Question on shell trauma
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Hi all. I have a problem with my 6 month old sulcata. I had him in the backyard yesterday as I ran some errands. When i returned I found my American Bulldog had opened the sliding glass door. He is intelligent and does this if I do not properly lock the door. Lesson learned and the point of this thread is not about the dangers of owning two species. I instead have a couple questions on the healing process of the shell. I will provide my vets ntoes below and then ask the questions...
Vets notes:
Physical Examination:
Weight: 0.038 kg, 0.08 lb, 0.01 m2
Temperature = N/E
Pulse = 80 Respiration = 18
Oral MM = Pale Pink
Appearance: QAR, subdued but responsive.
Integument: Partial thickness puncture wounds and small fissure between plates over the craniodorsal right carapace. Abrasions and more superficial puncture wounds along the right cranial plastron just caudal to the forelimb. Normal appearance to the carapace and plastron other than his wounds
Eyes: Missing his right eye (congenital concern). Normal appearance to the left eye
Ears: Normal
Nose: Dry, clean nares
Oral Cavity: Pink mucous membranes.
Heart / Lungs: Normal respiratory rate and effort. Heart rate not evaluated
Musculoskeletal: Normal weight-bearing and movement to each limb (particularly the RF limb). Ambulatory. Good body condition
Abdomen: N/E
Urogenital: Normal appearance to the cloaca
Neurologic: Normal gross neurologic evaluation
Problem list:
Shell trauma due to bite wounds from dog this afternoon
Treatment:
1. Cleaned the wounds with dilute Betadine and sterile saline
2. Applied Silvadene topically to the wounds
3. Administered Tramadol suspension 0.20 mg PO
4. Administered Baytril suspension 0.68 mg PO
5. Discharge Sheldon to be housed indoors only on paper toweling x 2 weeks with oral Baytril PO SID x 14 days and oral Tramadol suspension PO SID x 4 more days. Topical Silvadene therapy is to be applied to his wounds using a Q-Tip BID x 2 weeks as well.
6. Re-check with a daytime veterinarian to assess his wounds by next Wednesday (sooner if he is having any clinical concerns)
Discharge Instructions:
1. Please keep Sheldon in his indoor enclosure over the next few weeks to keep him clean and protected.
2. Use clean paper toweling to line his cage and for nesting for the next 2 weeks. Clean his cage daily.
3. Please administer the oral Baytril suspension as antibiotic therapy starting Thursday night. Give the pre-measured 0.05 ml into his mouth once a day for the next 2 weeks
4. Continue the administration of the oral Tramadol suspension as pain relief also starting on Thursday night. Give the pre-measured 0.02 ml orally every 24 hrs for the next 4 days
5. Please be sure to offer fresh water and his regular veggies/fruit and hay daily .Monitor his appetite closely
6. Please apply the provided Silvadene cream to the wounds 2x/day using a Q-Tip for the next 2 weeks
7. A re-evaluation of Sheldon and his wound healing would be ideally done by next Wednesday by a daytime veterinarian comfortable with exotic pets. He should be seen sooner if he is not eating well or is more lethargic.
My comments:
The vet is very knowledgeable on sulcatas but they are not a herp specialiast. That is why she is giving the advice to come back to their daytime vet within the week. That vet is a herp specialist.
If you're unable to visualize the notes above, the puncture wound is on his right side on the rim of his carapace about 1/3rd between his right front and back leg. It did bleed. He has a some burising and very small teeth marks/indents on his underbelly. There was some cracking on the underbelly but no internals exposed.
The dog, who is 95lbs, essentially played/mouthed on him and did not try to eat him.
My Questions to you Experts:
1. Can I still soak him? How often?
2. How can I provide humidity in his new sterile cage? The sterile cage is a small travel case like you would see at a pet convention.
3. Prior to yesterday's trauma, when I picked him up he would fully extend his neck and bob his head at me. Since the accident yesterday, he no longer extends his nexk out of his shell, but he does stick his head out (let me know if I need to clarify this). Does this signal anything serious?
