I made a post about a week ago regarding my tort Dima's injury: http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-81049.html
It would be helpful to review that thread to find out his living arrangements and history. His wound has healed almost completely, by the way.
The vets are all closed. I wouldn't be making this post if they weren't. If he doesn't poop by tomorrow, I'm bringing him in first thing in the morning.
Dima has been having some loose stools for about two weeks. The last time he made a healthy poop was about October 7th. His poop started becoming watery and poorly formed. We had been feeding him more fruit than usual (every day instead of every other day or every three days) and we attributed the loose stools to having too much fruit in his diet. However, a little less than a week ago, he had very strange diarrhea. It was completely opaque (brown, not white, so definitely not urates) and it was small amount. I soaked him to get the rest of it out, but he didn't seem to produce much more. Since then, he has not pooped at all. I think he hasn't made any bowel movement for about five days. I can't be sure if he has urinated or not because he usually does so in the soaks, and we've been soaking him about twice a day, so he hasn't peed at all in his litter box.
His behavior is supposedly normal. I say "supposedly" because I am often paranoid about the health of my animals, everyone else who lives with us has stated he isn't behaving any differently than he usually does.
He has absolutely no problems eating. He still walks around the house often, although I feel he isn't raising his rear as high as he usually does when he walks. He is still very social, chasing us while we're in the kitchen so we give him a snack, crawling up to me and nuzzling against me, and generally following people around.
I have several hypotheses about what is going on, but I'm not an expert:
-Considering the loose stools that he had been having and the diarrhea, he could have completely emptied his bowels. It might take some time to fully form his stools in order to pass them, thus explaining the constipation.
-A flagellate infection. This would explain the runs, but as far as I know, not the constipation. I could be wrong, the people of this forum know much more than I do, so your input is greatly appreciated!
-A parasitic infection, such as worms. This could explain the constipation.
-Egg binding. This is a touchy subject for me. I had a beloved parrot pass away due to egg binding on June 27th. I know that Dima is biologically female. I rescued Dima in late 2010 when he was six months old and in terrible health, making him about three and a half years-old, so I'm not sure if oviposition is even possible for him yet, but it could explain the constipation.
-Finally, bowel obstruction, or maybe impaction. While he is outside, I often see him sniffing rocks. I caught him biting one, but he spat it out. I'm extremely worried that he swallowed one, so I've been supervising him while he's outside.
Things I have done since Friday night:
-Raised the humidity and temperature of the house.
-Given him two soaks daily, warm water up to his chin, about 20-30 minutes per soak.
-Fed him fiber-rich foods, such as hay, to speed up the digestion process.
-Allowed him outside (supervised) for 10 hours of sunlight so he can metabolize the nutrients. Yes, it's exhausting, but I love him dearly.
What could be going on? What else should I do?
I've heard pumpkin is good for tort constipation. I'll be getting some later today.
It would be helpful to review that thread to find out his living arrangements and history. His wound has healed almost completely, by the way.
The vets are all closed. I wouldn't be making this post if they weren't. If he doesn't poop by tomorrow, I'm bringing him in first thing in the morning.
Dima has been having some loose stools for about two weeks. The last time he made a healthy poop was about October 7th. His poop started becoming watery and poorly formed. We had been feeding him more fruit than usual (every day instead of every other day or every three days) and we attributed the loose stools to having too much fruit in his diet. However, a little less than a week ago, he had very strange diarrhea. It was completely opaque (brown, not white, so definitely not urates) and it was small amount. I soaked him to get the rest of it out, but he didn't seem to produce much more. Since then, he has not pooped at all. I think he hasn't made any bowel movement for about five days. I can't be sure if he has urinated or not because he usually does so in the soaks, and we've been soaking him about twice a day, so he hasn't peed at all in his litter box.
His behavior is supposedly normal. I say "supposedly" because I am often paranoid about the health of my animals, everyone else who lives with us has stated he isn't behaving any differently than he usually does.
He has absolutely no problems eating. He still walks around the house often, although I feel he isn't raising his rear as high as he usually does when he walks. He is still very social, chasing us while we're in the kitchen so we give him a snack, crawling up to me and nuzzling against me, and generally following people around.
I have several hypotheses about what is going on, but I'm not an expert:
-Considering the loose stools that he had been having and the diarrhea, he could have completely emptied his bowels. It might take some time to fully form his stools in order to pass them, thus explaining the constipation.
-A flagellate infection. This would explain the runs, but as far as I know, not the constipation. I could be wrong, the people of this forum know much more than I do, so your input is greatly appreciated!
-A parasitic infection, such as worms. This could explain the constipation.
-Egg binding. This is a touchy subject for me. I had a beloved parrot pass away due to egg binding on June 27th. I know that Dima is biologically female. I rescued Dima in late 2010 when he was six months old and in terrible health, making him about three and a half years-old, so I'm not sure if oviposition is even possible for him yet, but it could explain the constipation.
-Finally, bowel obstruction, or maybe impaction. While he is outside, I often see him sniffing rocks. I caught him biting one, but he spat it out. I'm extremely worried that he swallowed one, so I've been supervising him while he's outside.
Things I have done since Friday night:
-Raised the humidity and temperature of the house.
-Given him two soaks daily, warm water up to his chin, about 20-30 minutes per soak.
-Fed him fiber-rich foods, such as hay, to speed up the digestion process.
-Allowed him outside (supervised) for 10 hours of sunlight so he can metabolize the nutrients. Yes, it's exhausting, but I love him dearly.
What could be going on? What else should I do?
I've heard pumpkin is good for tort constipation. I'll be getting some later today.
