Injured gopher tortoise

[ronnie_the_tortoise]

We have a gopher tortoise and she was attacked by our dog this evening. She has several puncture wounds and was bleeding and bubbling out of one of them. Which to me sounds like a punctured lung, but I don't know anything. It's Not bubbling anymore but when we cleaned her wounds with the saline solution you could hear air escaping And you can see the wound expand when she breathes. We immediately dried it up. The wound that was bubbling is the one on the top of her shell. We kept light pressure on it as we drove all over town to different veterinarians after the first one said that they didn't see reptiles (we began calling ahead even though we had always heard the first one did see reptiles) we used a sterile saline solution to clean all of her wounds. We then put Neosporin in each one and wrapped her with gauze and taped the gauze but did not wrap her in tape like we did with the gauze. No veterinarians in town treat reptiles except for one and we called before we got there and they seemed like they could care less and we arrived 3 minutes after they closed and they scattered like roaches driving away as we pulled up. We were heart broken before that so I don't even know what we are now. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Really don't want to go back to those pricks tomorrow but we will if we have to. Also there is a zoo nearby we are thinking about taking her to tomorrow morning. Any advice would be so greatly appreciated.

 

[wellington]

She needs to see a vet and to never have to see the dog again. Dogs and tortoises never should be together. The tortoise will always pay for it!

 

[TechnoCheese]

Welcome. I'm the person that sent you here from reddit, happy to hear the wound is no longer bubbling.
@Yvonne G and I believe @zovick may be able to help further.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

A lot (most?).of veterinarians know little to anything about turtles or tortoises.
You found one that admitted it. He or she is special.
That tortoise does need a vet.
These wounds seem more serious than most. And we see a lot of dog damage.
Dogs like to chew on them. Even friendly and well behaved dogs.

 

[TechnoCheese]

How is she acting? Is she more or less alert, or does she seem out of it? Any trouble moving? Are back legs functional?

 

[wellington]

I missed the part about the zoo. Call them and ask what reptile vet they use of if they have one on site. Explain the situation and see if they can help. If not, you do need to go to the one that does have experience. I normally would not recommend a vet visit as too many don't have a clue how to treat a tortoise. But your tort sounds bad with likely some serious injury that topical care can't take care of.

 

[dd33]

You need to contact FWC first thing in the morning and give them the tortoise. You cannot keep them as pets, you can't do anything at all with them, even take them to the vet without permits.

Contacts

Contacts

myfwc.com

REPORT SICK, INJURED OR DEAD GOPHER TORTOISES TO THE FWC!​

Sick or injured tortoise: On weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., please call (850) 921-1030. After hours and on weekends, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's toll-free Wildlife Alert hotline at (888) 404-3922, or use #FWC or *FWC on your cell phone.

Dead tortoise: Report sightings of dead gopher tortoises on FWC’s mortality web application and provide information on cause of mortality, if known.

Please report illegal activities or potential tortoise violations to FWC’s Wildlife Alert hotline at (888) 404-3922.

 

[wellington]

You need to contact FWC first thing in the morning and give them the tortoise. You cannot keep them as pets, you can't do anything at all with them, even take them to the vet without permits.

Contacts

Contacts

myfwc.com

I was just coming back here to say they are illegal to even own as a pet.

 

[dd33]

The OP didn't specifically say it was a pet, hopefully it wasn't and it was just one living on the property or one that comes to visit from an adjacent property. No judgement, just try to get it help from FWC. Please keep us updated, I would like to know what FWC says.

 

[TammyJ]

Thank you for caring and trying so hard to help this poor tortoise. It looks pretty bad. Hoping for a good outcome!

 

[TammyJ]

Those pictures of the injuries from the dog attack are very graphic and would be a good warning for keeping dogs AWAY from tortoises!!!

 

[Maggie3fan]

Many times when something like this happens and you call around looking for help, generally speaking if you call an organization like FWC...they take the tort and euthanize it so it can't be released to the wild...I personally wouldn't call them...You have already done what most Vets would do...keep him on newspaper or the like, change the bandage often and put Neosporin on it...the only thing you are missing is an antibiotic...in the index in the front, there is a Vet list with several Vets in Florida

 

[Maggie3fan]

You need to contact FWC first thing in the morning and give them the tortoise. You cannot keep them as pets, you can't do anything at all with them, even take them to the vet without permits.

Contacts

Contacts

myfwc.com

No...It is my experience with California and Arizona regarding Gopherus agassizii in the same situation as yours they will euthanize a tortoise kept illegally. These organizations are responsible for the care of the wild populations and will automatically euthanize one kept as a pet...I personally would not call FWC...why would Florida be any different?

 

[TammyJ]

This is when we arrive at the fork in the road.

 

[zovick]

We have a gopher tortoise and she was attacked by our dog this evening. She has several puncture wounds and was bleeding and bubbling out of one of them. Which to me sounds like a punctured lung, but I don't know anything. It's Not bubbling anymore but when we cleaned her wounds with the saline solution you could hear air escaping And you can see the wound expand when she breathes. We immediately dried it up. The wound that was bubbling is the one on the top of her shell. We kept light pressure on it as we drove all over town to different veterinarians after the first one said that they didn't see reptiles (we began calling ahead even though we had always heard the first one did see reptiles) we used a sterile saline solution to clean all of her wounds. We then put Neosporin in each one and wrapped her with gauze and taped the gauze but did not wrap her in tape like we did with the gauze. No veterinarians in town treat reptiles except for one and we called before we got there and they seemed like they could care less and we arrived 3 minutes after they closed and they scattered like roaches driving away as we pulled up. We were heart broken before that so I don't even know what we are now. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Really don't want to go back to those pricks tomorrow but we will if we have to. Also there is a zoo nearby we are thinking about taking her to tomorrow morning. Any advice would be so greatly appreciated.
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You are probably correct in that the wound which was bubbling involves a punctured lung. That is the most serious problem at the moment. The other wounds do not appear to be life-threatening.