4. Are there any care tips you could add to help me better his chances of recovery?
Thanks in advance. -Andrew
Vets notes:
Physical Examination:
Weight: 0.038 kg, 0.08 lb, 0.01 m2
Temperature = N/E
Pulse = 80 Respiration = 18
Oral MM = Pale Pink
Appearance: QAR, subdued but responsive.
Integument: Partial thickness puncture wounds and small fissure between plates over the craniodorsal right carapace. Abrasions and more superficial puncture wounds along the right cranial plastron just caudal to the forelimb. Normal appearance to the carapace and plastron other than his wounds
Eyes: Missing his right eye (congenital concern). Normal appearance to the left eye
Ears: Normal
Nose: Dry, clean nares
Oral Cavity: Pink mucous membranes.
Heart / Lungs: Normal respiratory rate and effort. Heart rate not evaluated
Musculoskeletal: Normal weight-bearing and movement to each limb (particularly the RF limb). Ambulatory. Good body condition
Abdomen: N/E
Urogenital: Normal appearance to the cloaca
Neurologic: Normal gross neurologic evaluation
Problem list:
Shell trauma due to bite wounds from dog this afternoon
Treatment:
1. Cleaned the wounds with dilute Betadine and sterile saline
2. Applied Silvadene topically to the wounds
3. Administered Tramadol suspension 0.20 mg PO
4. Administered Baytril suspension 0.68 mg PO
5. Discharge Sheldon to be housed indoors only on paper toweling x 2 weeks with oral Baytril PO SID x 14 days and oral Tramadol suspension PO SID x 4 more days. Topical Silvadene therapy is to be applied to his wounds using a Q-Tip BID x 2 weeks as well.
6. Re-check with a daytime veterinarian to assess his wounds by next Wednesday (sooner if he is having any clinical concerns)
Discharge Instructions:
1. Please keep Sheldon in his indoor enclosure over the next few weeks to keep him clean and protected.
2. Use clean paper toweling to line his cage and for nesting for the next 2 weeks. Clean his cage daily.
3. Please administer the oral Baytril suspension as antibiotic therapy starting Thursday night. Give the pre-measured 0.05 ml into his mouth once a day for the next 2 weeks
4. Continue the administration of the oral Tramadol suspension as pain relief also starting on Thursday night. Give the pre-measured 0.02 ml orally every 24 hrs for the next 4 days
5. Please be sure to offer fresh water and his regular veggies/fruit and hay daily .Monitor his appetite closely
6. Please apply the provided Silvadene cream to the wounds 2x/day using a Q-Tip for the next 2 weeks
7. A re-evaluation of Sheldon and his wound healing would be ideally done by next Wednesday by a daytime veterinarian comfortable with exotic pets. He should be seen sooner if he is not eating well or is more lethargic.
My comments:
The vet is very knowledgeable on sulcatas but they are not a herp specialiast. That is why she is giving the advice to come back to their daytime vet within the week. That vet is a herp specialist.
If you're unable to visualize the notes above, the puncture wound is on his right side on the rim of his carapace about 1/3rd between his right front and back leg. It did bleed. He has a some burising and very small teeth marks/indents on his underbelly. There was some cracking on the underbelly but no internals exposed.
The dog, who is 95lbs, essentially played/mouthed on him and did not try to eat him.
My Questions to you Experts:
1. Can I still soak him? How often?
2. How can I provide humidity in his new sterile cage? The sterile cage is a small travel case like you would see at a pet convention.
3. Prior to yesterday's trauma, when I picked him up he would fully extend his neck and bob his head at me. Since the accident yesterday, he no longer extends his nexk out of his shell, but he does stick his head out (let me know if I need to clarify this). Does this signal anything serious?
