3 at the Vet

On Monday, I took two tortoises and a beardie to the vet. It's because I had paid off my rescue credit card on Saturday! Ha! A $0 balance must mean a vet visit! 

Lolly had her jaw bitten by grumpy Loner Leo who managed to sneak into her tortoise box. It ended up being okay and Dr Folland thinks her runny nose is because her eyes are so misshapen that they drain onto her face & nose. She was an easy visit-- except for her pooping all over. 

Gramps has been acting very lethargic and sickly lately. During his physical examination, Dr F found a mass in Gramps' belly that felt like a bubble or blister with a hard center. When he aspirated the lump with a needle, he immediately pulled out black fluid (bile) and then nothing else. Both bad signs. For some reason, Gramps' gall bladder is HUGE. It's encapsulated in a bile filled bubble. Sadly Gramps' mouth is a mess too-- he has very few teeth and mostly exposed jaw bone because his lower jaw is so messed up.

Gramps is old and in poor health. We are giving him a week of force feeding to see if his gallbladder will empty itself, and, if not, I believe we will choose to let him be done. :( He's not eating on his own and he's been super stressed and more sickly since his gallbladder was messed with. Also bad signs. In the past two days, he has hidden in his tank under his blankies or under the paper towels. His colors are poor and he seems in pain. Poor baby. I wish I could make up for his poor life, but 7+ years is a long time to be neglected.

Red is a 5 year old sulcata that weighs 3 pounds (and she lost weigh in the last month). Her buddy Bunsen (who just went to a new home in St George, Utah) is also 5 and weighs over 13 pounds. He eats & drinks & poops & motors around without stopping. Red, on the other hand, doesn't move. She's been like a pet rock. I gave her a month of good heat, lots of sunshine, the offer of food all the time, and there was no change. Her nose still drips and she still sleeps all the time. That's why I took her to the vet.

We didn't do anything with Red on Monday, but she's at the vet all day today. They will sedate her, draw blood, and take an x-ray. Hopefully the blood work & x-ray will show us what is wrong with her. I'm not overly hopeful since she's not grown at all since I got her two months ago (you can see their new growth easily on their bellies). I think whatever is wrong with her is serious and I'm anxious to hear if Dr Folland finds anything obvious.

Baby Lolly

Yesterday, I adopted a baby red foot tortoise who is half blind. I've named her "Lolly" or "Baby Lolly." She's a doll, but has a genetic defect that made her eyes not work well. Poor thing! She eats and moves around great, but will always need special care to help get to her food, etc. 

Our Yearly Tortoise Checkup

Spring means "Tortoise Checkups" and so I made an appointment to take all 5 in today. And then Junior went along to get his second Calcitonin shot. It took two laundry baskets to transport them all. Thankfully, my daughter went along with me to carry one of the baskets. 

Here's a line of torts-- Sissy (box turtle but honorary tortoise) at the top, then Leo the Russian, Curly Q the desert tortoise, and Otis the cherry head (red foot) tortoise at the end. 

All of them got weighed and checked. Otis & Leo & Sissy got beak trims.

Leo took some persuasion to come out of his shell so we could trim his beak. He was not thrilled. See?

Otis wanted to mount all the other tortoises and we had to keep pulling him off of them.

Curly Q peed all over the counter & floor & Dr Folland's tie. I told him he should keep a backup tie in his office on days I come. The last visit with Norman started with Norman projectile pooping onto his tie too. ;)

Sissy got a few dead spots of shell scraped off and we checked her nails. She's missing most of her toe nails on her front feet. And she obviously got bit by a dog at some point in her life too. She's a very sweet box turtle. I don't normally like box turtles, but I really like her. She fits in the zoo well.

Georgie has tripled her weight since last year. She's my leopard tortoise who stayed in the laundry basket for most of the visit. She is not social and doesn't like to interact with anyone. I didn't even get a picture of her.

Junior got his second Calcitonin injection which will help pull calcium back into his bones. I watched him poop out urate pieces this morning but no fecal matter. He still has a lump in his belly, but it is actually smaller and on the opposite side of his belly than it was before. So strange! He's a lot more alert and aware than he was before. But his bones are still rubber. He'll have a long road to recovery.

The vet's staff blocked out a whole hour for me so we could get everyone checked in, examined, and treated. We stayed right on time. It was great!

While it was expensive to have them all checked (just over $500 for all 5 & the shot), it's important to me to keep my regulars updated in the vet's system. They become established clients and we can track weights and such.

Thomas, rescue 156

Today I picked up this little red foot tortoise. He's probably 3 or so years old. 

Poor little guy's shell is SO messed up! I've never seen such bad pyramiding. His shell should be smooth with no bumps. He's practically a Koopa turtle from Mario Bros! 

He's outside in the sunshine right now. Thank goodness for unseasonably warm days. He had a hard boiled egg and some greens and some pellets. He's pooped a ton and is super curious about his new home. 

I'm hoping that his shell will even out with a good diet and good habitat, but I suspect that he will always be "specially" shaped.