Frankie Tortoise Tails: Going Home

[email protected]

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Oct 14, 2008
Messages
198
Location (City and/or State)
Mobile, Alabama
Hello, Frankie, how are you?
I am great! This place…this place is fantastic! Where is this?
This is where you’re meant to be. We’ve been waiting for you.
Am I dead?
Your body was no longer needed. Your spirit is forever free
Can I still have carrots and dandelions?
Of course!
And Mom, is she here?
Someday, just not today. Her spirit still has much to do. We’ll wait for her, too.
Am I here because I was finished?
Pets are special. Pet are animals who choose to help a human soul. The human path is never easy. Your human needed your help.
But now she is alone.
She is never alone.
I love her so much. Can I still help?
You can help. Visit her dreams. Whisper she is not alone. Be her comfort.
I will. I'll never leave her alone. I'll see her every night. Thank you for waiting for me. Thank you for waiting for her.
We’re glad you’re here. Now, if you haven’t noticed, there are dandelions to eat, lawn chairs to push and fences to topple. Go get ‘em, Frankie!
They will never know what hit them…..




Frankie died June 29, 2019 from Pneumonia or Lower Respiratory Infection. We fought for 80 days, did all we possibility could, took him to the best veterinarians, tried various drugs, gladly spent the money, and much more to help him recover.

We'll miss his antics and his determined personality so much.

Thank you all his friends who delighted in his stories.
 

JLMDVM

Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2019
Messages
71
Location (City and/or State)
Ohio
So sorry for your loss. I’m new and have missed your previous posts but this one was lovely. Frankie looked like a beautiful tortoise. It sounds like he was certainly loved. [emoji174]
 

Grymre

New Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2017
Messages
1
Location (City and/or State)
So. CA
So sorry to hear about Frankie, but thank you for all you've done to make a difference in the life of your pet... RIP Frankie
 

Sue Ann

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2019
Messages
436
Location (City and/or State)
chapin , South Carolina
Hello, Frankie, how are you?
I am great! This place…this place is fantastic! Where is this?
This is where you’re meant to be. We’ve been waiting for you.
Am I dead?
Your body was no longer needed. Your spirit is forever free
Can I still have carrots and dandelions?
Of course!
And Mom, is she here?
Someday, just not today. Her spirit still has much to do. We’ll wait for her, too.
Am I here because I was finished?
Pets are special. Pet are animals who choose to help a human soul. The human path is never easy. Your human needed your help.
But now she is alone.
She is never alone.
I love her so much. Can I still help?
You can help. Visit her dreams. Whisper she is not alone. Be her comfort.
I will. I'll never leave her alone. I'll see her every night. Thank you for waiting for me. Thank you for waiting for her.
We’re glad you’re here. Now, if you haven’t noticed, there are dandelions to eat, lawn chairs to push and fences to topple. Go get ‘em, Frankie!
They will never know what hit them…..




Frankie died June 29, 2019 from Pneumonia or Lower Respiratory Infection. We fought for 80 days, did all we possibility could, took him to the best veterinarians, tried various drugs, gladly spent the money, and much more to help him recover.

We'll miss his antics and his determined personality so much.

Thank you all his friends who delighted in his stories.
 

Sue Ann

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2019
Messages
436
Location (City and/or State)
chapin , South Carolina
I do not know how long you had Frankie but am so sorry for the loss of your shell baby. Do you know how he got pneumonia? Im a fairly new tort mom and would like to be aware of what to look for in my Sulcatas habitat.
 

CarolM

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2017
Messages
19,492
Location (City and/or State)
South Africa - Cape Town
Hello, Frankie, how are you?
I am great! This place…this place is fantastic! Where is this?
This is where you’re meant to be. We’ve been waiting for you.
Am I dead?
Your body was no longer needed. Your spirit is forever free
Can I still have carrots and dandelions?
Of course!
And Mom, is she here?
Someday, just not today. Her spirit still has much to do. We’ll wait for her, too.
Am I here because I was finished?
Pets are special. Pet are animals who choose to help a human soul. The human path is never easy. Your human needed your help.
But now she is alone.
She is never alone.
I love her so much. Can I still help?
You can help. Visit her dreams. Whisper she is not alone. Be her comfort.
I will. I'll never leave her alone. I'll see her every night. Thank you for waiting for me. Thank you for waiting for her.
We’re glad you’re here. Now, if you haven’t noticed, there are dandelions to eat, lawn chairs to push and fences to topple. Go get ‘em, Frankie!
They will never know what hit them…..




