Tortoise with very puffy neck (renal disease?)

abe_97

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May 26, 2020
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Hi all,

Bear with me, it's a bit of a story. A little background: about 6 months ago, my tort stopped eating suddenly and was very inactive. I immediately brought it to the vet and after extensive treatments in and out of the vet and regular medication at home, my tort is finally doing much better.

My vet refered me to a specialist near my city and they did a CT scan to see if there were any abnormalities... Everything was fine and my tort seemed healthy on the books according to the specialists. My vet's conclusion was that my tort had a chronic kidney disease since his uric acid levels were abnormally high unless he was on meds (allopurinol).

Fast forward to now, and I'm indefinitely giving him allopurinol and eicosaderm (omega-3 to prevent inflammation) every day (forever?...)

My tort is generally doing fine now. He eats decently. Is quite energetic at times and is staying well hydrated. The issue I'm having is his crazy puffy neck - sometimes to the point that he can't put his back into his shell fully. Some days it's puffier than others. Sometimes his neck goes back to normal (more-or-less). What is this? Water retention? Has anyone seen this before? My vet has no idea either.

PXL_20201103_065930798.jpgPXL_20201103_065922195.jpg
 

abe_97

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May 26, 2020
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Also wanted to add that his skin is constantly shedding around his neck. He also completely changed colors after the treatments at the vet. He turned much darker in color on his front legs and face/head. Has anyone seen this before? Anyone have a guess what caused this? No answers from vet on this either.
 

abe_97

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May 26, 2020
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Poor guy... did his neck swell up before? Or did that just started since the treatment? Did you try soaking him in warm water?

I've been giving his soaks almost every day because I don't believe he drinks on his own when I'm not around during the day. He's been well hydrated, I've been paranoid about that, so I'm sure that's ok.

His neck started puffing maybe two days after I got him back from the initial treatment at the vet. They kept him for around 72 hours, and the vet said they gave him hydration shots and his regular meds and wanted to monitor if his uric acid levels would go down (I think she said he was at 400 when 100-150 is normal). It was successful thankfully. But his neck keeps puffing up almost 3-4 times per week like I nthe photo. It's got me worries.
 
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I've been giving his soaks almost every day because I don't believe he drinks on his own when I'm not around during the day. He's been well hydrated, I've been paranoid about that, so I'm sure that's ok.

His neck started puffing maybe two days after I got him back from the initial treatment at the vet. They kept him for around 72 hours, and the vet said they gave him hydration shots and his regular meds and wanted to monitor if his uric acid levels would go down (I think she said he was at 400 when 100-150 is normal). It was successful thankfully. But his neck keeps puffing up almost 3-4 times per week like I nthe photo. It's got me worries.
I must have to do with the hydration shots, it never happened before. My Pirate just got an Vitamin A/d injection and since this injection his leg is swollen and won’t use it, still try to figure this out too??‍♂️... it just takes a long time till those little guys heal.
 
Joined
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Messages
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Location (City and/or State)
Huntington Beach California
I've been giving his soaks almost every day because I don't believe he drinks on his own when I'm not around during the day. He's been well hydrated, I've been paranoid about that, so I'm sure that's ok.

His neck started puffing maybe two days after I got him back from the initial treatment at the vet. They kept him for around 72 hours, and the vet said they gave him hydration shots and his regular meds and wanted to monitor if his uric acid levels would go down (I think she said he was at 400 when 100-150 is normal). It was successful thankfully. But his neck keeps puffing up almost 3-4 times per week like I nthe photo. It's got me worries.
I think the soaks really help them, hope we can figure out what causes the swelling, there are a lot of great people here at then forum which can help for sure
 

abe_97

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Joined
May 26, 2020
Messages
27
Location (City and/or State)
Montreal
I must have to do with the hydration shots, it never happened before. My Pirate just got an Vitamin A/d injection and since this injection his leg is swollen and won’t use it, still try to figure this out too??‍♂️... it just takes a long time till those little guys heal.

But his neck is not constantly swollen. I feel like it's water retention because his neck often shrinks back down to a relatively normal size. And then the next day, I'll wake him up to see that his neck is supper puffy, and maybe later in the day it'll go back to normal.. it's very strange.

The hydration shots were done about 6 months ago, so I doubt it's that.
 
Joined
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Location (City and/or State)
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But his neck is not constantly swollen. I feel like it's water retention because his neck often shrinks back down to a relatively normal size. And then the next day, I'll wake him up to see that his neck is supper puffy, and maybe later in the day it'll go back to normal.. it's very strange.

The hydration shots were done about 6 months ago, so I doubt it's that.
Yeah that’s super weird. At least he is eating normal and is active. That’s a good sign. Hope one of the veterans here has an idea.?????? I’m sure everything will be fine
 

KarenSoCal

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I must have to do with the hydration shots, it never happened before. My Pirate just got an Vitamin A/d injection and since this injection his leg is swollen and won’t use it, still try to figure this out too??‍♂️... it just takes a long time till those little guys heal.