4. Are there any care tips you could add to help me better his chances of recovery?
Thanks in advance. -Andrew
RE: recovery from shell trauma
Sorry about the tort. Hope all goes well.
Sorry about the tort. Hope all goes well.
RE: recovery from shell trauma
Thanks Wellington. Did you merge the two thrreads? If so, would you be able to delete the poorly written post from my iphone? I tried but the forums told me I do not have permission. Thanks again.
]wellington said:
Thanks Wellington. Did you merge the two thrreads? If so, would you be able to delete the poorly written post from my iphone? I tried but the forums told me I do not have permission. Thanks again.
without pictures, its hard to tell the extent of damage.. it doesnt sound all that good and I guess you are lucky he is still alive..
sounds like you need to build a seperate tort yard with tall walls and gates.. or it will happen again, and prob have a worse outcome.
sounds like you need to build a seperate tort yard with tall walls and gates.. or it will happen again, and prob have a worse outcome.
It is agreed that things need to be made more secure. My heart goes out to you, Verbage. I don't have any idea about the humidity issue. I would imagine that you will just have to forgo the soakings and humidity until the carapace and plastron is healed but I do not really know. I would pm emysemys or maggie3fan because I know that they know a lot about helping injured tortoises but other than that I could not say. There are other knowledgeable people here but I am not sure who they all are. I am sure that someone will come along and let you know more. Pictures would give more details as to what is wrong and how to go about helping it. Good luck!
Welcome to the Forum, Andrew!
Since the very first post in the thread is the one you want deleted, the whole thread would also be deleted, so we're all just going to have to live with it. Sorry.
You can still soak the tortoise, however if he poops in the water try to get him out of it before it gets around the wound. After the soak, you can squirt some sterile saline into the wound, then dry it well before applying the ointment.
You can provide a humid hide in he new, sterile cage. Some moist sphagnum moss inside the hide will do.
Since the very first post in the thread is the one you want deleted, the whole thread would also be deleted, so we're all just going to have to live with it. Sorry.
You can still soak the tortoise, however if he poops in the water try to get him out of it before it gets around the wound. After the soak, you can squirt some sterile saline into the wound, then dry it well before applying the ointment.
You can provide a humid hide in he new, sterile cage. Some moist sphagnum moss inside the hide will do.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/24/45858840.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/402/68069670.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/100/31398470.jpg/
Here are some pics of Sheldon. If the colors look off it's because I cs6'd him to make the wounds more apparent due to a horrible camera phone. I also circled the more severe wound in pink. The green circle is a puncture also but it's nowhere near as bad as the other. The black scale is way off in the photos so don't be alarmed by the patterns on his shell.
On a side note, I gave him his medicine tonight and he fully extended his neck as fought with me. That was a plus because he hadn't done that since he was injured.
I'm a little nervous to give him his medicine again because a few times he just seemed like he gave up resisting it. Hard to describe but he kind of just went limp like he was playing dead. I don't like to put that kind of stress on him but he has to have his antibiotics...
I went ahead and bought a large Rubermaid for his sterile container. It seems easier to control the humidity compared to the travel cage.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/402/68069670.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/100/31398470.jpg/
Here are some pics of Sheldon. If the colors look off it's because I cs6'd him to make the wounds more apparent due to a horrible camera phone. I also circled the more severe wound in pink. The green circle is a puncture also but it's nowhere near as bad as the other. The black scale is way off in the photos so don't be alarmed by the patterns on his shell.
On a side note, I gave him his medicine tonight and he fully extended his neck as fought with me. That was a plus because he hadn't done that since he was injured.
I'm a little nervous to give him his medicine again because a few times he just seemed like he gave up resisting it. Hard to describe but he kind of just went limp like he was playing dead. I don't like to put that kind of stress on him but he has to have his antibiotics...
I went ahead and bought a large Rubermaid for his sterile container. It seems easier to control the humidity compared to the travel cage.
Oh, the poor little guy. I hope the best for him and full recovery.
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