Return of the Prolapse: A Saga

GreenFire719

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Hello everyone! I know I don’t always make my appearance on the forum but here I am again to talk about my lovely boxie io. Io is a female eastern box turtle estimated to be 17 years young who had a troubled past with improper care. Long story short she was surrendered to me after being held in captivity for two years with a steady diet of only tomatoes and a basking bulb with no uvb.

As I’m sure you can imagine, this had wrecked havoc on her poor little digestive system. She had frequently prolapsing, low levels of vitamins and calcium, and a notoriously picky diet. I have had her for two years now, and she has greatly improved on all issues with the exception of prolapsing. Although she was not prolapsing once a week anymore, prolapsing in general is a bad thing as there’s an increased risk for bleeding, infections, and necrosis.

Last year in January I had taken her in to get both bloodwork and fecal testing done as well as address the issue of her prolapsing. She ended up having a GI infection and received antibiotics that not only cleared up her infection, but also caused the prolapsing to basically cease. The only times I have seen her prolapse after that was from occasional constipation causing her to push too hard, only to retract after a few minutes.

This brings us up to this week, where she has been prolapsed for more than 15 minutes everyday and needing assistance of the sterile swab and KY Jelly to bring it back in (this is what the vet had recommended for me to do). Her vet appointment is for Thursday but it’s possible that she may even be seen tomorrow if an appointment opens up. Beyond getting her blood tested and fecal done, the possibility of her getting surgery done comes to mind. My personal theory behind her issues with prolapsing is from the poor care she received in the past causing her to have poor muscle tone in her tail.

Io is currently rocking the butt bandage in the tub to discourage her from pushing as I set up her hospital tub. I will be sure to update on how she is tomorrow and how the vet appointment goes. As of right now, everything that’s supposed to be in is in and she is otherwise business as usual.
 

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GreenFire719

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Today’s update: she made a small poop. I think all the exercising in the tub helped pass a blockage she was struggling to pass. The culprit was a long hair she ate of mine entangled in her poop. For the amount of food she has eaten over the past few days I know she’s still full of ?. I’m also still concerned that her pushing could cause another prolapse based on the bulging at the opening of her cloaca. Unfortunately I can’t get her in to the vet until tomorrow still but I’m not too worried considering she hasn’t prolapsed since inducing it in yesterday. The goal I would like to have for her is to try to come up with a permanent solution for her prolapses, whether that be getting a couple of stitches on her tail or trying to figure out a way to strengthen her sphincter muscles.

Until then, she will remain in her hospital tub grumpily walking the perimeter for observation
 

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waretrop

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@GreenFire719 I have had this with one many years ago and I was advised to use "Preparation H Ointment". It worked...I used it once a month after the first time when it cleared up..Never had a problem again...
 

GreenFire719

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@GreenFire719 I have had this with one many years ago and I was advised to use "Preparation H Ointment". It worked...I used it once a month after the first time when it cleared up..Never had a problem again...

Awesome, I did not know that could be used on her. I will be picking some up then with her antibiotics.

Vet visit went great, she’s very healthy in all aspects beyond her chronic gut issues. Unfortunately my girl is a very stubborn pooper and could not get a big enough sample (even with a probe) for fecal, but the vet is giving her preventative antibiotics based on her history. She is very grumpy but is otherwise well.
 

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GreenFire719

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Hey guys, so Io has officially finished her course of medicine but still seems to be having trouble with the prolapsing. The preparation H has helped reduced the prolapse size but not enough for her to undo it on her own. It looks like she may need to go back to the vet again. I’ll be keeping a close eye on her for the next two days and giving extra long soaking in case she’s constipated and that’s what’s causing her issues. I’m really hoping I don’t need to bring her back in because surgery really isn’t something I can afford right now. Wish us luck.
 

GreenFire719

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Quick update on Io today. Although they aren’t as bad, she’s still prolapsing almost everyday. The cream has definitely helped shrink its size but not enough for her to bring it back in on her own. We are on her way to her vet appointment to see if a blockage could be the problem. She’s just chilling in her box right but I’m hoping that the long car ride might break anything up in there and make her more willing to pass. I’ll let you know what the vet says after her appointment.
 

GreenFire719

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So good news and bad news. Io is doing alright, she got more medicine to see if that would help for now. The bad news is that the vet ultimately thinks the prolapse issue can only be solved for good by surgical means. The tissue looks like it isn’t attached to her anymore (the tissue is healthy otherwise, it’s just not anchored in) so they would have to do a reattachment surgery. Unfortunately at this time it’s not possible for me to pay for that, so until I can figure out how to pay for it I’ll just have to keep using the ky jelly and q-tips to help. It really sucks seeing her like this and I feel terrible shoving her prolapses back in but for right now it’s my best option to help her.
 

GreenFire719

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Hey guys, Io is doing about the same. She’s prolapsing very frequently still but she is able to retract it about 30% of the time. She starts back up her anti-protozoa medicine again next week so that should help her reduce the frequency again. I know it’s not gonna be cheap but I think I’m really gonna push to get surgery done on her. We recently lost our 3yo Great Pyrenees from some delayed vet care (and inadequate care from them a few days prior) and it ultimately caused her a painful death. I don’t think I can handle losing my turtle from something treatable when she still has such a long life ahead of her. It may not be life threatening to her now, but the day I’m not there and she prolapses could mean a very grim death for her.
 

GreenFire719

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We have been doing a gofundme for io’s surgery and have raised enough for me to feel comfortable in booking her surgery. Her surgery is on the 28th. I’m so happy I can get this done for her. I’ll let you guys know how it goes when her surgery gets done.
 
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