Have a sick Russian with Pneumonia its been 8 months and doesnt seem to go away.

[dj83]

my 10 year old russian came down with pneumonia around christmas time of 2022. the first vet i took her to, put her on 2 different medications but after a month and a half, she wasnt getting any better, took her to another vet because the first vet didnt want to do a lung culture, the second vet soaked me 1000 for the lung culture but while waiting for news to see which bacteria it was, they had her on meds for 2 weeks that didnt treat her lung infection... so by this time it started out in one lung and now has ended up in both lungs. they gave me meds to treat 2 different bacteria strains, (one was for a staph infection and the other was an anerobic) started treatmen 2 months after taking her to the vets with (amekacin and metronidazole) after a week on these 2 meds that vet pulled me off to run more tests that would be 600 more dollars, if i didnt pay the 600 dollars i would get no more meds... took the turtle to a 3rd vet. where she has been since... but since feb to now about sept, she has been on these two drugs but both of her lungs were nearly covered from the x-ray, now its down to a quarter size spot on one of her lung but yet she is still having a hard time breathing. has anyone ever had to treat their tortoise for this long and did it clearly go away as well do they continue to have breathing issues for the rest of their life because maybe possible scar tissue in the lungs.

 

[wellington]

Did you do anything to the way you care for her to ensure she doesn't get sick again?
What does she live in, and how big is it?
What are the temps? Day? Overall? Basking? Night?
What % humidity?
What type of heat and lights are you using?
Substrate?
Diet?
Soaks?

 

[TammyJ]

Where is she right now, and what is the temperature? It's really important and may save her life for you to give us exact information like Wellington asked for. Thanks!

 

[dj83]

Where is she right now, and what is the temperature? It's really important and may save her life for you to give us exact information like Wellington asked for. Thanks!

the temps have been staying 95 under the basking area and roughly 75-80 on the cooler side.

 

[dj83]

Did you do anything to the way you care for her to ensure she doesn't get sick again?
What does she live in, and how big is it?
What are the temps? Day? Overall? Basking? Night?
What % humidity?
What type of heat and lights are you using?
Substrate?
Diet?
Soaks?

bark substrate, she does get soaks, temps are 95 degrees under basking area, 75-80 on the cooler side. diet consists of romain lettuce, dandelions, collard greens, turnip greens, carrots. also gets a vit mix with her greens.

 

[wellington]

While she is still recovering,I would keep temps day and night at 80. Leave basking as is

 

[dj83]

While she is still recovering,I would keep temps day and night at 80. Leave basking as is

have you seen any cases where its been 6 months of treatment and still not fully cured? i know tortoises heal slowly and because of being on the wrong meds for 2 months and made it worse by spreading and fully engulfing both lungs, does it take this long to treat?

 

[wellington]

@Yvonne G can probably answer that better. She's had to rehab a lot of tortoises. I have never had a sick one.
On here, I do seem to remember a few taking a long time to fully recover. I'm sure it's likely due to the first meds being wrong and doing nothing and the fact they do everything slow.

 

[TammyJ]

Let me just say that I really feel it for you with all you and your poor little tortoise have been going through, and also that it seems you have been extremely unlucky with the various vets and their apparently inexplicable actions. I see ignorance and heartlessness and greed from the vets in this sad story. Your tortoise is obviously precious to you, and I hope that with a bit more time and the correct home treatment, he will rally. He will benefit from some Benebac or Nutribac to restore his gut flora after all those various, start-and-stop antibiotics. Please keep up the good home care as recommended here, whether or not you manage to locate a really good, caring and experienced tortoise and reptile vet.

 

[dj83]

Let me just say that I really feel it for you with all you and your poor little tortoise have been going through, and also that it seems you have been extremely unlucky with the various vets and their apparently inexplicable actions. I see ignorance and heartlessness and greed from the vets in this sad story. Your tortoise is obviously precious to you, and I hope that with a bit more time and the correct home treatment, he will rally. He will benefit from some Benebac or Nutribac to restore his gut flora after all those various, start-and-stop antibiotics. Please keep up the good home care as recommended here, whether or not you manage to locate a really good, caring and experienced tortoise and reptile vet.

thanks. it has been really difficult and really frustrating times, someone shouldnt have to go to 3 different vets just to get the care you need or have vets fleece you while your animal is suffering. that is just some bad practice. but ive gone through somewhat of the same treatment with our pet cat before with misdiagnosis which lead to a lot of payments when she didnt have what they thought she had and she ended up dying from cancer instead. sometimes i think vets are becoming more like the hospitals and thinking more about money than the people they are trying to treat.

