Hello. I'm new to this forum and it's been great all the info sharing that seems to go on. I was looking for any info on feeding tubes. I have an 11 year old sulcata that has a bladder stone and has stopped eating. She will need surgery to remove the stone, but we need to get her stronger first and ensure her uric acid is low. My vet inserted a feeding tube 2 weeks ago. We have worked up to 30 ccs twice a day of emeraid herbivore critical care with 10 ccs of water before and after. This evening after her feeding she threw up, and I can't seem to find any info on this with a feeding tube involved. She was just at the vets yesterday for a checkup because when she was put under to insert the feeding tube, they accidentally poked her in the eye with the anesthesia needle. So we went to check on her eye and they also did a fecal, but I don't yet have the results. She has gained 1 pound in the 2 weeks since she's been home. I am worried that I am possibly feeding her too much? She was on enrofloxacin until yesterday for the eye, and she's on .5 cc allopurinol daily for the uric acid. Any help would be appreciated! I've had turtles over 20 years, and I have never seen one throw up :/
Sulcata Feeding tube issues
- Thread starter Melis
- Start date
It's a bad idea to force food into a tortoise that has a stone blocking its system. Chances are pretty good the stone is so big that the food and liquid is all stuck inside the animal and can't get out. Adding more volume to this only causes it to come back up, the only way it is allowed to move. The stone needs to come out before any more food or water is put in.
Even if she's having bowel movements? I didn't give her anything this morning, but she seems very lethargic. I'm trying not to bug her too much, since I'm sure she's very stressed from all the poking and prodding for her eye at the vets. I'm just worried about her. Appointment in 2 weeks for blood work to check the uric acid and then hopefully we can discuss surgery.
So the vet recommended to skip a few feedings and when I do start back up, to lower the amounts (which I had already planned on doing). Also increased soaks, so we are now soaking twice a day, at least an hour each. I am very worried about her. She is extremely lethargic and won't even open her eyes most of the time. She went downhill drastically after the vet visit on Thursday where they removed all the gunk on her eye that was injured during the surgery. I thought she was just still stressed out from that, but she doesn't not seem to be improving. She also is drooling every once in a while.
This evening I only gave her the .5ml allopurinol and less than 5 ccs of water to get the medicine down the tube and it started coming out of her nose. Does anyone have any experience with feeding tubes?? I plan on calling the vet in the morning, but I am so worried about her :/
