Our Big Sulcata Suddenly Became Lethargic with Weak Rear Legs, Reduced Appetite

waffle99

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Rocky is a male Sulcata. He’s about 20 and weighs 220 lbs. We got him 15 years ago when he was about 1/4 of his current size and he’s become a real member of the family.

He’s always been quite active year round, but about a week ago we saw that he had suddenly became very lethargic and had trouble walking. When he walks his front legs seem normal but the rear legs seem weak, and the rear of his shell almost drags on the ground. A few days ago his eyes were watery, but they seem more normal now. Normally he munches on our lawn all day along with other plants in the yard and lettuce that we give him, but since this started he’s taken very little food or water.

2 days ago, after observing him like this for 3 days, we took him to a large local animal hospital. The owner (who is somewhat familiar with these animals) examined him. His conclusion was that Rocky’s front legs were injured and that also he might have swallowed some rocks. He advised us to soak Rocky in a small pool to hydrate him. We’ve been doing that and Rocky seems to like it. Today he seems to be walking a little bit better, but he’s still barely eating or drinking. He’s not pooping, and just peeing a little bit.

He has a house that is heated and has always seemed comfortable in it. We have a medium size yard planted with rye grass. Normally he spends most of his day patrolling the yard and eating grass. There are very few rocks in the yard, though there are probably some scattered here and there in the soil. We don’t use any pesticides around the house and I can’t think of anything poisonous out there that he might have consumed.

There is a 1/2” to 1” injury on one of his front legs that we noticed about the time all this started. I think it was bleeding for a while but again, both of his front legs have normal strength — -- it’s his rear legs that are week.

Though he seems to be 10-20% better in the last couple of days, he’s far from normal. The vet said that we could bring him back for a blood test and X-rays but don’t know if that makes sense at this point, especially since he has been improving a little. Getting him to and from the animal hospital is a big operation that must be stressful for him. We have a neighbor that is checks on him when we go away and normally he’s very self-sufficient.

I’ve searched this forum and seen other threads about tortoises with similar symptoms, but most of them seem inconclusive or don't really match his situation.

We are not sure what to do and we have an out of town trip planned in about 10 days, which makes this a little more urgent. Thanks very much for any help or advice.
 

wellington

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Sounds like a blockage
I would have an xray or mri done.
If he were small, I would suggest a very long soak in something big where he could move around a lot, even making him swim or move constantly. See he is so big, I would do the xray/mri.
You can also try to feed water foods to help the blockage if yhats what it is. Cucumber, cactus, regular head lettuce, water melon.
@Yvonne G might be able to suggest other possibilities.
 
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waffle99

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Thank you for your reply. I will discuss this with my wife and maybe we can get him X-rayed in the next day or two.

You mention a possible blockage. Would that have been caused by something he swallowed? And how might it be treated?

Also, I will contact Yvoone G as you suggested.

Thanks again.
 

Yvonne G

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Sounds like pressure on the nerves. Might possibly be stones (kidney or bladder). Only an x-ray will tell you for sure.
 

waffle99

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Update: we're still not sure what's going on with Rocky. A few days ago we began soaking him in a kiddie tub. He seems to enjoy that for about 10 minutes and then wants out. He became more active, was eating, drinking, and pooping, and seemed like he was about 50% back to normal. But then he got worse and has barely moved for a couple of days. We've been talking with the local animal hospital and will bring him in for X-rays this afternoon. I'll post again when we know more.
 

Maro2Bear

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Just wondering where you are located? As others have noted, soaking really helps a lot of things, but its much Harder to soak a 200 lber, but try.

Try feeding some opuntia cactus pads. Good luck
 

Tom

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Sounds like classic impaction or bladder stones, but the wound is odd. I'm guessing unrelated. Can we see pics of the wound? Possible rodent damage?
 

waffle99

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Well, we brought him to the animal hospital today for X-rays. It's quite an adventure getting a 220 lb. tortoise loaded into a car and taking him across town. But at least in his weakened state he didn't make things too difficult.

The X-rays showed no stones or rocks, but excess gas. The vet spent a lot of time going over the results with us and discussing his condition.

So for now the theory is that he got into some kind of tangle with something or other in our yard 10-12 days ago, injured a front leg, perhaps exhausted himself, and has been in shock and some pain since then. The doctor explained that there is no way to be sure of anything, but felt that it's not life threatening and that Rocky is very likely to recover just fine. He warned us that it might be a slow (1-2 month) process though.