Frankie died June 29, 2019 from Pneumonia or Lower Respiratory Infection. We fought for 80 days, did all we possibility could, took him to the best veterinarians, tried various drugs, gladly spent the money, and much more to help him recover.

We'll miss his antics and his determined personality so much.

Thank you all his friends who delighted in his stories.
Oh so sorry to read this. Big Electronic hug.
 

[email protected]

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Oct 14, 2008
Messages
198
Location (City and/or State)
Mobile, Alabama
Lower Respiratory disease can be caused by one of several pathogens...poor husbandry can make it a lot worse. Diagnosis involves a lung wash or sometimes blood test, both not easy to do on a large sulcata. Our best deductive guess is he ingested infected feces of migratory birds. The week he was infected we had a Loquat fruit tree and lost of birds were snacking on the fruit. I picked up fruit and pits off the ground for weeks. Frankie had the ability to sniff out what I missed. His poops had lots of pits. What I do know is most turtles die within a week, others take months to recover.

We did every thing possible to try to save him. We gave a 125 pound sulcata tortoise a 12 ml shot every 2 or 3rd day. For that to be effective we had to regulate his temperature perfectly. He had four nebulizer treatments each day, 45 min to an hour each. We had to figure out how to do these treatments as I found no resources for large tortoises.

He quit drinking water so we had to soak him daily. The only other way to keep him hydrated was to feed him what we said we would never feed him: lettuces. He would eat for a few days and then quit. All this very challenging and very costly...we didn't care, we wanted to save him.

So, if you did one thing good for your tort I would say find the very best exotic reptile veterinarian you can. Other than that, get good reliable resources. People love their pets and make websites sharing their husbandry techniques but of most you should be cautious. Check with an expert. A book that should be on your shelf is Health Care & Rehabilitation of Turtle and Tortoises by Amanda Ebenhack.

We got Frankie when he was a month old. He was in his 19th year when he died.

I do not know how long you had Frankie but am so sorry for the loss of your shell baby. Do you know how he got pneumonia? Im a fairly new tort mom and would like to be aware of what to look for in my Sulcatas habitat.
 

Sue Ann

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2019
Messages
436
Location (City and/or State)
chapin , South Carolina
Lower Respiratory disease can be caused by one of several pathogens...poor husbandry can make it a lot worse. Diagnosis involves a lung wash or sometimes blood test, both not easy to do on a large sulcata. Our best deductive guess is he ingested infected feces of migratory birds. The week he was infected we had a Loquat fruit tree and lost of birds were snacking on the fruit. I picked up fruit and pits off the ground for weeks. Frankie had the ability to sniff out what I missed. His poops had lots of pits. What I do know is most turtles die within a week, others take months to recover.

We did every thing possible to try to save him. We gave a 125 pound sulcata tortoise a 12 ml shot every 2 or 3rd day. For that to be effective we had to regulate his temperature perfectly. He had four nebulizer treatments each day, 45 min to an hour each. We had to figure out how to do these treatments as I found no resources for large tortoises.

He quit drinking water so we had to soak him daily. The only other way to keep him hydrated was to feed him what we said we would never feed him: lettuces. He would eat for a few days and then quit. All this very challenging and very costly...we didn't care, we wanted to save him.

So, if you did one thing good for your tort I would say find the very best exotic reptile veterinarian you can. Other than that, get good reliable resources. People love their pets and make websites sharing their husbandry techniques but of most you should be cautious. Check with an expert. A book that should be on your shelf is Health Care & Rehabilitation of Turtle and Tortoises by Amanda Ebenhack.

We got Frankie when he was a month old. He was in his 19th year when he died.
Thank you for responding to me. I am designing a 100x100 enclosure for him and among the plantings I was going to add a butterfly and bee enclosure and add bird baths and feeders. I will now keep the bird feeders out of his enclosure.
 
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