Vitamin shots, especially vit A, are known to sometimes cause horrible skin issues. We recommend never allowing a vet to give any vitamin shots. They are not needed, and cause problems.
 
Joined
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Vitamin shots, especially vit A, are known to sometimes cause horrible skin issues. We recommend never allowing a vet to give any vitamin shots. They are not needed, and cause problems.
His skin looks good, the leg is still swollen, hope the swelling is going away soon, wish I could apply something to reduce swelling
 

JMM

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Worcester, MA
Clearly you care a great deal for your little guy. What type of specialist did you see?
Hi all,

Bear with me, it's a bit of a story. A little background: about 6 months ago, my tort stopped eating suddenly and was very inactive. I immediately brought it to the vet and after extensive treatments in and out of the vet and regular medication at home, my tort is finally doing much better.

My vet refered me to a specialist near my city and they did a CT scan to see if there were any abnormalities... Everything was fine and my tort seemed healthy on the books according to the specialists. My vet's conclusion was that my tort had a chronic kidney disease since his uric acid levels were abnormally high unless he was on meds (allopurinol).

Fast forward to now, and I'm indefinitely giving him allopurinol and eicosaderm (omega-3 to prevent inflammation) every day (forever?...)

My tort is generally doing fine now. He eats decently. Is quite energetic at times and is staying well hydrated. The issue I'm having is his crazy puffy neck - sometimes to the point that he can't put his back into his shell fully. Some days it's puffier than others. Sometimes his neck goes back to normal (more-or-less). What is this? Water retention? Has anyone seen this before? My vet has no idea either.
Obviously you care for your little guy very much. It's unclear which vet you are working with--your normal vet or the specialist? They should be able to figure out what the puffiness is.
 

abe_97

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Clearly you care a great deal for your little guy. What type of specialist did you see?

Obviously you care for your little guy very much. It's unclear which vet you are working with--your normal vet or the specialist? They should be able to figure out what the puffiness is.

I've been working closely with my normal vet. She's a generalist with exotic animals and she mentioned she's worked with turtles in the past. After a lot of testing and back and forth - things weren't looking very good for my tort at one point and she was out of options. She told me to consider the possibility of putting him down since he looked like he was in pain. I of course refused - I wasn't giving up and I never considered it ever, just wasn't an option, I knew the situation could get better. .

She wanted to get a CT scan to get a better look at the problem, so I called another exotic vet center further away from my city. And as it happens, the vet that was responsible for overlooking the CT scan was a name I recognized. I had met a tortoise breeder in my city a long time ago and he recommended him to me since he's worked with tortoises for decades. I asked him if he can take over my tortoise's case after the CT scan, but he didn't want to interfere with my vet's business... Anyways he said that based on the CT scan, my tort looks fine.
 

abe_97

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Clearly you care a great deal for your little guy. What type of specialist did you see?

Obviously you care for your little guy very much. It's unclear which vet you are working with--your normal vet or the specialist? They should be able to figure out what the puffiness is.

Also to add. At the time the puffiness and skin color change had already started, so I asked him about that too. He didn't know what it was. I think he mentioned it might be related to his renal disease. That's if the diagnosis is correct.
 

crimson_lotus

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was bloodwork done? edema is often caused by renal/kidney failure and can probably be caught via bloodwork....but its really strange that, if this were the case, only one part of your tort's body is swelling
 

abe_97

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was bloodwork done? edema is often caused by renal/kidney failure and can probably be caught via bloodwork....but its really strange that, if this were the case, only one part of your tort's body is swelling

Yes a lot of bloodwork was done. But it's been almost 3 months since his last bloodwork.

I asked the vet to give him a little time to recover since we were doing bloodwork once per month. My tort wouldn't eat and would need to adjust every time I brought him back home which sucked. So we're doing it every 3 months now.
 

JMM

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The change in skin color and the swelling are very concerning. You need to get this little guy in for a thorough exam and workup now--you shouldn't wait.
 

abe_97

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The change in skin color and the swelling are very concerning. You need to get this little guy in for a thorough exam and workup now--you shouldn't wait.

It's definitely a huge concern right now.

There aren't many exotic vets where I live unfortunately. The two vets I'm in contact with are the best options in my city (Montréal, Canada). I've looked and those are the only exotic vet centers available.

Also, they are really expensive. I spent 3000$ just for the treatment, meds and back and forth bloodwork. Also, I was super broke at the time too because of covid. Thankfully, I have a stable financial situation now after finding work.

Anyway, if either of them can do anything to actually get tangible answers, then I'm in and idc how much it would cost - I just want my tort to be comfortable and to live a good next few years of his life and hopefully decades of health to comes. But my vet is just throwing meds my way and not giving me answers on exactly why he's got a puffy neck and why his skin color drastically changed, why he's shedding constantly... I'm a bit frustrated and afraid for my tort to say the least...
 

Skip K

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Maybe a reaction to something in the torts environ or diet or debris trapped in the folds of skins? Kudos to your dedication to your animal!
 
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