Hi… I’m new to this forum and spent most of the day yesterday on various sites as well as this forum after my leopard tortoise started to show signs of illness. Kamei didn’t make it and I’m still shattered by that but I wanted to come on here today to possibly help others in the future. I took Kamei into what was supposedly a specialty animal vet and was told this doctor knew about reptiles/torts/turtles, etc… they didn’t advertise this which probably should have been my first clue but I was so desperate and had been calling all morning to various animal hospitals. Kamei had not eaten the night before when is very unlike him and seemed to have regurgitated blood and mucous so I knew it was very serious. This vet prescribed an antibiotic for him and sent us home.. no x rays were done, no bloodwork’s was done and she didn’t witness him walking or trying to walk. I found this out at check out and when I questioned these things, she had already left for lunch. I took Kamei home and watched him for the next couple of hours and he started to decline rapidly. No longer able to walk, pushing backwards, elongating his neck, bubbles forming around his nostrils, etc. I took him in to a 24hr Access hospital who inserted an IV into his bone under his shell (below his neck) because they could not insert into his neck as by then he wasn’t elongating his neck. He was shutting down very quickly and after 3 hours on the IV, the vet told me she would humanely euthanize him if she were me. Kamei is gone now and I am agonizing about my care decisions… I should have went directly to Access but I didn’t… I should have went directly to Access after the initial vet… I just waited for that vet to return to my which didn’t happen until 3:30 and by then it was probably too late… so for you amazing tortoise owners…. Pls use my mistakes as a lesson. Just go straight to an emergency big facility hospital… I feel like Kamei would still be here today if it weren’t for my bad decisions.