Swollen front leg

[Sarah4891]

Any help would be appreciated!!
I have a 6month old horse field tortoise. He is very active and loves to climb! However, 3weeks ago I noticed his front leg at one side to be slightly swollen. I immediately took him to the vets, after finding a specialist who knew about reptiles. He has since had antibiotics (2different types) ,cream and I was recommended to bathe him everyday and apply this cream. However, after 2 weeks the swelling looked to be getting worse. So took him back to the vets again. Now he's on another antibiotic and this is every other day. He just doesn't seem to be improving and the bathing seems to be it help the healing process. Can anyone help????

 

[Yvonne G]

We'll need to see pictures and learn about your husbandry, light/heat and diet regimen.

 

[Lyn W]

Hi and welcome,
So sorry your tort isn't well. Is he eating and active?
If you post pics of your tort , his leg and his enclosure we can see if there's anything that could have affected him.
Is there anyway he could have injured it?
Did the vet X ray it, test bloods and do you know what antibiotics he's had and is on now?
Sorry for all the questions but it will help members with more medical knowledge be able to help you.

 

[Sarah4891]

Tortoise table , temperature is monitored even more so at the moment due to the swollen leg. He has basking area and fresh food and water throughout the day. He is eating as normal and drinking during his baths and toilet is no issues ,just same as previous before swollen leg. He is not holding it up ,he is still walking on it and moves quickly. His medication now is called Clarithromycin 0.02ml every 48hrs. No blood tests done, no x-ray. Had injection of anti inflammatory but was told only lasts 48hrs in his system. His previous antibiotics was Baytril. The cream is flamazine.

 

[Lyn W]

We could do with a little more information such as the 4 temps in his enclosure - warm, cool, ambient and night, what food he eats and the sort of lamps he has.
A picture of his table could help too.

@zovick and @ZenHerper will be able to advise about the meds.

 

[Sarah4891]

Night 20-21. Warm 29-34 cool 27-29. He has greens topped up throughout the day, dandelion leaves, violas leaves, lambs lettuce, romaine lettuce, carrot, rocket, bell pepper occasionally. Attached his table and lamp info.

 

[Yvonne G]

Holy cow, that poor tortoise! Do you have an optivisor? If not get a magnifying glass and a very bright light. Gently extend the leg and inspect closely to see if there's a thread or hair restricting blood flow through the leg.

I'm sorry, but I don't know what else to tell you. I'm assuming the vet checked for dislocation or fracture. Geeze, poor tortoise. Please keep us in the loop.

 

[Lyn W]

This is the caresheet full of up to date care information for your tort

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Check your set up and temps etc against that and if you try to follow it as closely as possible your tort should thrive. We've all been given old advice and had to tweak things.
www.thetortoisetable.org.uk is a good guide to tort safe foods.

You're lucky to be able to find dandelion and viola leaves at the moment. Carrots have a lot of sugar in them so shouldn't be a regular food - carrot leaves are Ok though.

The MVB bulb you have isn't recommended any more because they have been found to dry and damage tort shells and the uvb fades quite quickly. Many of us use T5 HO UVB tube kits
(Arcadia - £49 ish at the Online Reptile Shop) with a separate flood basking bulb and a CHE run through a thermostat for night and extra heat.

I hope you find out what the problem is and his leg gets better soon

 

[Sarah4891]

Thank you , I have looked for hair or thread as I have been advised this by another owner, I couldn't see anything. I have been growing own violas and dandelions in green house, I am lucky they are growing well and he has plenty to eat, these are definitely his favourites.
The vet didn't check for fractures but I did worry about that..thanks again I'll keep updating as I try to get him help. Just appears they are guessing as to how.to help.woth constant change to medicine and very conflicting advise..one minute I'm to bathe him daily,next I'm.to.bathe him once a week. The bathing seems to make it worse and not heal as it's constantly getting wet and not having time to dry. Could this make it worse??

 

[zovick]

Tortoise table , temperature is monitored even more so at the moment due to the swollen leg. He has basking area and fresh food and water throughout the day. He is eating as normal and drinking during his baths and toilet is no issues ,just same as previous before swollen leg. He is not holding it up ,he is still walking on it and moves quickly. His medication now is called Clarithromycin 0.02ml every 48hrs. No blood tests done, no x-ray. Had injection of anti inflammatory but was told only lasts 48hrs in his system. His previous antibiotics was Baytril. The cream is flamazine.

Have any of the injections been in that leg or the armpit area of that leg?

It appears to me that possibly the needle passed through a larger blood vessel resulting in a hematoma in the leg.

