- Joined
- Feb 12, 2013
- Messages
- 22
After a sudden, or so it seems, bout of pneumonia my Purdy, see avatar, has passed away. She started a little but really sunday morning with strange breathing behavior, mouth/head extending up and back and trying to claw at her mouth. Thought she had swallowed something bad. Brought to special vet and by then she was barely responsive except for the strange head movement. He gave shot and then told me how to setup sick tank in quiet zone and leave her be as much as possible. Last night I check in and made sure the towel was moist for humidity and the heat stayed at right temp. I even snuck in some food, just in case. She was unresponsive stil but I swear she had turned around a little. But this morning, she was passed on. She(I will just always call her a she), was a great baby from a great breeder who has been nice, I will not fault him in anyway. My vet says many things could compound together to just cause her immune system to reduce and any bacteria she could have come into contact with would now be deadly like this. She was only 4ish mos old. I knew something bad the gentle way he talked to me yesterday that it was bad. But I had hope. I just feel so guilty right now. And angry, that other people(pet stores, etc) can do whatever and not care as much can keep a hatchling alive. I was so scared to raise a hatchling and ignored good advice to get an older tort because I love the leopard tort and they really are hard to find past a few years old unless you pay a ton of money for what people think you are going to breed anyway. I just feel really bad right now. I didn't want to go online and share this because I have feelings of shame, like I killed her. But then after searching to find others who have gone through this, I didn't find what I was looking for. So maybe others will find me. Two weeks ago Purdy was 70g and doing well. We volunteer at the vet's, he is a wildlife center actually, so we see them a lot. I know when he said she was healthy 2 weeks ago, she was. Yesterday she had lost 5g and really not well. My advice, any change get the tort to vet immediately. But still I am not sure what else I could have done. I know I missed something, but what? I have posted about her in the past, even a video of her eating. She was awesome, just so awesome. I will keep her on my avatar as respect for her.
Thank you to anyone who has read this. There are so many great people on here!
Thank you to anyone who has read this. There are so many great people on here!