I don't know how the gas relates to this, and don't understand why his rear legs show weakness when it was a front leg that was injured. But the important thing is that he's ok and it doesn't appear to be too serious.

The doctor recommended giving him fruits and veggies with a lot of water content, which we'll do. And we've continued to bathe him, which he really seems to enjoy, We're going to bury the kiddie pool near the entrance to his house, and see if he goes in there on his own to bathe.

As soon as we got him home he headed straight to his house, as if to say "It's been a tough day, I'm gonna go to my room and take a nap."

He's still eating very little compared to before and doesn't drink much water. It's kind of sad to watch him limping, but at least he can get around on his own, albeit slowly.

We're scheduled to leave for a hard-to-cancel 3 week road trip next week. We though about canceling anyway but the doctor felt we could probably go, so long as the neighbor lady, who has cared for him in the past, comes by to bathe him, give him treats, and keep an eye on things.
 

Gijoux

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Well, we brought him to the animal hospital today for X-rays. It's quite an adventure getting a 220 lb. tortoise loaded into a car and taking him across town. But at least in his weakened state he didn't make things too difficult.

The X-rays showed no stones or rocks, but excess gas. The vet spent a lot of time going over the results with us and discussing his condition.

So for now the theory is that he got into some kind of tangle with something or other in our yard 10-12 days ago, injured a front leg, perhaps exhausted himself, and has been in shock and some pain since then. The doctor explained that there is no way to be sure of anything, but felt that it's not life threatening and that Rocky is very likely to recover just fine. He warned us that it might be a slow (1-2 month) process though.

I don't know how the gas relates to this, and don't understand why his rear legs show weakness when it was a front leg that was injured. But the important thing is that he's ok and it doesn't appear to be too serious.

The doctor recommended giving him fruits and veggies with a lot of water content, which we'll do. And we've continued to bathe him, which he really seems to enjoy, We're going to bury the kiddie pool near the entrance to his house, and see if he goes in there on his own to bathe.

As soon as we got him home he headed straight to his house, as if to say "It's been a tough day, I'm gonna go to my room and take a nap."

He's still eating very little compared to before and doesn't drink much water. It's kind of sad to watch him limping, but at least he can get around on his own, albeit slowly.

We're scheduled to leave for a hard-to-cancel 3 week road trip next week. We though about canceling anyway but the doctor felt we could probably go, so long as the neighbor lady, who has cared for him in the past, comes by to bathe him, give him treats, and keep an eye on things.
Pain will slow down the digestive tract allowing for more gas to build up. When the intestine fills with gas this causes more pain and more slowing of the digestive tract. I imagine the enlarged intestine is what is causing the weakness in his back legs. Making sure he stays warm enough will help a lot.
 

wellington

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I would not feed a bunch of fruit. The sugars will play havac on his gut that he already has havac going on.
Cucumber, cactus pads, regular head lettuce and romaine has lots of water. I would stick to those safer items.
The pain/gas is probably making him not want to use his back legs. It may be that they arent weak, it just hurts more to use them.
If you can get the pool deep enough for him to actually swim, it may help to release some of the gas.
 

waffle99

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Following up again. My wife and I have been out of town for a few days but a neighbor is taking good care of him and she tells us that Rocky is much better, and getting back to his old self. He's been patrolling the yards, eating grass (which he hadn't done for about 2 weeks) and pooping. We did stop feeding him watermelon and your comments here made me wonder if that was part (or even all of) the problem, and if maybe his leg injury was unrelated. Maybe we'll never be sure but anyway he's on the mend. Thanks again for all the help and suggestions.
 

TammyJ

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Following up again. My wife and I have been out of town for a few days but a neighbor is taking good care of him and she tells us that Rocky is much better, and getting back to his old self. He's been patrolling the yards, eating grass (which he hadn't done for about 2 weeks) and pooping. We did stop feeding him watermelon and your comments here made me wonder if that was part (or even all of) the problem, and if maybe his leg injury was unrelated. Maybe we'll never be sure but anyway he's on the mend. Thanks again for all the help and suggestions.
We would absolutely love to get some pictures of Rocky and his habitat.
 

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