snailpeekoutofshell
Member
I’ve read so many horror stories in the past couple weeks that I can hardly believe this happened to us. Currently my tortoise has been living in a temporary home and I bring him in and outside to get some sun and proper temperatures while I set up his enclosure, and to get some good running time in I usually monitor him in the closed off flower bed that we have to make sure he doesn’t eat anything he’s not supposed to, and that the dogs stay away from him.
However, today I was a complete fool. I went in to get my temperature gun to make sure the areas he was in were okay for him, and the dogs were so quiet I didn’t even register that they were outside. I couldn’t see him in the enclosure when I got back out and looked around and saw one of the dogs standing over him. This is probably one of the most stressful and heart breaking things I’ve ever felt. I am so beyond disappointed with myself and I’m not sure what I should be doing now to help him.
I immediately got him and put him in his box, and he was so stressed he’d pooped so much. They had gotten the corner of his shell, and honestly when I found him it looked much worse than it does in these pictures, but maybe I was just freaking out.
I had so much trouble finding a vet that could take him, but when I brought him in they said he was okay and didn’t even charge me or have a proper visit, they just said that because he’s active and alert and there’s no major injuries or punctures that I would just have to keep it clean and make sure he continues using all of his limbs as normal and eating/drinking/pooping as normal.
I just got home from the vet and I hadn’t had a chance to clean him off in the frenzy of getting there, so just now I took a soft clean tshirt of mine and got it wet and was cleaning the dirt/poop off of him. I have him soaking right now in a shallow planter dish and I’m making sure the wound isn’t soaking. There was blood as you can see in the pictures, but he wasn’t bleeding more than what you can see. Similar to a scrape on a human.
I was expecting much more, so now I’m really conflicted. I’m going to browse around the forum and look for any posts that could answer my questions but I wanted to post this first so I could maybe get some replies while I’m searching.
1. How should I keep his wound clean? Does it need to be dressed?
2. I know the damage won’t be fully repaired, but how long does it typically take for these kinds of things to heal?
3. Is there anything I should look out for that’s possibly concerning? Any signs of stress? Possible signs it’s not healing properly?
4. Should I stop soaking him for the time being?
5. The injury is quite close to his leg and he gets himself in a lot of awkward side positions when he tries to climb things, how can I make sure he doesn’t injure his leg?
6. I was planning on properly taking him to the vet for a regular check up anyways this week since I don’t actually know the state of his general health (we had just found him in our backyard a week or so ago) but should I be so concerned that I should see if I can see another vet for him tomorrow?
Please let me know if you need any additional pictures or information and thank you so much if you post!!
However, today I was a complete fool. I went in to get my temperature gun to make sure the areas he was in were okay for him, and the dogs were so quiet I didn’t even register that they were outside. I couldn’t see him in the enclosure when I got back out and looked around and saw one of the dogs standing over him. This is probably one of the most stressful and heart breaking things I’ve ever felt. I am so beyond disappointed with myself and I’m not sure what I should be doing now to help him.
I immediately got him and put him in his box, and he was so stressed he’d pooped so much. They had gotten the corner of his shell, and honestly when I found him it looked much worse than it does in these pictures, but maybe I was just freaking out.
I had so much trouble finding a vet that could take him, but when I brought him in they said he was okay and didn’t even charge me or have a proper visit, they just said that because he’s active and alert and there’s no major injuries or punctures that I would just have to keep it clean and make sure he continues using all of his limbs as normal and eating/drinking/pooping as normal.
I just got home from the vet and I hadn’t had a chance to clean him off in the frenzy of getting there, so just now I took a soft clean tshirt of mine and got it wet and was cleaning the dirt/poop off of him. I have him soaking right now in a shallow planter dish and I’m making sure the wound isn’t soaking. There was blood as you can see in the pictures, but he wasn’t bleeding more than what you can see. Similar to a scrape on a human.
I was expecting much more, so now I’m really conflicted. I’m going to browse around the forum and look for any posts that could answer my questions but I wanted to post this first so I could maybe get some replies while I’m searching.
1. How should I keep his wound clean? Does it need to be dressed?
2. I know the damage won’t be fully repaired, but how long does it typically take for these kinds of things to heal?
3. Is there anything I should look out for that’s possibly concerning? Any signs of stress? Possible signs it’s not healing properly?
4. Should I stop soaking him for the time being?
5. The injury is quite close to his leg and he gets himself in a lot of awkward side positions when he tries to climb things, how can I make sure he doesn’t injure his leg?
6. I was planning on properly taking him to the vet for a regular check up anyways this week since I don’t actually know the state of his general health (we had just found him in our backyard a week or so ago) but should I be so concerned that I should see if I can see another vet for him tomorrow?
Please let me know if you need any additional pictures or information and thank you so much if you post!!
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