Huge intestinal blockage passed by rescued redfoot tortoise

[biochemnerd808]

This August we took in a female redfoot tortoise that had been kept in sub-optimal conditions. Among other things, her enclosure was COVERED in beyond gross amounts of dog hair and dryer lint.

She ate ok, and pooped and peed in small amounts, but she wasn't as active as I would have expected. Then, one warm day a few weeks after we got her, she pooped out HUGE amounts of dryer lint and dog hair. It was enough to fill a dixie cup. Gross gross gross.

I blogged about it here, because I think that a lot of tortoise owners need to know of the dangers of letting a tortoise roam freely in their house.

http://tortaddiction.blogspot.com/2013/10/why-tortoise-should-not-roam-your-house.html

Let me know if anything should be added to the blog post - I am mostly just thankful that our redfoot is healthy now... and she is MUCH more active, too!

 

[wellington]

Glad everything turned out okay and she's doing much better. Hopefully the ones thinking it's okay that their tort lives without and enclosure will see this and understand why it's not recommended. Thanks for sharing.

 

[TigsMom]

Very nice blog, I enjoyed reading several of your articles. Thank you for posting! Allegra is very lucky you rescued her! Very lucky indeed that she didn't die from the impaction.

 

[sibi]

What the heck caused this junk in her intestines to come out?

 

[mike taylor]

I would like to see a picture of the poop .

Sent from my C771 using TortForum mobile app

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

Oh my. Excellent share. Did you do soaks and that helped ease that stuff to expel. Thank goodness it is out, out, out. Wow.

 

[erica anne]

I would like to see a picture of the poop .

Sent from my C771 using TortForum mobile app

Ha ha! I was thinking the same thing. Glad I wasn't the only one lol.

 

[biochemnerd808]

Thanks, folks.

@sibi and @BeeBee, I started soaking her daily as soon as I got her. I fed her a varied diet of greens, fruit, and a little bit of animal protein, as outlined in RF care sheets. The only thing that was different the day the blockage came out was that the weather was 104 degrees - she walked around her outside enclosure a whole bunch and drank a lot. That must have helped to work it loose.

 

[Laura]

one of my sulcata rescues lived in a house and ate cat food.. his poop was runny and full of cat hair for about a week...

 

[ascott]

weather was 104 degrees - she walked around her outside enclosure a whole bunch and drank a lot.

Proper temp available to increase internal temp

Walked---mobility, well, it makes things mobile

Outside---mental and physical stimulation to motivate activity/exercise

Drank a lot--hydration...

Ahh...the basics are awesome

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

Excellent share information. Thanks Katie. Nice write up on your cool blog. The only thing, did you happen to take a picture of the icky to share so people can see the could have been dangerous and cost ya a big vet bill poop?
And thanks Angela, for the Cliff's Notes version. This is good education for others. Heed the warning, y'all!
Glad it is gone. Poor little tortoise, did not know better. Just walking along, nom nom nom ...

 

[Jacqui]

I can understand dog hair getting into her enclosure, but dryer lint?

 

[Yvonne G]

The enclosure might have been near the dryer vent. My dryer sits on the car port and there's dryer lint all over the place in there.

 

[thatrebecca]

Thanks for sharing this. My dryer vents out to an area in the back yard not too far from my one of my DT enclosures. I've sometimes worried about dryer lint blowing into the enclosure. This confirms my sense that I should keep the vents clean and check the area regularly.

 

[biochemnerd808]

Yep, absolutely, @ascott. I love the basics, too. Btw, when I said that she was outside any day above 75 degrees, she always had sun available, so her shell temp was closer to 90 degrees. But being really warm surely helped, and the walking and hydration, too. She had none of those in her previous home.

weather was 104 degrees - she walked around her outside enclosure a whole bunch and drank a lot.

Proper temp available to increase internal temp

Walked---mobility, well, it makes things mobile

Outside---mental and physical stimulation to motivate activity/exercise

Drank a lot--hydration...

Ahh...the basics are awesome

And... sorry to disappoint, but I didn't even think to take a picture of the blockage. I showed the dixie cup to my husband, who went into all kinds of gagging contortions over it, and then I tossed it. You'll have to take my word for it... *sigh* ... but I promise that I'm not exaggerating.

 

[ascott]

my husband, who went into all kinds of gagging contortions

I am not right some days....this really made me laugh...teeheee