Sorry if I'm not entirely coherent. I'm panicking and trying to stay calm.
My redfoot tortoise is a rescue, had a lot of health problems in the beginning but has been doing well for a while now.
Today (in the past hour) I took him out for a soak and noticed his neck/leg area was puffy. He hadn't been moving around much today so I was getting worried, but he's often pretty sedentary after a big meal so I put it in the back of my mind.
The puffiness is more noticeable on one side but he appears to be puffy on both sides. His neck itself is slightly distended (could be my imagination) but his breathing is fine. He had MANY RIs when I first got him and he's not displaying the same symptoms, but I'm not ruling it out.
Once I took him out his personality returned to normal, he's zipping around and racing to the kitchen for food although I'm too afraid to give him any. I put him in his temp enclosure in case whatever's causing this is an issue with his enclosure. The puffiness went down a bit after the soaks (I gave him 3) but it's still there. His last poop was about 2-3 days ago. It's definitely not obesity unless he can gain a lot of weight overnight, because he looked completely fine yesterday.
One thing that could be causing this is I fed him papaya yesterday. He loves papaya but I noticed the last time I fed him papaya he was very lethargic the day after as well. I didn't check him because he tends to not move around much after eating big meals, I didn't think anything was amiss. Now I'm concerned that he may be allergic to papaya or something and this is what happens...
I'm taking him to the vet tomorrow. It's too late to schedule an appointment now and it'll be the weekend, but there's an emergency vet relatively nearby that treats tortoises so I'll take him there first thing in the morning. I'm worried sick.
I'm sorry for the photos not being the best. He wouldn't stop moving around and it was difficult to see the puffiness without holding him up. The puffiness only seems to be affecting his arms, not his legs.
My redfoot tortoise is a rescue, had a lot of health problems in the beginning but has been doing well for a while now.
Today (in the past hour) I took him out for a soak and noticed his neck/leg area was puffy. He hadn't been moving around much today so I was getting worried, but he's often pretty sedentary after a big meal so I put it in the back of my mind.
The puffiness is more noticeable on one side but he appears to be puffy on both sides. His neck itself is slightly distended (could be my imagination) but his breathing is fine. He had MANY RIs when I first got him and he's not displaying the same symptoms, but I'm not ruling it out.
Once I took him out his personality returned to normal, he's zipping around and racing to the kitchen for food although I'm too afraid to give him any. I put him in his temp enclosure in case whatever's causing this is an issue with his enclosure. The puffiness went down a bit after the soaks (I gave him 3) but it's still there. His last poop was about 2-3 days ago. It's definitely not obesity unless he can gain a lot of weight overnight, because he looked completely fine yesterday.
One thing that could be causing this is I fed him papaya yesterday. He loves papaya but I noticed the last time I fed him papaya he was very lethargic the day after as well. I didn't check him because he tends to not move around much after eating big meals, I didn't think anything was amiss. Now I'm concerned that he may be allergic to papaya or something and this is what happens...
I'm taking him to the vet tomorrow. It's too late to schedule an appointment now and it'll be the weekend, but there's an emergency vet relatively nearby that treats tortoises so I'll take him there first thing in the morning. I'm worried sick.
I'm sorry for the photos not being the best. He wouldn't stop moving around and it was difficult to see the puffiness without holding him up. The puffiness only seems to be affecting his arms, not his legs.
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