 

[dj83]

@Yvonne G can probably answer that better. She's had to rehab a lot of tortoises. I have never had a sick one.
On here, I do seem to remember a few taking a long time to fully recover. I'm sure it's likely due to the first meds being wrong and doing nothing and the fact they do everything slow.

yvonne said she never heard of anything like this.

 

[mark1]

been my experience if an antibiotic is working you see improvement at most by the 2nd week , most often by the 3rd dose ....... what antibiotics were used aside from amikacin and metronidazole? at what point was the first vet made aware the tortoise was getting worse ?

 

[dj83]

been my experience if an antibiotic is working you see improvement at most by the 2nd week , most often by the 3rd dose ....... what antibiotics were used aside from amikacin and metronidazole? at what point was the first vet made aware the tortoise was getting worse ?

she started on Ceftazidime. she was also on nasal drops. about 2 weeks in wasnt seeing any change and was getting worse. kept it on ceftiazime for a couple of weeks longer, then tried baytril. for a couple of weeks. and that wasnt working so took her to another vet to do a throat culture because the first vet wouldnt perform one. second vet put her back on ceftazidime for 2 weeks till we got the culture back. which upon the culture reading none of the antibiotics that were used would treat the 2 microbs.. so it went from being in just one lung to ending up being both lungs being fully compromised. but now its been 6 months on the meds that are suppose to treat the infection and its down to a small area in her left lung. but she is still having some breathing issues.

 

[Cathie G]

I agree with @TAMMY J . The probiotics could be beneficial and maybe essential after all those antibiotics. And since your poor little tortoise still may need some they may help . I would because of the length of time your little tort has been on an antibiotic. S/he's trying to hang in there. I'm sending 🙏🤗. Does your little friend have a name?😊

 

[Yvonne G]

In my opinion the tortoise needs to be set up indoors in some sort of tub you're able to monitor where you can keep the whole interior 85°F day and night. Soak daily in warm water for 30 minutes, setting the soaking bowl back into the enclosure to keep it warm. If the tortoise is not eating you can add strained carrots or strained squash to the soaking water, but if he's eating there's no need for that.

 

[dj83]

I agree with @TAMMY J . The probiotics could be beneficial and maybe essential after all those antibiotics. And since your poor little tortoise still may need some they may help . I would because of the length of time your little tort has been on an antibiotic. S/he's trying to hang in there. I'm sending 🙏🤗. Does your little friend have a name?😊

aretha. i have two russians, the male is fraklin and the female is aretha.

 

[dj83]

In my opinion the tortoise needs to be set up indoors in some sort of tub you're able to monitor where you can keep the whole interior 85°F day and night. Soak daily in warm water for 30 minutes, setting the soaking bowl back into the enclosure to keep it warm. If the tortoise is not eating you can add strained carrots or strained squash to the soaking water, but if he's eating there's no need for that.

she's eating fine. but when she wasnt eating that well or would skip days, i did what you had mentioned with the soaking with carrots, but i used orgainic baby food.

 

[Yvonne G]

she's eating fine. but when she wasnt eating that well or would skip days, i did what you had mentioned with the soaking with carrots, but i used orgainic baby food.

If she's eating you don't need to add the carrots to the soaking water, but it's pretty important to get the whole enclosure up to 85F degrees day AND night

 

[mark1]

she started on Ceftazidime. she was also on nasal drops. about 2 weeks in wasnt seeing any change and was getting worse. kept it on ceftiazime for a couple of weeks longer, then tried baytril. for a couple of weeks. and that wasnt working so took her to another vet to do a throat culture because the first vet wouldnt perform one. second vet put her back on ceftazidime for 2 weeks till we got the culture back. which upon the culture reading none of the antibiotics that were used would treat the 2 microbs.. so it went from being in just one lung to ending up being both lungs being fully compromised. but now its been 6 months on the meds that are suppose to treat the infection and its down to a small area in her left lung. but she is still having some breathing issues.

really sounds like none of the vets did anything wrong to me , $1000 is a lot........ what makes you think he is having trouble breathing ? the metronidazole is oral ? good luck with him , like Yvonne said keep him constant at a good temp , keep up the humidity , as long as he's eating i wouldn't worry . if he stops eating i'd worry ......

 

[Cathie G]

aretha. i have two russians, the male is fraklin and the female is aretha.

My little boy's name is Sapphire. I named him that because another name for a Russian is Russian Blue. And he sits around like a rock sometimes. I think of him as a precious gem 💎 so his full name is Sapphire the walking rock.😊