White lungs on xray

[Lies]

Hello everyone,

My herman tortoise, Destiny, was breathing very loudly last Saturday. And she has had some 'mucus' in her eyes for a while. Not every day, but every now and then. I raised the temperatures in the terrarium and now I don't hear her so loud/ often.

But still we went to the vet today and they took an X-ray. The lungs were white on the xray instead of black. So she has something but the vet doesn't know what. There is no bubbly or runny nose, so no smear to test. She did not manage to open the beak for a swab. But she will contact an other vet to discus a plan.
Meanwhile she gave metacam (anti-inflammatory drug and painkiller) to give once a day.

She also recomended to give cat food for more vitamin A. What can I give instead? And how else I can help Destiny while waiting for the vet?

I am scarred as in May 2024 I lost my other tortoise while the vet said she was healthy (but no xrays where done at that time)

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

A shame that the vet didn't get a swab. If you want, you could post the x ray here to let our experienced members to take a look.

I will tag some people here.
@zovick @Yvonne G @Tom

 

[Tom]

Hello everyone,

My herman tortoise, Destiny, was breathing very loudly last Saturday. And she has had some 'mucus' in her eyes for a while. Not every day, but every now and then. I raised the temperatures in the terrarium and now I don't hear her so loud/ often.

But still we went to the vet today and they took an X-ray. The lungs were white on the xray instead of black. So she has something but the vet doesn't know what. There is no bubbly or runny nose, so no smear to test. She did not manage to open the beak for a swab. But she will contact an other vet to discus a plan.
Meanwhile she gave metacam (anti-inflammatory drug and painkiller) to give once a day.

She also recomended to give cat food for more vitamin A. What can I give instead? And how else I can help Destiny while waiting for the vet?

I am scarred as in May 2024 I lost my other tortoise while the vet said she was healthy (but no xrays where done at that time)

Be aware that vets don't know much about tortoises. There is not a semester on torts care in vet school. They learn tortoise care from the same wrong sources as everyone else.

I would NOT give cat food to a hermann's tortoise intentionally. That makes no sense. Everything tortoises eat is loaded with vitamin A. This is a sign of a vet that doesn't know tortoises. Vitamin A deficiency is a common malady in captive box turtles and sometimes aquatic turtles. Vitamin A deficiency is rarely seen in a tortoise because of their vitamin A heavy diet.

I have no idea why your tortoises lungs would show up opaque on a radio graph, but cat food is not the cure, of that I can assure you.

Let's see if we can spot problems and offer solutions:
What substrate do you use? Is it kept damp?
What do you typically feed your tortoise?
How often do you soak your tortoise?
What size and type enclosure?

 

[Lies]

Thank you guys for replying.
I did not get the xrays, I will ask the vet tomorrow if it is possible to get them. Destiny was not taking the head out, I think the travelling to the vet and the appointment took too long.

@Tom
I don't follow this advice but I didnot find a vet with different aproach yet. All of them that I visit have the same ideas.

To answer your questions.
What substrate do you use?
I use coco and orchid bark

Is it kept damp?
It is kept damp, Humidity between 60 - 80%

What do you typically feed your tortoise?
Endive, lamb's lettuce, dandelion, other weeds, Arcadia Earth Pro Optimised 52, nutrazu 2 or 3 times a week.

How often do you soak your tortoise?
I try to do daily but sometimes it is not possible. But she will get soaked at least 2 times a week.

What size and type enclosure?
120×40×60 inside, outside 360x160
She is still inside as the weather is still cold and wet. But a few days when we had nice weather I put her for some time outside.

 

[Yvonne G]

Vets usually email a copy of the x-ray to you if you ask.

 

[zovick]

Hello everyone,

My herman tortoise, Destiny, was breathing very loudly last Saturday. And she has had some 'mucus' in her eyes for a while. Not every day, but every now and then. I raised the temperatures in the terrarium and now I don't hear her so loud/ often.

But still we went to the vet today and they took an X-ray. The lungs were white on the xray instead of black. So she has something but the vet doesn't know what. There is no bubbly or runny nose, so no smear to test. She did not manage to open the beak for a swab. But she will contact an other vet to discus a plan.
Meanwhile she gave metacam (anti-inflammatory drug and painkiller) to give once a day.

She also recomended to give cat food for more vitamin A. What can I give instead? And how else I can help Destiny while waiting for the vet?

I am scarred as in May 2024 I lost my other tortoise while the vet said she was healthy (but no xrays where done at that time)

White (radiopaque) lungs may be a sign of pneumonia or some other infection, scar tissue, fluid build-up (edema), or even scar tissue. It is definitely not a normal condition.

Your tortoise most likely needs to have a series of injections with ceftazidime to treat this condition. Dosage is 20 mg per kilo and it is given every other day for severe infections and every three days for less severe infections until 5-6 doses have been administered.

Good luck with your tortoise.

 

[Lies]

The vet called today, she talked with 2 other vets and they decided to give Destiny the Niflor injections tomorrow.

She send me also the xrays

 

[Maggie3fan]

Darn Zovick! I was gonna say pneumonia. My lungs did that.

 

[MaNaAk]

Hello everyone,

My herman tortoise, Destiny, was breathing very loudly last Saturday. And she has had some 'mucus' in her eyes for a while. Not every day, but every now and then. I raised the temperatures in the terrarium and now I don't hear her so loud/ often.

But still we went to the vet today and they took an X-ray. The lungs were white on the xray instead of black. So she has something but the vet doesn't know what. There is no bubbly or runny nose, so no smear to test. She did not manage to open the beak for a swab. But she will contact an other vet to discus a plan.
Meanwhile she gave metacam (anti-inflammatory drug and painkiller) to give once a day.

She also recomended to give cat food for more vitamin A. What can I give instead? And how else I can help Destiny while waiting for the vet?

I am scarred as in May 2024 I lost my other tortoise while the vet said she was healthy (but no xrays where done at that time)

Dear @Lies,

I can just imagine you must be feeling as I lost Daisy in 2022. She was being treated for TB and when she stopped eating I decided it was time to have her put to sleep. This is a rare condition in tortoises but Daisy contracted it from a fox attack in 2020. It manifested itself in lumps at first before Daisy started streaming from the nostrils and her eyes were bulging. You need to separate your little one from any other tortoises and I was told to wear gloves when handling Daisy. Keep with the soaking and if your little one has this condition she will need antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication. Do not cat food and make sure that your vet specialises in exotics. Also don't forget that recovery in tortoises is slow and if you can pinpoint anything that may have happened to your little one at about a year prior to the first symptoms just as I did with Daisy it could help.

Hugs

Natrah