Back to the Vet with Darwin

[Instinct]

Give you all a bit of a backstory...

On March 5th I took Darwin to the vet regarding a very running/bubbly nose. The vet did x-rays (came back with no signs of mucus in the lungs) and prescribed me Orbax (orbifloxacin) for him to take orally for 3 weeks.

He seemed to be doing better while the antibiotics were being given but once the meds stopped, Darwin seemed to slowly go back to his original state.

I took him to the to vet yesterday and the doctor prescribed me Doxycycline to give twice a day (.1ml) for 30 days as well as Gentamicin to again, give twice daily (one drop in each eye).

I hope this helps him as I just feel horrible.
Has anyone had any good or bad experiences with either drug?

 

[wellington]

Sorry, I can't answer your question, just wanted to say I'm sorry your having troubles again and to wish you good luck and a quick recovery for your tort.

 

[exoticsdr]

I like how your vet thinks. How successful have you been in giving the drugs that were prescribed?...i.e. have you given every dose at the prescribed time and did you get all the drug into the tort?

 

[lkwagner]

Have you boosted his overall temps? Mine had a uri but I opted for no drugs and boosting the temps cured him

 

[tortadise]

I Have a question. Did the vet do a bacterial swab of any nasal discharge? Those medications are very good for what these issues. I am with Todd on this one. How well did you get the meds administered? Typical round this long for this issue should of subsided. What are the conditions the animal the animal has been in? Have you warmed the environment and soaked a lot? If the enclosure temperatures and wetness etc.. did not change the symptoms will continue likely.

 

[Tom]

Kelly started to hit on my question. You've treated the symptoms, but have you done anything to discover and correct the cause? Tortoises don't just get sick for no reason. If you fix the cause of the illness, you probably won't need any drugs at all.

This is most often low temps, but there can also be other contributing factors.

 

[Instinct]

How successful have you been in giving the drugs that were prescribed?

Darwin took the Orbax very well. It was every 12 hours and I did very well with the 8am and 8pm times. He has only been on Doxy for only two days but since it is also every 12 hours I've kept the same times. So far he has been taking the medicine very well. He keeps it all down and has never tried to spit it out.

Have you boosted his overall temps?

I boosted the temps about 5° warmer. Should that be enough or should I go a bit higher?

I Have a question. Did the vet do a bacterial swab of any nasal discharge? Those medications are very good for what these issues. I am with Todd on this one. How well did you get the meds administered? Typical round this long for this issue should of subsided. What are the conditions the animal the animal has been in? Have you warmed the environment and soaked a lot? If the enclosure temperatures and wetness etc.. did not change the symptoms will continue likely.

The vet did not get any swabs from his nasal discharge. I've been giving him daily soaks for about 10 minutes in warm water. His substrate is a coco husk/fir bark mixture, it stays pretty dry but he does get misted twice a day to keep his humidity between 30-50% as the vet recommend.

Here are the temps currently...
Basking Temp: 110°
Warm Side: 88°
Cool Side: 77°
Night Temp: 75°

 

[mike taylor]

If he's sick I would not let your temperature get below 80/f. He maybe getting to cold and wet at nite.

 

[lkwagner]

And don't be spraying the tortoise itself, (while he is sick) warm soaks are enough. This could be making him get too cold.