I've been a little worried about Charlotte, my Red Footed Tortoise, and the frequency of her sneezing lately. It's possible that I'm worrying for no reason, but I thought I would get some second opinions on the matter regardless of how dumb or minor it may seem.
My tortoises enclosure is currently in my bedroom, so I can hear her sneezing, sometimes baby sneezes and sometimes big sneezes, rather frequently from my bed, which is about 5 feet away.She also makes a whistling sound when she breathes - which she's always done, by the way, but it's hard for me to tell if this is normal or if this could be an issue. When she was given to me in December of 2013, she had pneumonia. She stopped treatment for her pneumonia in May 2014 and she still whistled when she breathed, so I thought hey this could just be how she sounds when she's breathing. Maybe her breathing is just loud...It's been this way ever since.
Her medication from December to May of 2014 was ceftazidime every 3 days, and I went through about 4 cycles. We X-rayed her lungs monthly to see the progress of the medicaton, and in May my vet told me anything that was left on the x-ray was scar tissue, so we stopped treatment.
She has a healthy appetite, her eyes are nice and clear, and she appears to be active, although she was always active and always ate, even in her sickness. My temperatures are 80-84 on the cool side, 90-95 in her basking area. I use coco coir as substrate (I've had cypress mulch, top soil, and repti-bark in the past, so I've narrowed out sensitivity to substrate) and her humidity is about 80-90%. I have a Mistking to keep her substrate moist, but not too wet. She's even grown about 3 inches all around since I've had her.
My worry is that perhaps we never 100% cured her pneumonia and it could still be lingering. What do you guys think? I have a vet appointment for next Saturday but I would rather not stress her out from the 45 minute car ride if I don't have to.
My tortoises enclosure is currently in my bedroom, so I can hear her sneezing, sometimes baby sneezes and sometimes big sneezes, rather frequently from my bed, which is about 5 feet away.She also makes a whistling sound when she breathes - which she's always done, by the way, but it's hard for me to tell if this is normal or if this could be an issue. When she was given to me in December of 2013, she had pneumonia. She stopped treatment for her pneumonia in May 2014 and she still whistled when she breathed, so I thought hey this could just be how she sounds when she's breathing. Maybe her breathing is just loud...It's been this way ever since.
Her medication from December to May of 2014 was ceftazidime every 3 days, and I went through about 4 cycles. We X-rayed her lungs monthly to see the progress of the medicaton, and in May my vet told me anything that was left on the x-ray was scar tissue, so we stopped treatment.
She has a healthy appetite, her eyes are nice and clear, and she appears to be active, although she was always active and always ate, even in her sickness. My temperatures are 80-84 on the cool side, 90-95 in her basking area. I use coco coir as substrate (I've had cypress mulch, top soil, and repti-bark in the past, so I've narrowed out sensitivity to substrate) and her humidity is about 80-90%. I have a Mistking to keep her substrate moist, but not too wet. She's even grown about 3 inches all around since I've had her.
My worry is that perhaps we never 100% cured her pneumonia and it could still be lingering. What do you guys think? I have a vet appointment for next Saturday but I would rather not stress her out from the 45 minute car ride if I don't have to.