OR it could be a reaction caused by a Baytril injection even if it did not penetrate a vessel.

If it is a hematoma, it will take weeks to go down. Just treat the tortoise normally and soak it in lukewarm water daily to aid in blood circulation which will ultimately dissolve/reabsorb the hematoma.

Note that reptiles take about 3X longer to heal than mammals, so don't expect to see immediate results. This will take a good amount of time to resolve.

 

[Sarah4891]

Have any of the injections been in that leg or the armpit area of that leg?

It appears to me that possibly the needle passed through a larger blood vessel resulting in a hematoma in the leg.

OR it could be a reaction caused by a Baytril injection even if it did not penetrate a vessel.

If it is a hematoma, it will take weeks to go down. Just treat the tortoise normally and soak it in lukewarm water daily to aid in blood circulation which will ultimately dissolve/reabsorb the hematoma.

Note that reptiles take about 3X longer to heal than mammals, so don't expect to see immediate results. This will take a good amount of time to resolve.

Thank you for your reply, this helps he has had Baytril and it was beginning to swell more after the injection. I will continue with daily bathing and hopefully he will continue to make full recovery. Again thank you ?

 

[ZenHerper]

Well. Not too much to add.

I might at this point ask for an xray to make sure there is not something wrapped tightly around where the crack is. Or a staple/similar foreign object inside the flesh. Does this tort walk the floors frequently? That's not recommended for a number of reasons (they wrap up with or swallow non-food items; the floor is far too cold, even in warmer months of the year, for a reptile; accidents like being stepped on or kicked, or smashed with a door are common and heartbreaking).

I can't picture a true fracture holding up to normal exercise, but I suppose a hairline crack could develop a lymph pool in the foot.

It is concerning that you see warm water soaking causing more inflammation, not less. Something is preventing circulation back up from the foot.

Yeah, Baytril complicates things as it causes localized tissue necrosis at the point of injection.

Optimize the temperature and humidity in the habitat (see the care sheet in post #8 above)...keep s/him at an ambient around 26*C day and night so that immune and circulatory systems will run uninterrupted by cooling down overnight.

The kidneys and liver run very hard when antibiotics are used...hydration is vital. Ordinarily, long soaks in clean, warm water are used to support hydration (reptiles absorb water through their tail vents), but use your judgement. Perhaps more frequent shorter soaks throughout the day?

Start using a probiotic replacement product: the antibiotic therapy will strip out the beneficial/symbiotic bacterial cultures in the digestive organs. These critters are an important part of the animal's immune system.

 

[mark1]

you took your tortoise to the vet for a swollen leg , the leg got worse ,so it's probably something your vet did ??????? Hmmm ........... i got a wood turtle with sores like that on his legs and feet , with his toenails rotting off.... are you using a topical aside from the antibiotics ? a one time soak of that leg in a hydrogen peroxide , betadine mixture might be beneficial , after that clean with 2% chlorhexadine maybe keep some silver cream on it , it is anti bacterial , and will keep the sores on the joint from drying up and cracking open .....

imo an x-ray could tell you something ..... a blood test or a culture i seriously doubt would be helpful ..... it's pretty obvious this is a somewhat severe bacterial infection ...... as far as antibiotics , i've used amikacin for hard to cure infections , it's a potentially harmful antibiotic , but a bacterial infection out of control is beyond harmful ........ i'd stay in touch with the vet , try the one time peroxide betadine soak ......if he's eating i think you got a chance .....

couple experiences , one with world class dr.'s at a world class hospital , the cleveland clinic ...... i worked with a guy that cut his foot , let it go for a week , got infected , went to the clinic and was put on antibiotics , got worse , went back and was admitted..... eventually they removed his leg below the knee , before he left the clinic they removed his leg at the hip ........ he had every test/ procedure known to medicine , his bill was probably in the million dollar range , didn't make a difference .....

a friends dog had a swollen foot , took her to their vet , put her on antibiotics , her leg began to swell , they drove 200 miles to bring her to my dogs vet , the reason being is , short of ohio states vet clinic this vet clinic is the best equiped your going to find , the vets here teach at vet schools , do seminars worlwide , as good as dog vets get , every test you can think of was done before her leg was finally removed .......she had every test/ procedure available to veterinary medicine , cost was of no concern to this dogs owner , her bill was over 20,000 , didn't make a difference .....

my point , bacterial infections can be fatal with the best care available in the world ........... i'm betting your vet or the baytril had nothing to do with your tortoise not getting better ....