hepatic lipidosis, then the treatment is very different and can actually be negatively affected by drugs that treat the green urine due to viral and bacterial infections and parasites (so flagyl and oral Baytril are out, and Ceftazadime is best- which I've seen in my baby).
I'm uploading a couple of papers here in case you recognize one symptom over another and want to try a week's worth of diet or Flagyl or Ceftazadime. They are saying the only real diagnostic tool for shelled reptiles is liver biopsy, which is way too risky for me to permit in my little redfoot, so I'm going with treatment for a short period and watching the symptoms to see whether the treatments/diet changes/supplaments are making any difference.
One of the best things I read within these papers I'm uploading is that if the green urine is due to hepatic lipidosis, then it is not a disease, rather a metabolic condition that can be corrected with the diet rich in proteins and carbs, and the oral administration of soluble Vitamins A, D, E, and K...
Hope this helps- and please let me know if anybody has further information on vets and labs that can do this type of differential diagnosis and treatment plans for biliverdinuria?
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