Delaware

[Kayti]

I just came home, and something is very wrong with Delaware- I don't think she is breathing, and all her limbs are sprayed out. I thought she was dead, but she just convulsed. My roomates have taken all the cars, so I can't rush her to the vet
What should I do? I think she might already be dead

 

[Kristina]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

How old is Delaware? Could she be choking?

Try and open her mouth and see if you can see anything stuck inside.

 

[egyptiandan]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

You can try to keep touching head and legs to get Delaware to keep breathing. Not much else you can do with not being able to get to a vet. Has Delaware been sick?

Danny

 

[RichardS]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

Sorry to hear that. Small tortoises are very fragile. Has anyone tried soaking in pedialyte in these situations? I've had some mix success with rehabbing amphibians using pedialyte. I guess Gatorade could work too if diluted.

 

[egyptiandan]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

You do not want to put a tortoise or turtle into water if it's having trouble breathing. Much to easy to drown if you do that.

Danny

 

[Broda805]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

can you get a friend or someone to drive you to a vet?

 

[Kayti]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

I think Delaware has passed away.

We got a friend to drive us to the vet, he tried everything- suction, pulling out air from her with a needle, hydrating her, epinephrine. There was no blockage. He said her lung exploded, and that's why her body kept filling with air. She kept gasping, so we knew she was still alive. But she hasn't gasped for awhile, and a lot of fluid just came out of her mouth.

I can't really articulate how absolutely horrible everything is. I think I made a mistake trying to save her.

She was perfectly fine this morning, and ate her breakfast. Then I came home from lab to find her stricken and turning blue.

The vet said not to give up, so she is under a heat lamp right now. But I think she is dead.

 

[dmmj]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

so only one lung exploded? so she still has one lung functioning?

 

[RichardS]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

Good reading for those interested:
http://www.britishcheloniagroup.org.uk/vetscorner/respiratory.htm

 

[Kristina]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

I hope your little one is still alive, but if she has passed, I am very sorry for your loss.

 

[TortieLuver]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

I'm so sorry to hear what's going on. It's so hard when one minute they are fine and the next, they are not. Did the vet mention why he thinks the lung exploded? What kind of tort is it? That must be very hard for you. Please keep us posted.

---

nevermind on the type of tort...just saw on your list..sorry!

 

[-ryan-]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

I am sorry to hear that you have suffered such a great loss. These things unfortunately do happen, and there is often nothing you can do or could have done to prevent it.

Over the summer we lost my leopard gecko. I was having a great day. I had just fixed the lock on the cap of my truck so that my fiancee and I would be ready for our adirondack camping trip. After I got out of work (teaching percussion lessons) I had one more student to teach at home who I was bartering with for some instrument repair work. It was probably about 9:30pm and my fiancee and I were about to go on a walk (yeah, pretty late for a walk). She drew my attention to our little six year old leopard gecko who had his nose up against the glass and didn't look right. I reached into his enclosure and pet him to elicite a response (usually this would make him run and/or hiss) and he didn't move. I picked him up and was shocked to find he had a severe rectal prolapse. At first I thought it might just be an everted hemipene, but either way my immediate reaction was "This is not going to be a good night". He was still alive and started to thrash, so I put him in a small container. It was a very bad prolapse, a little over an inch, which is huge considering the size of the lizard. I called all over and the only emergency animal hospital that would see him was located in buffalo (and I live in Rochester). My fiancee and I hopped in the truck and head out on the thruway. By the time we got there there was nothing they could do for him. They said he had hemorraged and was barely alive, only taking a breath every couple of minutes and showing no other signs of life. They were kind enough to put him down for free, and then we had the worst drive home of our lives. We buried him in the backyard with some of his favorite things and we have never forgotten him. He was one of two lizards we lost last year. The other was a uromastyx we had rescued many years earlier (six or so) with third degree burn scars covering most of her back and pretty severe liver failure. We were hit hard when she passed, but we had expected it for years and could see that, towards the end, she was showing her age (estimated as at least 12-15 years, and several of them kept in the worst conditions imaginable). The leopard gecko hit us a little bit harder because of the fact that it was so unexpected and it happened so quickly. One day we thought he was fine and the next he was gone. It took me over a week to get the guts to clean out his enclosure.

The hardest part for me is the fact that I had noticed a change in behavior in the days leading up to his death. I noticed he wasn't eating and was getting a little lethargic. I can't help but wonder if there was something that we could have done if I had figured out something was wrong earlier, but I assumed he was nearing a shed. I also can't help but feeling as though I could have paid more attention to him. He was in a tank in the living room, so he was always there, and I would always watch him and he would watch me, but I never really 'observed' him or interacted with him. It's a harsh reminder that we need to enjoy being a part of our animals' lives while they are around, because you don't know how long that will be.

I just thought I would share that story. I think the feelings that I had (and still have) are probably similar to what you're going through right now. Obviously, I had a hard time keeping my mind off the poor little guy while we were on our camping trip. I was also especially nervous about leaving my animals in the care of my parents since we had just lost one.

Spend some time with your other animals. It will help the grieving process.

 

[TortieGal]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

Very sorry to hear this, still hoping she pulls through.

 

[Meg90]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

I'm SO SORRY Kayti--if she has passed, are you having a necropsy done? It might help with closure.

I hope she gets better. I'm sorry Sweetie.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

Be careful she doesn't dehydrate under the light. Is she able to move out from the light?

 

[Kymiie]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

Im sorry to hear this, Its like De Ja Vu for me, simular experiance happened to me! Good lick & Kepp us posted xx

 

[Tom]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

Very sorry to hear this. Delaware was a beautiful, healthy looking animal. I know that it must hurt, but please keep us updated on this, so that we may all learn from your tradgedy. I've never heard of this before, so I'm very interested to learn more about it and hopefully prevent it for someone else in the future.

It may not be the right thing to say at this point, but whenever something bad happens in my life, I try like hell to make something positive out of it. Sometimes the only positive thing that can be done is to try and help someone else avoid whatever it was that I did or had happen. For me, DOING something about it is very comforting. I wish you well.

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

I'm sorry, Kayti.

 

[ChiKat]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

Oh Kayti, how sad I'm so sorry.

 

[jackrat]

RE: EMERGENCY WHAT SHOULD I DO

Kayti,I'm so very saddened to hear about this. My thoughts are with you.