Varied diet caused impaction

[J.P.]

I feed a varied diet to my torts but my exotic vet's recent patient made me think twice. The attached top photo shows the xray of urates on a sulcata that was fed a varied diet. The bottom photo shows the blockage is almost gone after a few weeks on all grass diet. My vet told me that the best diet for tortoises is grass. I am torn between professional advice and common knowledge that a varied diet is good....

The skeptic in me makes me think there are other underlying causes other than non-grass food. like dehydration, wrong P to Ca ratio, wrong husbandry, etc...but when i asked the vet what caused the urates the answer was do not feed anything but grass...

 

[Yvonne G]

Sorry, but I'm going to have to disagree with your vet. Is grass a good diet for a grass-eating tortoise? YES!!! But are urates caused by diet? NO! Urates are common and normal and natural. HARDENED urates is another matter entirely, and this problem is caused by the tortoise not being hydrated, not by what he eats.

 

[leigti]

Your instincts sound right. Get a different vet.

 

[Jodie]

I agree the vet is wrong. Dehydration causes urates.

 

[Tom]

If this vet was correct then EVERY sulcata alive would have this medical problem because I don't know of a single wild or captive one that eats nothing but grass every day, all day, all year. It just doesn't happen.

Can you get more info about this case, so that we may learn?

What size is this tortoise?
What foods was it typically fed?
What was its water source and how often was it soaked?