Help- My Russian has something wrong with his eye

Michael231

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Hey thanks. He is young, he’s around 18 months and 100g although I bet he lost some weight the last few weeks. My scale batteries are dead so I will wait and see tomorrow. He’s in a 5ft open top table, he was doing great in it, I did have him in a viv but swapped it out last year and he seemed much happier. Basking is 35c and is at one end of the table I guess the middle is coolest point at 22c and at the opposite end where he sleeps I run a che at 25c. There are a range of temperatures for him to move between. The ambient of the room is around 22c.
It sounds like you are running good temperatures! For Russian tortoises between 22-28 is a good ambient temperature, while 34-35 is a perfect basking temperature. It is possible if you keep him near a window or air vent that a cold draft blew through unnoticed and he was exposed to it for too long, leading to increased bacterial susceptibility. It is also possible he acquired a bug from the substrate or virtually anywhere else in the enclosure. It's even possible he's had an issue for awhile, and its just now being expressed. That is common with infections in tortoises, for an environmental trigger to make a dormant bug virulent.

Definitely consult a vet, they will likely administer an antibiotic (such as the ones mentioned above) that will help fix him up. For now, you can do the humid bucket treatment if you feel it necessary. It also wouldn't hurt to bump up his basking temperature by 2-3 degrees Celsius, as this will induce a "cold blooded fever" which can help fight the infection.

Let us know how everything is in a couple of days, or when you have an update! I want to track his recovery!
 

katieandiggy

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It sounds like you are running good temperatures! For Russian tortoises between 22-28 is a good ambient temperature, while 34-35 is a perfect basking temperature. It is possible if you keep him near a window or air vent that a cold draft blew through unnoticed and he was exposed to it for too long, leading to increased bacterial susceptibility. It is also possible he acquired a bug from the substrate or virtually anywhere else in the enclosure. It's even possible he's had an issue for awhile, and its just now being expressed. That is common with infections in tortoises, for an environmental trigger to make a dormant bug virulent.

Definitely consult a vet, they will likely administer an antibiotic (such as the ones mentioned above) that will help fix him up. For now, you can do the humid bucket treatment if you feel it necessary. It also wouldn't hurt to bump up his basking temperature by 2-3 degrees Celsius, as this will induce a "cold blooded fever" which can help fight the infection.

Let us know how everything is in a couple of days, or when you have an update! I want to track his recovery!

Thanks for talking the time to write.

The last few days since his eyes have shut he doesn’t bask at all, I have to put him under the lamp to warm up but within 5 minutes he’s back in his hide sleeping.

I will post how I get on today thank you.
 

katieandiggy

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Well my little guy is at the vets, having blood work and xrays done. She mentioned putting in a feeding tube or syringe feeding, does anybody have experience with either?
 

katieandiggy

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I have just got back from the vets, the X-ray was pretty much clear, the lungs were clear, no impaction. She did say he had eaten a couple of small rocks but she didn’t think that was the problem and that he should pass them.


I have been prescribed some medication.

Antibiotic eye drops

Baytril antibiotic

Critical care solution

Liquid multivitamin

I have to give it to him though a syringe which I guess is not easy. She said give it a week and see how I get on and if not she can do the feeding tube.

Fingers crossed it works!
 
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Michael231

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I have just got back from the vets, the X-ray was pretty much clear, the lungs were clear, no impaction. She did say he had eaten a couple of small rocks but she didn’t think that was the problem and that he should pass them.


I have been prescribed some medication.

Antibiotic eye drops

Baytril antibiotic

Critical care solution

Liquid multivitamin

I have to give it to him though a syringe which I guess is not easy. She said give it a week and see how I get on and if not she can do the feeding tube.

Fingers crossed it works!

Thanks for letting us know what happened! It sounds like you definitely did the right thing by taking her!

Are they thinking it is a URTD (RI)? Based on the prescription of Enrofloxacin (Baytril is the brand name) that would be my guess as to what the vet is assuming it is.

For the syringe feeding, it can be somewhat tricky. I’ve done it in multiple tortoise confiscation scenarios, and unless the patient is extremely emaciated they don’t like opening their mouths. I’d say the only trick to it is gently squeeze the corners of the beak. This should help you open it enough to drop the food in.

If you can’t do syringe, the esophagostomy tube also works well, but might be more pricey...

Again, thanks for checking in!
 

katieandiggy

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Thanks for letting us know what happened! It sounds like you definitely did the right thing by taking her!

Are they thinking it is a URTD (RI)? Based on the prescription of Enrofloxacin (Baytril is the brand name) that would be my guess as to what the vet is assuming it is.

For the syringe feeding, it can be somewhat tricky. I’ve done it in multiple tortoise confiscation scenarios, and unless the patient is extremely emaciated they don’t like opening their mouths. I’d say the only trick to it is gently squeeze the corners of the beak. This should help you open it enough to drop the food in.

If you can’t do syringe, the esophagostomy tube also works well, but might be more pricey...

Again, thanks for checking in!

She didn’t say that she thought it was an RI, I did mention it to her but she said it’s sometimes really difficult to work out what’s going on but she would cover all bases and treat for it. The blood work is due back in 2 days and they eye cultures can take about 6 days so maybe we will know more then..
thanks for taking the time to respond.
 

Michael231

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She didn’t say that she thought it was an RI, I did mention it to her but she said it’s sometimes really difficult to work out what’s going on but she would cover all bases and treat for it. The blood work is due back in 2 days and they eye cultures can take about 6 days so maybe we will know more then..
thanks for taking the time to respond.
Ok interesting, so she will test for the specific bacteria/fungus to see if there is an infection. Based on how lethargic your tortoise has been and the fact the eyes seem to be getting worse, I'll bet there is an infection at play...URTD, RI, localized eye infection, that's where it gets hard to say based on photos!

The blood work will be good to get. If they don't to begin with, I'd ask the vet to go over it. The vet should be able to recognize healthy levels of each protein or analyte, which will give you a good idea of how healthy your tortoise is in general!
 

katieandiggy

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Ok interesting, so she will test for the specific bacteria/fungus to see if there is an infection. Based on how lethargic your tortoise has been and the fact the eyes seem to be getting worse, I'll bet there is an infection at play...URTD, RI, localized eye infection, that's where it gets hard to say based on photos!

The blood work will be good to get. If they don't to begin with, I'd ask the vet to go over it. The vet should be able to recognize healthy levels of each protein or analyte, which will give you a good idea of how healthy your tortoise is in general!

Thank you, yes she did say we can find out lots from the blood, she did also say that because he is so small (100g) it’s hard to get enough blood out to test for everything but she said she got a decent sample.

I’ll let yo know when I have the results.
 
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