Should I put my tort down?

abe_97

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For the last 2 years my tort has been suffering from renal disease. At first it was manageable with medication and my tort was living relatively comfortably.

Every once in a while my tort would rebound from being lively and active and would have a bout of lethargy, swollen neck (water retention) and would sleep a lot. This was occasional (maybe once every 1-2 months). Luckily enough, he never lost his appetite either despite all this and even gained some good weight through the past two years.

Recently, the bouts of lethargy and I activeness have been more frequent, and I'm very worried. This is really hard for me to accept (I've had this tortoise my whole life, since I was six; we've been best friends for 18 years). But I want the best for him and hate to seem in pain...

My vet has told me several times that I need to consider putting him down, but I always refused.

Has anyone experienced a similar situation with their tort? When did you know it was time?...

I attached photos of my tort today, his skin is reacting negatively to the medication (mushy skin on the side of his face) and he's been sleeping excessively for the past 2 weeks.
 

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ZenHerper

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I'm so sorry you are both going through this!

When thinking through this type of decision, you must consider your pet's quality of life and feelings first. This is very hard because our feelings are so sharply painful when we think about being without them.

In the West, we are culturally conditioned to move away from the subjects of death and dying. This can make us move away from those we love when they are failing physically. I encourage you to move more closely to your feelings about your pet and to move emotionally closer to the situation he is in.

Sit quietly near him and look deeply into his eyes. Let the reality of his condition and quality of life come to your mind without judging or rejecting what he is going through and what you are feeling. Both are valid experiences.

Let your true friendship guide you, even if you have to decide to do this Hardest Thing In Life Yet. He trusts you for his care in all things, and you have the strength inside you to both care about his degree of suffering and to move on with him always in your heart.
 

wellington

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Man I am so very sorry.
I have not had to go thru this with a tort. I have however gone thru it with dogs and cats.
If my vet says they are in constant pain I am putting them down. My animals have always been too good to me too let them suffer in pain because of me not wanting to let them go. It's just not fair to them.
That's what you have to find out if you haven't, is he in constant pain.
So very sorry, it just really stinks.
 

Mrs.Jennifer

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I am so very sorry for your and your tortoise’s agony. It is soooo hard. However, the fact that you are wrestling with this and questioning shows how much you love him/her. I see you already have their quality of life on your heart. You do not need our input to make the right choice. I believe you know your tortoise best after 18 years, and probably already know what is best.

I will say that I had to euthanize my first Russian tortoise because she developed septicemia while in the care of someone else while I was away for extended travel. It gutted me, but I had no regrets as she would have suffered.

Whatever decision you come to, please know that I am holding you and your tort close to my heart.
 

KarenSoCal

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I'm so very sorry your tort is in such poor health. In the pictures he looks like he really doesn't feel well.

I've never had to make this decision with a tortoise, but I have for multiple dogs, and I had a tortoise die. It's a heartwrenching decision, but you have to love them enough to let them go.
 
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I'm very sorry about the poor health of your best friend and I hope that you're able to make the right decision for you both.

The most important thing to consider is quality of life. If your friend isn't able to eat or move, or if they're in constant pain and you know you can't really do anything else for them, or you know that there's no way for it to get better, that's when I would think it's time. I have lost my childhood dog and my best friend just this year lost her childhood cat. For us, it made things feel better for us to spend a short while pampering our little friends before we made the decision. My friend had a nice small family gathering for her cat later that day. I think it's truly one of the hardest parts of being a pet owner, but I'm also very grateful for being able to make the decision to ease their suffering when I know it's not something they can recover from or comfortably live with. Our pets depend on us to make these decisions they can't make themselves... but it would be so much easier if they could simply tell us how they feel.

I'm no tortoise expert, and I think you should make the decision for yourself based on your tort's quality of life, but I hope that your love and care and concern for your best friend of many many years and your visits to the vet reassure you that you have been trying your best for them. I know there's a lot of guilt and worry that comes with making such a hard decision and it's so hard not to think "well I should have done X or Y" but you had no way of knowing how things would turn out, especially when things were looking up for awhile.
 
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abe_97

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Thank you all very much for your support, it's very hard to do this alone.

I decided that I would give him the best summer I could, he'll get a bunch of sun, exploration and treats throughout the summer.

If his health doesn't improve over the summer, then I'll know what to do. Hurts to say that, but it breaks my heart to see him in pain.
 
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