Looks like a Blind DT

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Hello all I adopted several baby DT's several months ago and one of them was a quarter of the size of the rest of them, he was believed to not have eyes and to be blind. Well we have discovered eyes with the help of a anitbiotic-steroid from our tort vet yet it appears that the eyes are doing him little good, he is so small that I have to feed him juice only, and he keeps looking straight up and kind of walking on 3's and flipping himself over for a couple weeks now he flips himself over at least 3 times a day in a 24hr period, the vet said he didn't know about that or what it could be but that he definetely has some issues. I am willing and have done everything I can for the little guy, I put dandelion in front of his eyes today we moved our hand close to his eyes, he never blinked he appears in his cage to walk in circles, I truly am saddened as he has eye balls but I think he is truly blind. Has anyone else had any experiences like this or seen any info as I have searched the internet and came up empty handed.

 

[RTfanatic]

Have you seen him eat anything by himself? They have a sense of smell, but probably not very good as it seems they almost have to touch their noses to what they are smelling, often for a couple of seconds before deciding if they want to take a bite. Probably would have been dead already in the wild, as it doesn't have the ability to spot a bush or weeds to hide under...

 

[Laura]

you say he is getting fed juice.. if he can smell it and he is drinking it, try soaking the dreens in the juice and see if he gets the idea. if he ever opens his mouth for whatever reason.. try to stick a green in there. he might need to be 'trained' to eat. if not,, he wont survive.. or maybe the vet can insert a feeding tube??

 

[Yvonne G]

Well, folks...this reminds me of another story:

My sister head-starts all of the hatchling rescues that come through the Rescue. She recently moved up to Oregon, and is having trouble finding the same kind of substrate she had been using here in Calif. So she made a mistake and bought a bag of mulch from the nursery. After a few days her little hatchling sulcata had swollen eyes. She found out the mulch was pine mulch and the oils in the mulch had burned the corneas. The vet gave her eye medication and they thought the eyes would probably never see again. This little sulcata hatchling that she was supposedly head-starting for me to adopt out, is now about 4 years old, close to 8lbs, and is still not seeing very well. But he sees well enough to eat.

She also has a blind ornate box turtle. They are a little easier to feed, though, because they open their mouth to bite you when you mess with them. Her little box turtle is named Tweezer because she has to hold his food in the tweezers to hand feed him. She's been feeding him this way for 3 or 4 years now. He's almost full grown.

Desert tortoises are very easy to work with. You might have to hand feed this little guy for quite a while until he gets the idea of how to eat on his own. Did your vet give you the small tube of Terramycin for the eyes? This is truly a miracle drug. I once had a box turtle with frost bitten eyes. You could see the scar tissue on the eyeball. After a year of using this ointment the eyes are just fine.

Yvonne

 

[Jentortmom]

Could it be lighting?? I have also seen different turtles and tortoises that have been trained to eat. I know my two little guys as soon as I put the food down no matter where they are, hiding or out they immediatly come to there food dish. I would do like Yvonne said and try the eye meds.

 

[purpod]

Hiya RacingR ~

Well, I do not have much to add, between Yvonnes suggestion of continuous use of the ointment and Laura's idea of 'juicing' his greens, I'd say they have things as covered as I can imagine ~

'Cept, of course, prayers; and that is an area I happen to be good at, and so know that you two will be in mine ~

Blessings,
Purpod

 

[[email protected]]

Thank you all for all the responses yes he eats juice I juice his greens or give him the naked green machine juice he does not see it he feels it and then he puts his head down I have set him on the plate away from it and he tried to put his head down and eat the plate he has no clue its not there then I'll move him into it and I can see him drink. He does open his mouth here and there I recently have put in a few peices of dandelion in his mouth but he is not getting the hang of eating and took him back to vet this week the vet says he would be dead if it weren't for me and I still feel horrible for the little guy, they said its good I got his eyes open but that they are so small he can't see with scope thing whether he is blind or not cause they eyes are too small. The ointment I was given was vetropolycin HC someone else suggested something else I will try and search for it online or if anyone knows where I can get some please let me know anything else I forgot to answer or any other suggestions are always welcome! Thanks for the support.
Marisa

 

[Yvonne G]

It's called terramycin opthalmic antibiotic ointment and is made by Pfizer.

Yvonne

 

[wuthevet]

Racingrisa,

It sounds like it might have a neurological problem. You might want a second opinion from a specialize vet. Not any normal vet can treat this problem. The circling is a classical example of this. The eye is jut the tip of the problem.

BTW im a vet student

 

[[email protected]]

Well he is a specialist not just any old vet, so that is why I was trusting in his diagnosis. She-it is still about the same no real change in size, etc Still feeding juice, it is not flipping over as much only about once a day or two now instead of a couple times a day!
Oh and what would you think another vet would prescribe different medication or something?

Thanks

Racingrisa,

It sounds like it might have a neurological problem. You might want a second opinion from a specialize vet. Not any normal vet can treat this problem. The circling is a classical example of this. The eye is jut the tip of the problem.

BTW im a vet student

 

[evin]

it couldnt hurt to take him to another ver, well it might hurt your wallet a bit but who knows you dont want to look back and say i wonder what couldve happend if i took him to another vet

 

[purpod]

Continued blessings ~
Purpod

 

[terryo]

Have you tried Mazuri? My friend had a rescue boxie with no eyes (hit by a car). They only thing he would eat was Mazuri. If she puts a dish out with the Mazuri, all her tortoise guys come running from whereever they are. She said it has a distinctive odor.

 

[spikethebest]

how is this little tortoise doing? its been awhile..can you update us?

 

[tortoiselady528]

Not sure how your tort is doing, but just wanted to add in a little theory.
There is a critical period once animals are born, or in a tortoises case hatched. If the tortoise didn't have his eye sight during this critical period (the first 8 weeks of life) he isn't accustome to using them. In the study that was conducted on kittens, kittens who had patches put on an eye and taken off after eight weeks had significant sight problems even years down the road.
Just thought I would throw that in there as a what if?
Good luck!