Super Sick Mac ~ Drooling and Swelling

AnimalLady

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Sorry i've been MIA, have lots going on... in the midst of all of this Mac gets sick.

Mac hasnt been eating for about 3 weeks. I check him daily and soak him. Thursday I went to soak and check him and noticed he couldnt really move and he was swollen. His armpit area and the area by where his back legs go into the shell (im not sure what its called). I started to up his soaks and moved him inside. Made an appt to see the vet on Saturday. Got home on Friday and towards the evening Mac started drooling, still cant move. Went to the vet on Saturday. She told me that she is unsure of exactly whats wrong with him. She told me she thinks it has to do with our messed up winter, cold, then hot, then cold. She said that it could have caused stress and made this illness surface. She wanted to take blood but said that he was dehydrated and it would be very difficult. She said that I should start soaking him 2 times a day with a 50/50 ratio of water and pedialite. She administered fluids and vitamin b, I told her NO VITAMIN A, and she told me that she wasnt going to give any but the main problem with that is that its given in too high dose which then gives the tort vitamin a poisoning..I mentioned the baby food soaks to her and she said she hadnt heard of that but that it made sense. I'm to bring him back in 2 days if I see no difference. She mentioned xrays, but will that really do anything? She opened his mouth to take a look and there wasnt any mucus in there, and said that was good? He seems awfully drooly now though. When soaking yesterday he kept making noises that I *think* were sneezing but im not sure. He drooled more after the soak too... i'm worried about my guy :(

Mac is inside now. I have him in a plastic container with a heat light set up at one end, getting temps of 92ish there, in the middle (where his hide is) its 84ish and at the other end it is 75. I soaked him with the pedialite and then with just water. He is moving around a little more and the swelling has decreased, only swelling is in the back now but he still looks bad. Wont touch his food and just seems generally sick.

I just ordered Terramycin for next day delivery so i think i'm going to try that.

Do you all have any thoughts or ideas or anything else I should be doing?

I attached 2 pix, the firs is Mac's hospital bed and the second is Mac just looking all sad.
 

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AnimalLady

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I checked his enclosure up and down, looking to see if something blew in with the wind, nope nothing. a bite is possible. my husband thinks he got bit by something :\
 

Pearly

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Check for snake fang marks, or maybe a spider? Get a very good light and magnifying glass, look at every square inch of his fleshy parts, anything unusual, anything that shouldn't be there? thorns, foreign object, wound, pimple? I hope you figure it out soon. Hang in there
 

AnimalLady

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I'm going to try checking him out with a magnifying glass, there are no puncture wounds or anything even weird looking, well, not to the naked eye that is. I'm really hoping for the best here... if he is still like this by Saturday, i'm probably going to take him back to the vet.
 

Randi

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I had a lizard "drool", and I found out that he was blocked and impacted. His belly touched the floor and was swollen. I have attached a picture. I rescued this lizard and on the first night I got this picture. Please ignore the gravel as that was how he was given to me late one evening, and the gravel was removed the next day. I wonder if tortoises will exhibit similar symptoms. 2016-02-29_12.11.13.jpg
 

AnimalLady

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I'm not sure at all, and now i'm questioning if I should have asked for the xrays on Saturday when we went.
 

Randi

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I cannot say that it's impaction causing your problem but this leopard gecko drooled until he started passing the gravel and sand he was kept on. A man told me this leopard gecko bit him when he attempted to handle him after thirteen years of leaving him alone. He said he was going to euthanize him so I paid him to keep him alive. He dropped him off to me later that day. His tank had mold, he was on gravel and sand. I saw him drool and took a picture so I could show the vet. I took him to the vet the next day. We did an x-ray before doing any blood work. He was impacted. He also refused to eat for months - I'm assuming this would be because he constantly felt full and uncomfortable. I syringe fed and used a drop or two of mineral oil every so often to help lubricate his insides. It took weeks for him to be able to excrete any waste and it would come out in little drops. He also would "regurgitate" (in quotations because I'm not sure what it was) some food if he ate. I'm assuming this is because he didn't have any room for it. Long story short, it took this guy a year before his belly started to reduce in size and before he ate and excreted waste successfully on his own. He also finally started becoming active and started to walk properly. I kept monitoring his impaction by the use of x-rays every few months. I had him for two years until I found his forever home. He was over 15 years old at that time and he's still doing great.

