Traumatic Day - Bladder Stone

[OliveW]

I usually feed him romaine, green leaf and dandelions and occasionally give red leaf and raddichio. I have chicory, timothy, alfalfa, orchard, fescue, bermuda growing in the grazing areas. I was told to keep away from kale, mazuri, and the usual stuff like spinach. Anything with high calcium, I'm still learning what everything can be lol. He's also needs at least 1 bath a week now. They told me since he had a stone he's prone to get it again so I have to minimize the chances of him getting it again. He had to live in the kitchen for 10 weeks since our garage is to full and cleaning poo and pee every day wasn't any fun. Plus once a week for 12 weeks he got 2 shots.

A 55 pound tortoise living in your kitchen for 10 weeks takes some serious commitment. 😂

My sully is probably about 9 lbs now, and he passed a stone about half the size of yours, so it's pretty impressive for his size. 😮

I've never fed spinach or kale. Our "grazing area" is anywhere on our property (8 acres) that he wants to wander. It's all Florida weeds. He does ignore certain things and aggressively eats others. I spend weeks looking up every weed that he chooses on phone apps. It was exhausting. There are literally hundreds of different weeds. I now just leave it up to him what to eat when he's grazing.

Organic Timothy hay came this evening, from the Prime driver, so he'll be trying it tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. I'm going to try soaking it first.

Tortimer gets a soak daily. I just moved up his time from 30 minutes to 60 minutes. We've had him four months and he's only missed a soak three days during that time. I even soaked him when I had covid. LOL He's really used to it, and KNOWS when he's getting put in a soak and tries to run from me. But once he's in the water, he just relaxes and chills. He doesn't even bother trying to climb out anymore.

I'm super diligent about soaking him due to his condition when we first got him. As much as he drank and self soaked, I feel like he was not far from complete dehydration. I had thought about cutting him back to three times a week during the winter months, but that idea is completely out the window after this bladder stone. Daily soaks, it is.

 

[Maggie3fan]

My sully had surgery a couple months ago from a stone. My vet told me not to give him any mizuri and stay away from stuff that had a lot of calcium in it. I was told he could have it again in the future. Which I pray not, we it was over 3k for the surgery. View attachment 351346View attachment 351345

That looks like Bob's stone...only the "vet" took off his whole plastron, Bob died from the surgery

 

[Warren]

My sully had surgery a couple months ago from a stone. My vet told me not to give him any mizuri and stay away from stuff that had a lot of calcium in it. I was told he could have it again in the future. Which I pray not, we it was over 3k for the surgery. View attachment 351346View attachment 351345

How old and how much does it weigh. Just can't picture how big the wound is without seeing the full plastron, I can see it must be big before the size of the stone. I sure it was a shock to pay that amount, but knowing that your Tortoise is well and alive makes it all worth it! In March, I had to put out $8100.00 for my 2 Dogs. They had to see an Orthadontal Dentist for Surgery to remove their teeth. One dog is 16yrs. old, they removed all 42 teeth. The other dog is 13 yrs. old, they removed her teeth but left her with 10 teeth. It could of been worse, they gave me an estimate of $8000.00 to $12000,00. So at $ 8100.00, I feel like I saved some money. They could of came back and said $12000.00 and I would have had to pay it. Worth the money just to see my dogs happy again without being in pain and that bad smell and taste in their mouths.

 

[ryan57]

First thing I would change is never letting him sleep in that low of temps. I am assuming the pic in your avatar is of a sully that is named Tortimer. They should be in a heated night box set at 80 not lower.
I would also start giving him some mazuri and cactus even hay. Unless your yard was planted with him in mind only grazing to me isn't enough. I have leopards who graze all summer but I still give mazuri and a mix of greens every so often as my yard was not planted with all the weeds, flowers, leaves they would need to make a proper varied diet.

I agree about the Mazuri, etc. Also, Olive, I believe that you did not raise Tortimer from a hatchling so you may have inherited the remnants of the previous keeper feeding the wrong things and beginning stones. I was so shocked to see your post and happy it ended up ok.

 

[OliveW]

I agree about the Mazuri, etc. Also, Olive, I believe that you did not raise Tortimer from a hatchling so you may have inherited the remnants of the previous keeper feeding the wrong things and beginning stones. I was so shocked to see your post and happy it ended up ok.

Thank you! 🥰

Going through old bladder stone threads here, everyone seems to save and photograph their stones. Tortimer's in the trash that went outside yesterday. I'm half tempted to retrieve it just for a photo session now that my boy is back to normal and happy.

I really want to believe that this stone was pre-existing, and maybe even all my obsessive soaking helped him with the ability to pass it. It was SO BIG. I just can't seem to find any information how how fast they form and grow that large. It seems like the great unknown.

 

[OliveW]

Tortimer will not touch hay, wet or dry. He just pouts. After two hours of the battle of will (which he will always win) we took him out to graze on what he likes.

Even though I've already purchased this, and two small bags of Mazuri, I think I'm going back to the way I was doing things. Tom originally told me that the safest and healthiest thing for him was to have 90% to 100% of his diet from grazing on this huge selection of Florida grasses and weeds.

I ordered all this commercial food in a panic. I'm going to move forward on the premise that his bladder stone was present when we got him four months ago. He was very dehydrated at that time, so it would be no surprise. I never found info on how fast they grow, but this thing was gigantic and had to be there for quite some time.

Thanks to everyone for being supportive. 😘