Sick Redfoot????

[68merc]

I rescued a female Redfoot about 10 days ago. She was dehydrated when i got her and has had little movement. She has eaten mazori and seemed to love it. Also grapes, pepper and spring mix.
Friday evening i gave her a good soak and put her in front of a plate of food. She ate 6-8 mazori nuggets and a piece of red bell pepper and a few bites of spring mix.
She is in a box in the kitchen because of the rain/cold this week. This morning i heard something that i thought was a sneeze but didn't go look in her box. Tonight when i did look there was a pile of vomit?? that looked like soft mazori but smelled like poop. It was next to her head and i don't think she has moved all day.
Do tortoises vomit?
I'm going to soak her again in a bit and see if i can get her to eat.
I'd love some feedback!

 

[JonathanS]

I rescued a female Redfoot about 10 days ago. She was dehydrated when i got her and has had little movement. She has eaten mazori and

I rescued one about 7 years ago, and she had pneumonia at the time. I don't know how common it is for them to get it. Is there a good vet in your area?

seemed to love it. Also grapes, pepper and spring mix.
Friday evening i gave her a good soak and put her in front of a plate of food. She ate 6-8 mazori nuggets and a piece of red bell pepper and a few bites of spring mix.
She is in a box in the kitchen because of the rain/cold this week. This morning i heard something that i thought was a sneeze but didn't go look in her box. Tonight when i did look there was a pile of vomit?? that looked like soft mazori but smelled like poop. It was next to her head and i don't think she has moved all day.
Do tortoises vomit?

I've heard mine make retching noises (especially when I give her medicine for worms), but I've never seen her vomit. As you probably know, they are coprophagous, so she may have had a watery stool and turned around to examine it.

Just my 0.02, but check into a vet as well.

 

[Balboa]

Yes, they can vomit, and there are a number of possible causes, blockages from foreign objects, stones, worms, etc. plus other medical reasons, most of which would call for a vet visit I'd think. These sort of problems could easily be expected to be associated with dehydration.

 

[Madkins007]

I'd like to know more about the timeline.

Rehabilitating animals can get tricky. Too much too soon and they can get sick just from the treatments.

You may want to touch base with someone like Yvonne/Kyryah (Dang, I can never remember her screen name!) who has rehab experience for some ideas.

 

[68merc]

I made an appointment at the vet for Thursday morning.

 

[68merc]

Vet said URI so we started Baytril and to be safe also treating for worms. Im not looking forward to giving injections! But im sure ill get through it.

 

[Madkins007]

You can read more about URI at http://tortoiselibrary.com/ri.html

 

[Yvonne G]

Did you go to Dr. Holm?

Baytril stings...a lot. Don't be surprised if your tortoise "rejects" you after you start giving the shots.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Also Baytril upsets their gut flora (that's twice I've said that tonight) and they may stop eating after you start the injections. I have had tortoises and box turtles vomit and it is just like Mark says...too much too soon. Good luck with the URTI and keep us posted...

 

[68merc]

Yes Yvonne we went to Dr Holm. Nice guy. Not only do I get to give the baytril every 72 hrs. I get to give another injection of .9% sodium chloride.,20 ml .. not looking forward to this but ill do what it takes!
I put her on the scale today when I got home , she has lost weight.

 

[dmmj]

I am just curious, did you get that RF off of craigslist? we had a re post of a RF in the fresno area.

 

[Laura]

what is her set up? in a box? does she have heat and lights?
Id try doing a warm babyfood soak, and dont let her eat to much at once. Space it out.

 

[68merc]

dmmj, she did come from craigslist, I picked her up on the 9th of this month.
Laura, she is in a big tub in the kitchen with day/night lights and a heat mat under the tub. Temp range 79-85* I have been soaking her very other day and tonight plan on adding the babyfood. She has not eaten anything at all in 5 days.

To me she showed no sigh of RI untill she was at the vet. Then she started blowing s'not out of her nose...

Its a great learning curve! On top of this I have kids that need help with homework and a rental property that is empty that needs work for the new renter on the first...
Oh ya, I have a job too! :+)

 

[68merc]

Happy dance!!!
Lou Lou is eating this mornig. Apple, banana, strawberrys. First time in days.
Giving her the injections sucks! Its amazing how strong she is, trying to hold her leg out while I inject 20ml of sodium chloride..... she has now eaten a whole (small) banana!
I can't wait till this part is over.

 

[Yvonne G]

You've mentioned the saline injection, but what about the Baytril? In my book that's a much worse injection. How does she react to that?

So glad she's eating for you. But please stop all that dancing. We've had way too much rain as it is.

 

[68merc]

She gets the baytril also, that seems to be nothing by comparison! She wants nothing to do with me or anyone else after the shot. This morning I got her out for a soak hoping she would eat after and she did.
I have never givin injections before and with any luck this will be the last time.
Is every 72 hours normal? At that rate ill have 3 weeks of this.

 

[Yvonne G]

It used to be every day for five days, then they went to every other day for ten days. So maybe it's changed again.