Tender/sore scute

[greenighs]

Gave Jetta a bath today, and noticed after the initial soaking that he had a whitish spot on his rear-most scute. After I used a very soft complexion brush on it (the kind you use on an infant), I could tell it was tender or sore for the poor fella. I put some antibiotic ointment on it, gave him a treat of some flowers, and he scooted off. My question is, should I make a vet appointment for this, or is it a routine first aid kind of thing?

His health and energy level otherwise is pretty darn good. You can see in this video, especially the end, how energetic and robust he is. He does laps around my entire back yard all day, every day, basking in his favorite spots in a systematic rotation on a schedule of his own meticulous devising.

Background and general blahblahblah: Diet is wild, broad-leafed weeds including (bristly oxtongue leaves and flowers, plaintain, various grasses), mustard greens, dandelion greens, cactus pads, radicchio, endive, and rose petals. I sprinkle calcium/vitamin D powder on his food every other day. He has a pan of fresh water, cleaned out daily, and also gets a good soaking at least once a week. He gets sunshine all day, every day, and has heated and unheated hides.

I have no idea how old he is. He came out of hibernation and dug himself into my yard a month ago, and his owners (I eventually found them and they let me keep him) had adopted him as a grown tortoise. Under their care, he had a vet visit annually, I intend to keep up that practice with the same vet. Is this the time for that visit?

 

[greenighs]

I made a vet appointment for tomorrow after all. I figure, you can't be too careful.

 

[Yvonne G]

If you look on either side of the area you're talking about, you can see a thin line of new growth. But that line stops at that last scute and that scute seems to tuck under along with the scute above the tail, tucking under into the other one. Then the new growth thin line shows up again on the other side. It's almost as if that bottom section right above the tail has been pushed up.

I don't know what to tell you other than it doesn't look normal.

 

[greenighs]

If you look on either side of the area you're talking about, you can see a thin line of new growth. But that line stops at that last scute and that scute seems to tuck under along with the scute above the tail, tucking under into the other one. Then the new growth thin line shows up again on the other side. It's almost as if that bottom section right above the tail has been pushed up.

I don't know what to tell you other than it doesn't look normal.

Yes, like it's attached and shouldn't be. The doctor will tell me what the deal is. We're going tomorrow morning.

 

[Kori5]

Vitamin D shouldn't be used every other day. Pure calcium from cuttlebone every other day is ok. But I give vitamins every two weeks. That's what I was told . It has nothing to do with the subject but I think it is important.

 

[greenighs]

The vet said he thinks Jetta had been dropped on this rear end in the past, thus the odd shape of the scutes back there. He has no idea what could have caused the current injury, and I don't either. I just have to keep the wound clean by cleansing it every other day, applying Betadine and Neosporin on alternate days. He also told me to keep the healing tissue out of the sun so it won't get sunburned, so I'm covering it with a bandaid.

Here is Jetta at the vet:

Is it just me or does he have some crazy long legs for a Russian?

And back home afterwards:

 

[greenighs]

Treatment going well, although he hates me for handling him so much. Under the Bandaid, there's a bit of gauze pad with Neosporin on it, to cover more of the healing tissue area and protect it from the sun.