Hi! Two days ago, my ex-husband (the tortoise lives with him, as that's where the enclosure is set up) informed me that my tort, Bowser, had a serious problem with his eyes. When I arrived, he could barely see out of them, they were extremely red and irritated, and he was attempting to rub them.
I was concerned about an URI, but he does not seem to be having an nasal discharge, rattling or wheezing. Husband casually mentioned that he put (powder) chlorine in the pool filter and that Bowser was somewhat close to him when he did this (grumble grumble).
Assuming it is probably a chemical burn, I've been rinsing him down with water a few times a day and the eyes seem to have gotten slightly better. It appears to be an inflammation of his interior third eyelid, and he keeps scraping it with his front legs, making things worse. One eye is nearly back to normal, the other is still inflamed.
He is eating just fine, having bowel movements, is his normal ornery and active self, and is outside in the sun all day.
Our herp vet is in Chicago until Tues. I am debating whether this is the type of emergency to take him to a new vet. I'm still semi-worried about a resp infection. He has saliva bubbles coming from his mouth at times (but that would also be the case if those mucus membranes were irritated from the chlorine)
Also, has anyone had any experience trying to fashion some sort of "cone of shame" for a tortoise? He is not going to heal if he can still stick his spikey forearms in there.
I'd love some input or opinions on this!
Disclaimer: Tortoise is not an actual licensed medical professional, stethoscope is in 3rd picture just for size scale
I was concerned about an URI, but he does not seem to be having an nasal discharge, rattling or wheezing. Husband casually mentioned that he put (powder) chlorine in the pool filter and that Bowser was somewhat close to him when he did this (grumble grumble).
Assuming it is probably a chemical burn, I've been rinsing him down with water a few times a day and the eyes seem to have gotten slightly better. It appears to be an inflammation of his interior third eyelid, and he keeps scraping it with his front legs, making things worse. One eye is nearly back to normal, the other is still inflamed.
He is eating just fine, having bowel movements, is his normal ornery and active self, and is outside in the sun all day.
Our herp vet is in Chicago until Tues. I am debating whether this is the type of emergency to take him to a new vet. I'm still semi-worried about a resp infection. He has saliva bubbles coming from his mouth at times (but that would also be the case if those mucus membranes were irritated from the chlorine)
Also, has anyone had any experience trying to fashion some sort of "cone of shame" for a tortoise? He is not going to heal if he can still stick his spikey forearms in there.
I'd love some input or opinions on this!
Disclaimer: Tortoise is not an actual licensed medical professional, stethoscope is in 3rd picture just for size scale