If you don't want to go to a vet, I would recommend cleaning that wound over the lung carefully as you have already done, then putting large band-aids, duct tape, or adhesive tape over it to keep dirt out and air in. If you use tape, it would be good to cut a small piece of gauze with a bit of Neosporin on it to place over the open wound itself, then lay the duct tape over everything and seal it up well so no air can escape. Change the dressing every 3 days and try not to disturb the tissue under the gauze very much.

I have caught wild Bog Turtles and Box Turtles whose shells have been cracked wide open (presumably by being stepped on by horses or cows) and new epithelium and skin has grown across the cracks and sealed them up. I am hopeful this will happen for this tortoise. New bone may grow over the wound also in this case since it is a fairly small puncture wound rather than a large crack with sides nearly an inch apart as in those wild turtles I mentioned.

Obviously, you should watch the other areas which have been damaged and apply Neosporin to them once or twice a day. Be sure to keep flies away from this animal so they don't try to lay eggs in the wounds.

If the tortoise starts acting lethargic, you may need to seek veterinary care.

Best of luck with this poor animal.

 

[Yvonne G]

Tortoises are very resilient and can recover from very bad injuries. However, what normally kills them is not the injury, but the fact that infection grows within the wound. So you really need to see a vet so you can get antibiotics.

 

[ronnie_the_tortoise]

We have a gopher tortoise and she was attacked by our dog this evening. She has several puncture wounds and was bleeding and bubbling out of one of them. Which to me sounds like a punctured lung, but I don't know anything. It's Not bubbling anymore but when we cleaned her wounds with the saline solution you could hear air escaping And you can see the wound expand when she breathes. We immediately dried it up. The wound that was bubbling is the one on the top of her shell. We kept light pressure on it as we drove all over town to different veterinarians after the first one said that they didn't see reptiles (we began calling ahead even though we had always heard the first one did see reptiles) we used a sterile saline solution to clean all of her wounds. We then put Neosporin in each one and wrapped her with gauze and taped the gauze but did not wrap her in tape like we did with the gauze. No veterinarians in town treat reptiles except for one and we called before we got there and they seemed like they could care less and we arrived 3 minutes after they closed and they scattered like roaches driving away as we pulled up. We were heart broken before that so I don't even know what we are now. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Really don't want to go back to those pricks tomorrow but we will if we have to. Also there is a zoo nearby we are thinking about taking her to tomorrow morning. Any advice would be so greatly appreciated.
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Thanks everyone who commented. We got her to a vet first thing this morning and she is still there but the vet says she'll be ok. She'll be on some meds and we'll need to change her bandages often.

 

[namasteinyourlane]

We have a gopher tortoise and she was attacked by our dog this evening. She has several puncture wounds and was bleeding and bubbling out of one of them. Which to me sounds like a punctured lung, but I don't know anything. It's Not bubbling anymore but when we cleaned her wounds with the saline solution you could hear air escaping And you can see the wound expand when she breathes. We immediately dried it up. The wound that was bubbling is the one on the top of her shell. We kept light pressure on it as we drove all over town to different veterinarians after the first one said that they didn't see reptiles (we began calling ahead even though we had always heard the first one did see reptiles) we used a sterile saline solution to clean all of her wounds. We then put Neosporin in each one and wrapped her with gauze and taped the gauze but did not wrap her in tape like we did with the gauze. No veterinarians in town treat reptiles except for one and we called before we got there and they seemed like they could care less and we arrived 3 minutes after they closed and they scattered like roaches driving away as we pulled up. We were heart broken before that so I don't even know what we are now. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Really don't want to go back to those pricks tomorrow but we will if we have to. Also there is a zoo nearby we are thinking about taking her to tomorrow morning. Any advice would be so greatly appreciated.
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You deleted your Reddit post so I'm re-posting here for visibility:
Honestly, dude, if you're anywhere near Oceanside/ Vista in San Diego county, I know who the original owner of this tortoise is (they have it registered with the CA department of fish & wildlife and are the "caretakers" of it for the state).

She escaped from their backyard last summer after a brand new move to that area, and they contacted the department of fish and game and the local shelters and plastered the area with "lost" signs and posted on Nextdoor and everything, with no luck (I work with the wife; she's practically my best friend).

If you're anywhere near that area, and found this tortoise, I implore you to reach out to me so I can give you the contact info for this family. There's ways they could verify if it's theirs or not. They cared for and loved her for over a decade, and miss her dearly.

 

[SinLA]

You deleted your Reddit post so I'm re-posting here for visibility:
Honestly, dude, if you're anywhere near Oceanside/ Vista in San Diego county, I know who the original owner of this tortoise is (they have it registered with the CA department of fish & wildlife and are the "caretakers" of it for the state).

She escaped from their backyard last summer after a brand new move to that area, and they contacted the department of fish and game and the local shelters and plastered the area with "lost" signs and posted on Nextdoor and everything, with no luck (I work with the wife; she's practically my best friend).

If you're anywhere near that area, and found this tortoise, I implore you to reach out to me so I can give you the contact info for this family. There's ways they could verify if it's theirs or not. They cared for and loved her for over a decade, and miss her dearly.

They are in Florida...

 

[namasteinyourlane]

They are in

I read all of their replies here and on Reddit and never saw them mention a location outside of "a big city" & in close proximity of a zoo. . . Where did you see they're in FL?