Adult Female Redfoot with a recurring prolapse.

LRTortoises

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Last week one of my redfoots that has laid eggs for the past 3 or 4 years with no problem had trouble laying. She was digging holes and not laying for two days. On the third day I came home to her having a prolapse.

Here is a link if you want to see it (warning it's kinda graphic) https://goo.gl/photos/7VMDtqD2Cu7GGoz89

Using the tips for the forum on this I kept it moist and tried sugar to reduce overnight while I waited to go to the reptile vet Friday. He got it back in and did a purse string suture and throughout it all the tortoise has been pretty normal. Also ran an xray and she has five eggs insider her. He had said to go and keep it clean and come back tomorrow, Monday to get the sutures out and check things out.

I said I should probably keep her away from water as that might make her want to poop and prolapse come back. He said whatever I thought but i might want to set her in 1-2 inch of water on Sunday to irrigate it and give it a drink. As soon as I did she started drinking and the prolapse came back. With clean hands in rubber gloves I was able to keep it in.

Sorry for the long post. My dillemma is even if the vet fixes the tears from the prolapse, I can't see how she can ever poop or lay these eggs (which she obviously needs to do) without this prolapse happening over and over again.

Any suggestions when I go speak to him tomorrow.

I am attaching a picture of the prolapse.

Do I ask him to induce? Is that going to be thousands of dollars? Can she even lay that way if induced though the prolapse.

Is there a happy ending with this at all that anyone else has seen?

Any helpful experienced comments are welcome. He s a good exotics vet with a good amount of experience and education in tortoises, but I am sure he is nothing compared to vets in Florida, California, or Arizona where more people with tortoises are around.

I am attaching a pic of the Xray of Dot. (Dot is the name of the redfoot.)

Dot_Curtis_7655-5-20161118104444453-original-1.jpeg
 

Yvonne G

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I had a YF that had a prolapse. I took her to my vet and she tried and tried to get it back inside, and while she was trying, the tortoise expelled a lot of pebbles. So we were thinking she was impacted with pebbles and that was what was causing the prolapse, but she advised an x-ray to be sure. An x-ray showed just like yours - eggs.

My YF's wasn't so much a 'prolapse' as it was an extremely swollen cloaca with a lot of the inside tissue on the outside. She was straining to lay the eggs and the straining caused the cloaca swelling.

I kept the tortoise overly warm - about 90F and in a very humid environment and she eventually was able to lay the eggs. Afterwards I gently pushed the swelling back inside and just sat there holding her for about an hour while holding it all back inside. (I watched TV)

I have since learned that RF and YF tortoises eat quite a bit of fruit with seeds. If I don't feed 'seeds' she'll eat pebbles. But really, the pebbles had nothing to do with the swollen cloaca. It was all due to the eggs. She was on the small side.
 

LRTortoises

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My vet feels like this is a swollen cloaca also. He took the stitched out and basically has told me to keep her on a 24/7 watch for the next week while the swelling decreases. Right now when she tries to poop the cloaca will come out still. I have started keeping a bandage taped to keep some pressur on her tail. This keeps her from trying to expel anything. Then once or twice a day I plan to soak her in warm water while also watching to keep the prolapse in.

He wants to me go ahead and keep her warm and feed her some to keep the healing process working.

The vet is not to worried about the eggs as she laid 10 about 5 weeks ago so feel like these could stay in there a little longer with no ill effects.

Love to know what anyone feels like the most helpful food would be for both healing but also for helping things come out smoothly.

I'm typically doing 50% some kind of greens then papaya, pineapple, mango and then some weekly protein. I was thinking about pumpkin for it's diuretic properties. Also would any supplemental vitamins be appropriate in this situation?
 

wellington

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I'm just throwing this out there, no experience. How about lots of watery foods, cucumber, water melon head lettuce and romaine. Then soaking in a tub with lots of room to roam and scrambling to get out. It helps with poop blockage. It also helped my one female lay her eggs right in the tub with no real signs of straining to get them out. She was just not acting right and had done a couple test digs, so to ease my worrying, I did the tub soak and the eggs just popped out. I left her in the tub for an hour.
Good luck, hope all goes good
 

TammyJ

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I am glad that I came to this site when I got my baby redfoots in April this year. It is extremely helpful and interesting!

Hope all works out well.
 

LRTortoises

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Just to update. I went to teh vet on Monday of last week andhe believes its a swollen and bruised Cloaca that keeps coming out. He wants give it a week to go down and see if she can poop through it. Today is Saturday and she hasn't pooped yet. When she does a white organ thing starts comes out. She is drinking and eating and some edema fluid fills the make shift diaper I make for her that gives enough compression to keep things in. Once a day I take her out and soak her for about 30 minutes with the diaper off hoping she might go then.

I plan to go back to the vet next week

She seem fine other than not using the bathroom and of course the eggs are still in there.

Any thoughts. I am open to suggestion. If I let her push much I am pretty sure some organ will come out. If I stop that from happening then I fer she won't be able to relieve herself.

I don't want her to suffer.
 

Yvonne G

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She's pushing, that's why it keeps coming out. She may be trying to get the eggs out. . .she may be constipated. But until you get rid of the cause, it's going to continue.
 

LRTortoises

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Vet did a rectal exam of her today and said her prolapse is looking good. She is administering Oxytocin and inducing the laying.
 

LRTortoises

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Eggs have all moved down to the pelvis area with the oxytocin. But as soon as she pushes the prolapae comes out leaving no room for eggs to come out.

She has passed a few small nuggets of feces, but I don't see how it is possible for any eggs to come out.

I took her back to the vet today. The vet is worried that if we push the prolapse back in the eggs will just get pushed back also.

I am starting to feel like the outlook is pretty bleak here.
 

LRTortoises

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No good update. The tortoise is not laying through the prolapse. My vet has called many of her friends who are reptile vets and they and she believes the eggs are calcified and stuck to her uterus. She has done two days of oxytocin.
 

LRTortoises

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Just to end this. Tried two days of oxytocin and no eggs dropped. Tried leaving the prolapse out to see if eggs would come out and they didn't.

My vet called and emailed many fellow reptile vets and in the end after trying everything they said decided I either would take her to a vet school for surgery about 5 hours away for a chance or euthanize her.

We decided on euthanizing.

Thank you for all your help and comments and prayers and good thoughts.
 

Yvonne G

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I'm sorry you had to go through this, and so very sorry you lost your tortoise.
 

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