Emullennn
New Member
Hello! New user, hoping to get some opinions from our vet visit.
Background - I've had my red footed tortoise for 5 years, he was adopted generally healthy but skinny from a qualified rescue when I was in college, and have since maintained his environment with a UVB light, ceramic heat lamp, humidifier, and a lettuce based diet with a handful of fruits and veggies on top. I tried every protein on the list, but he refuses all of them. He was a picky eater when I adopted him at 10 years old, so I've accepted his diet as is. He's had periods of lethargy but will wake to eat and it's been fixed with increased heat/humidity.
The point of my post - I wanted to double check what the vet I went to told me. I brought him in because he hadn't eaten in 2 weeks outside of the blueberries on top of his lettuce, and was much more lethargic than usual. The closest listed tortoise vet is over an hour away, so I went to vet that accepts "exotics." The summary of the vet visit was that he was diagnosed with worms and/or parasites from a fecal test ( I forget which, it was an overwhelming visit) and given metoclopramide injects x5 days to treat them. XRay showed no signs of pneumonia, but lots of food still in his digestive tract. His blood work showed, in summary, "some signs of inflammation" and I was told to keep an eye on his behavior. They're unsure if there's anything more going on such as tumors in his GI tract at this point and want to do a barium next visit. They also suggested a feeding tube, but I asked for 2 more weeks to try and convince him to eat first because I thought it was too quick to tube him.
My question, first and foremost, is ensuring that metoclopramide is an appropriate medication? Secondly, is there anything more I should be doing? I've been soaking him 2x day but he hasn't pooped in 2 days, is still only wanting to eat blueberries, and has not improved his alertness. I'm extremely worried and open to all advice.
Thanks so much!
Background - I've had my red footed tortoise for 5 years, he was adopted generally healthy but skinny from a qualified rescue when I was in college, and have since maintained his environment with a UVB light, ceramic heat lamp, humidifier, and a lettuce based diet with a handful of fruits and veggies on top. I tried every protein on the list, but he refuses all of them. He was a picky eater when I adopted him at 10 years old, so I've accepted his diet as is. He's had periods of lethargy but will wake to eat and it's been fixed with increased heat/humidity.
The point of my post - I wanted to double check what the vet I went to told me. I brought him in because he hadn't eaten in 2 weeks outside of the blueberries on top of his lettuce, and was much more lethargic than usual. The closest listed tortoise vet is over an hour away, so I went to vet that accepts "exotics." The summary of the vet visit was that he was diagnosed with worms and/or parasites from a fecal test ( I forget which, it was an overwhelming visit) and given metoclopramide injects x5 days to treat them. XRay showed no signs of pneumonia, but lots of food still in his digestive tract. His blood work showed, in summary, "some signs of inflammation" and I was told to keep an eye on his behavior. They're unsure if there's anything more going on such as tumors in his GI tract at this point and want to do a barium next visit. They also suggested a feeding tube, but I asked for 2 more weeks to try and convince him to eat first because I thought it was too quick to tube him.
My question, first and foremost, is ensuring that metoclopramide is an appropriate medication? Secondly, is there anything more I should be doing? I've been soaking him 2x day but he hasn't pooped in 2 days, is still only wanting to eat blueberries, and has not improved his alertness. I'm extremely worried and open to all advice.
Thanks so much!