As I said, this is not a tortoise and I don't know if they would exhibit something similar for impaction. My only other assumption would be poisoning by eating something that was unsafe. Is your tortoise popping and urinating? Is it alert? Will it retract limbs when touched? Will it retract it's head if you move your hand towards it?

I have read threads where various body parts will swell due to gout and kidney function problems. If I were you, I'd do a full panel of blood work and an x-ray. I hope that none of this scares you as the intention is to be as informative as possible. I'm not a vet - these are things that are coming to mind as I read this thread. I'm sorry that you're going through this and hopefully you can determine the cause. Best of luck to you and yours.
 
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Randi

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Oh my god. I'm so sorry. :( I'm so so sorry for your loss. I hope the memories you two made together can provide some comfort and peace. Rest in peace, Mac. :<3::tort:

If you are interested in finding out what caused his death (I know this will be hard and I'm sorry for suggesting it), consider bringing his body to the vet and having them figure out what caused it by performing a post mortem exam. If not, I'm sorry if I offended you in any way by mentioning it. Again, I'm very sorry for your loss. Take care. You did what you could.
 

AnimalLady

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Oh my god. I'm so sorry. :( I'm so so sorry for your loss. I hope the memories you two made together can provide some comfort and peace. Rest in peace, Mac. :<3::tort:

If you are interested in finding out what caused his death (I know this will be hard and I'm sorry for suggesting it), consider bringing his body to the vet and having them figure out what caused it by performing a post mortem exam. If not, I'm sorry if I offended you in any way by mentioning it. Again, I'm very sorry for your loss. Take care. You did what you could.
You haven't offended me in any way, no worries. Thanks for the kind words.
 

Pearly

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I am sooooo very sorry for your loss. Not sure if you followed Zeropilot's "Big Bertha" thread. She had been very sick for a very long time and at one point looked dead and was to be buried next day, but next day she started showing signs of life. She got over her illness and is doing great now. My point is... maybe hold off the burial if you haven't already and just see if this is not some type of coma/slowing of metabolism to the point of "nothingness" that may reverse itself... I know this sounds crazy and I apologize if I caused you more pain by mentioning this. Hang in there. You are an awesome Tort Mom and did all humanly possible to help your pet
 

AnimalLady

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I am sooooo very sorry for your loss. Not sure if you followed Zeropilot's "Big Bertha" thread. She had been very sick for a very long time and at one point looked dead and was to be buried next day, but next day she started showing signs of life. She got over her illness and is doing great now. My point is... maybe hold off the burial if you haven't already and just see if this is not some type of coma/slowing of metabolism to the point of "nothingness" that may reverse itself... I know this sounds crazy and I apologize if I caused you more pain by mentioning this. Hang in there. You are an awesome Tort Mom and did all humanly possible to help your pet
We waited till this morning for this exact reason. There really was no hope though, he was gone. My poor little buddy :(
 

Pearly

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Again, I am so very sorry! I hope you take comfort in knowing that you gave him great home and love that so many pets never get to experience. We live in "disposable society" where pets are treated more like accessories then friends or family members. Whatever time your Baby had on this earth it was with a Tort Mom who loved him very much. You both brought incredible enrichment into each other's lives and made them change for the better. That's what we, the animal lovers do. We take our pets in, love and care for them, develop deep connection, and when our pet's time comes to go over the Rainbow Bridge, we mourn them. As it should be. That pain is what ultimately carves us into yet better people. Sending you very warm hugs right this moment
 

Gillian M

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Terribly sorry to have just heard about your loss.
 
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