Sid has an abscess!

[Robert]

Unfortunately Sid seems to be going through a rough patch. He was lethargic yesterday and chose to stay in his house almost all day. Erin noticed that he had a swollen lump along the underside of his chin on one side. This morning the lump had doubled in size and Sid still seemed lethargic.

He eats when fed, but has not been grazing all that much. A huge change from the past week. He is also passing normal stool.

Erin took him to the vet today. Due to the fact that we don't have much of a baseline for Sid, the vet decided to draw blood and run some tests. She lanced the abscess and drew quite a bit of clear fluid. Erin will be taking Sid back on Thursday for a follow up. If necessary, the vet will perform a complete I&D of the abscess. She will also be starting antibiotics once the blood work comes back.

Hopefully he will be on the up and up by weeks end.

 

[dmarcus]

I am so sorry to hear that, hopefully Sid makes a full recovery...

 

[zesty_17]

sorry to hear this, good luck with him.

 

[RV's mom]

Good Luck ~ RV sends her regards and get well wishes too.

teri

 

[coreyc]

Get well Sid

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

Here is a pic of the abscess…. It is under his jaw, lower left. Poor buddy

 

[Tony the tank]

Hey Robert... I'm sorry to hear about Sid... Prayer for a speedy recovery... If there is anything I can do..Just let me know...

 

[AnthonyC]

Get well soon, Sid!!

 

[Torty Mom]

Sorry to hear about Sid, hopefully he will get better soon! It's so sad when the torties don't act normal!! Glad you caught it early and took him in!

 

[froghaven5]

Hope Sid is feeling better soon!

 

[ascott]

Robert, I noticed that you said the vet pulled clear fluid from the abscess....usually it has some cottage cheese looking stuff as the main part of the swell....was there cottage cheese junk also?

I ask only because there was suspicion with my old man Humphry that one or more of his salivary glands was running overtime when I had to have a HUGE HUGE HUGE abscess cleared....he came to me with the huge second tortoise growing from the side of his head... I can only imagine what agony my poor old man was in....my point here, he should be just fine....I had to do two weeks of daily antibiotic shots along with 2 daily cleanings/flushings...lets just say, Humph was pissed but he sure is loving life these days.....

OH ONE MORE THING (this is my OCD, totally) please please please remember that all it takes is a fly to make the open sore a new disaster....I pulled my old man in for the entire two weeks of treatment and until the open wound area completely closed up and no longer an invitation for every fly in the area....

---

I mean like anything that buzzed around our house was seeked out, hunted down and killed.....so silly, when ever someone would come in the house, I was like "aaaaaa, shut the door will ya, don't let in any stupid flies".....OCD at it's finest....

 

[Torty Mom]

Not OCD, a woman who loves her torties!

The fly thing, yeah totally gross!!

 

[tyler0912]

Sorry to hear,
hope he makes a full recovery! xx in my prayers..

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

Robert, I noticed that you said the vet pulled clear fluid from the abscess....usually it has some cottage cheese looking stuff as the main part of the swell....was there cottage cheese junk also?

I ask only because there was suspicion with my old man Humphry that one or more of his salivary glands was running overtime when I had to have a HUGE HUGE HUGE abscess cleared....he came to me with the huge second tortoise growing from the side of his head... I can only imagine what agony my poor old man was in....my point here, he should be just fine....I had to do two weeks of daily antibiotic shots along with 2 daily cleanings/flushings...lets just say, Humph was pissed but he sure is loving life these days.....

OH ONE MORE THING (this is my OCD, totally) please please please remember that all it takes is a fly to make the open sore a new disaster....I pulled my old man in for the entire two weeks of treatment and until the open wound area completely closed up and no longer an invitation for every fly in the area....

---

I mean like anything that buzzed around our house was seeked out, hunted down and killed.....so silly, when ever someone would come in the house, I was like "aaaaaa, shut the door will ya, don't let in any stupid flies".....OCD at it's finest....

---

I took Sid to the vet and can attest it was clear fluid. The vet gave the option of leaving it open and flushing it daily to heal it but was worried because he lives outside. So she said she could clean it all out, stitch him up and put him on
antibiotics. I thought that messing with his normal routine of grazing all day would add to his distress but you make a really good point! Rob and I will try and set up a tort recovery room today and maybe just let him out for sun and supervised grazing. Thank you

 

[Robert]

It is hard to know what to do while Sid is healing.

Outside = more room, grazing, sunlight, less stress but potentially 'dirty' conditions

Or

Inside= less room, no grazing, MVB bulb, more stress but potentially 'clean' conditions


*. The vet said that if he was housed indoors, she would leave the wound open during healing but that if he is outside 100% then she feels better cleaning it and stitching it to keep out contaminants.

 

[Robert]

Here are a few pics:

First the "good" side:

Now the "bad" side:

 

[Tony the tank]

Rob Im not sure if it different in tortoises.. But when any of my other reptiles developed an abscess or any medical condition.. I kept them all on the high end of the temp requirements...seemed to have helped..

But I'm sure you already know this.. But I figure what can it hurt..

Stay safe

 

[drgnfly2265]

((HUGS)) for Sid

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

Positive thoughts for Sid please his surgery is tomorrow morning. The good new's is that his blood work came back and he is very healthy! No elevated white or red cell's. So it seem's to be a localized infection or cyst. We will know tomorrow.

 

[Torty Mom]

Hugs and positive thought coming your way! Everything will go perfectly and he will be stomping around the yard soon!