Long time no post...truth is, I moved overseas for 2 years and didn’t want to think about my boy. I missed him too much and felt horrible leaving him behind for so long but there was nothing I could do.
The people who cared for him while I was gone did a great job. He became HUGE. Weighs 8 lbs now...nice and plump, seemed healthy. I moved to a different city so he had to go through the stressful moving process. I noticed some diarrhea the first week but it was consistent with the previous times he’s had to move.
Then he started passing undigested food...I fed Mazuri to bulk up the poops and that worked to an extent, but the undigested food persisted. I thought it was because I fed him blueberries. He was otherwise asymptomatic so I thought I’d give it time.
Then he started straining so hard his phallus would prolapse. I immediately took him to the vet and got an x-ray and fecal done. Both came back normal, the only thing of note was his guts seemed pretty empty in the x-ray. His tail is also slightly swollen (from the straining?).
He’s active and alert...has an appetite...poops every day or every other day, and is able to poop in his enclosure without the assistance of a soak...in fact most of the day he’s perfectly fine, then he’ll suddenly behave like he’s in total desperation to get whatever’s bothering him out of his body and strain so hard I can hear him grunting from two rooms away.
Then he peed on the kitchen floor during his meal and it had mucus in it, it also smelled awful. If he has flagellates it would explain the undigested food, and I believe I’ve seen some of you guys say they don’t show up well on fecal float tests, but I just don’t know. And what about the straining? I’ve never heard of flagellates causing that, only nematodes...which his fecal float came back negative for as well.
I’m worried sick and listening to him suffering is like torture for me, and it can only be worse for him. Soaking him seems to relieve the discomfort which makes me wonder if it’s a cloacal issue. He sleeps with his butt in his water dish sometimes if he has an “episode” at night. The vet said he can’t help me, so I’m going to make an appointment for another vet farther away who is more experienced with tortoises.
I gave him Benebac every other day these past few days and at first it seemed to be working, he wasn’t straining much at all and his poops started looking more normal, then tonight he was straining full-force. He’s still 100% asymptomatic besides the straining and poop/pee abnormalities, he eats well and is active like always. I have no idea how to proceed and it would give me some peace of mind if any of you had any ideas in case this next vet also says he can’t help me.
I don’t want my boy to keep suffering like this.
The people who cared for him while I was gone did a great job. He became HUGE. Weighs 8 lbs now...nice and plump, seemed healthy. I moved to a different city so he had to go through the stressful moving process. I noticed some diarrhea the first week but it was consistent with the previous times he’s had to move.
Then he started passing undigested food...I fed Mazuri to bulk up the poops and that worked to an extent, but the undigested food persisted. I thought it was because I fed him blueberries. He was otherwise asymptomatic so I thought I’d give it time.
Then he started straining so hard his phallus would prolapse. I immediately took him to the vet and got an x-ray and fecal done. Both came back normal, the only thing of note was his guts seemed pretty empty in the x-ray. His tail is also slightly swollen (from the straining?).
He’s active and alert...has an appetite...poops every day or every other day, and is able to poop in his enclosure without the assistance of a soak...in fact most of the day he’s perfectly fine, then he’ll suddenly behave like he’s in total desperation to get whatever’s bothering him out of his body and strain so hard I can hear him grunting from two rooms away.
Then he peed on the kitchen floor during his meal and it had mucus in it, it also smelled awful. If he has flagellates it would explain the undigested food, and I believe I’ve seen some of you guys say they don’t show up well on fecal float tests, but I just don’t know. And what about the straining? I’ve never heard of flagellates causing that, only nematodes...which his fecal float came back negative for as well.
I’m worried sick and listening to him suffering is like torture for me, and it can only be worse for him. Soaking him seems to relieve the discomfort which makes me wonder if it’s a cloacal issue. He sleeps with his butt in his water dish sometimes if he has an “episode” at night. The vet said he can’t help me, so I’m going to make an appointment for another vet farther away who is more experienced with tortoises.
I gave him Benebac every other day these past few days and at first it seemed to be working, he wasn’t straining much at all and his poops started looking more normal, then tonight he was straining full-force. He’s still 100% asymptomatic besides the straining and poop/pee abnormalities, he eats well and is active like always. I have no idea how to proceed and it would give me some peace of mind if any of you had any ideas in case this next vet also says he can’t help me.
I don’t want my boy to keep suffering like this.