My poor baby. Advice please?

[chandlerledray]

I have a 10 month old Sulcata named peanut and a 2 1/2 year old sulcata named franklin. Lately Pea hasn't been eating much, no bathroom, and his eyes are shut a lot. I just got back from taking Pea to the vet. :/
The vet said that he is pretty sick, he's very very very tiny for his age and his shell is still soft.
I told her about how he hasn't been eating and eyes have been shut for a week now. She said he is weak and that's why he has his eyes shut, she took him back and gave him a shot and now he's being force fed once a day until he eats on his own.
She said he has a 50/50 chance of getting better...:/
What do you think? Will he start getting better being on medications?

Please tell me he'll be alright, the little guy means so much to me.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Chandler:

I know you're upset, and rightly so, however, there's no need to post your comment in more than one place. We all have access to it in the other two places where you've put it:

http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-11344.html and http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-11385.html

 

[K9KidsLove]

Have you gone over your set up with anyone on here to be sure everything is set up correctly? Have you been dusting with calcium?

I will pray for yours if you will pray for mine!
Good luck
Patsy

 

[webskipper]

We'll pray unconditionally.

 

[K9KidsLove]

How is Peanut today?
Patsy

 

[chandlerledray]

Uh he's okay, his eyes were open a little yesterday and I gave him his medicine. It's hard to get him to take the medicine, but I know it will benefit him and make him feel better. I talked to my friend who works at a reptile store and he said possibly put calcium in his medicine so he can have some calcium in his body because that's something he seriously needs. But I don't know if that's safe so of course I'm going to contact the vet today.

 

[fearlesshugo]

So sorry to hear but that's exactly what happend to my redfoot 2 years ago when i had it, i brought it to the doctor's he gave smoothy a shot and told me to force feed him i did and force feed him calcium liquid, he died 2 weeks later. Not trying to scare u or anything but try soaking him in warm water everyday, and when u force feed him don't stuff his mouth be patient and do it abit by bit. Till today i wonder what i did wrong but mines was a wild caught when i got him he was kinda soft already so hopefully it wasn't my fault.
SMOOTHY I MISS U SO MUCH!!! Hope your in a better place now. : (

Good Luck my prayers are with u peanut.

 

[ChiKat]

I hope the little guy pulls through! Sending good vibes...

 

[chandlerledray]

Awh, I'm terribly sorry to hear about smoothy, that's horrible. I'm sure he's happy and pain-free now though :]


Thank you though, both of you. Although it has only been 2 days on meds, Pea is starting to get stronger. His eyes have been open for the past 30 mins, which is a HUGEE improvement for him. He's also more alert, opens eyes and moves around if I pick him up, also walks around in his enclosure. I hope the progress continues. I gave him calcium in his meds (approved by vet) and hopefully over time he will get stronger..

 

[-ryan-]

Just make sure he is getting good supportive care along with the medicine. Other than that there is nothing more that we as keepers can do for our animals.

Good luck and I hope the little guy gets better.

 

[chandlerledray]

Thanks Ryan :]

I'll let everyone know how he's doing soon.

 

[Tom]

My two cents: Warm water soak twice daily. WARM, not hot. Use one of those electric thermometers from a hardware or discount store that has a remote probe. Stick the probe in the water, but make sure your tort doesn't try to eat it once you put him in. Get the water around 85 and keep it shallow. Only to the top of the plastron(the bottom half of the shell).

Second: SUNSHINE!!! if at all possible. Don't let him over-heat if he's too lethargic to move. If its too cold where you are, get one of those 160 watt UV floodlights. The mercury vapor type. These are the next best thing to sunshine, but still inferior to the real thing. Use your temp probe to create a hot spot on one side. Raise or lower the bulb to get the right temp. I like basking spots to be 110-120 degrees. Most people say less, but I've been to Africa with one of those infared heat probes and that's how hot the ground was where torts were basking in the late morning or early afternoon sun. Its frequently much hotter than that in the summer while my guys are out foraging. Remember to create a thermal gradient in your cage. He should be able to move away from that hot spot when he's warm enough. For an ailing tortoise, I'd also make sure the cool side of the cage stays around 90 in the daytime and not below 80 at night.

Most of the time, if you fix the environment, the tortoise will recover. Good luck. I've brought back turtles and tortoises that people thought were dead using these methods. Don't give up.

 

[chandlerledray]

Thanks! That's really good advice, I'm doing all of these things right now, and It does seem he is getting better, he has more energy and his eyes are open more than they were. I think all I need now is time, :]