White flesh

[EppsDynasty]

Last night was a late night rescue for this Desert tortoise. It was found in Johannesburg CA, in an abandoned house’s duck pen with 5 ducks. No telling how long this poor thing suffered. Her plastron is cracked up front under her head, not the flesh it seems. It’s the scutes connected to the gular.

 

[EppsDynasty]

So had to send the pics from phone. This poor thing was covered in duck feces and mud, she stunk terrible.
Daily sterilizing for the crack, no soaks, proper heat and MAZURI pellets as food, for the crack to heal.......Right? My real question is the white flesh. All of the skin up front around her legs is White. Worried of infection from the disease ridden pen she was in. Was able to get her to eat 3 Mazuri pellets last night then on the heat pad. Today I will get a pick of her front skin. These picks are after we cleaned her up, very carefully I might add. We have enrofloxacin but hesitate to use it. So if its an infection some antibiotic names would help.

 

[wellington]

Show more pictures of the areas you are concerned with.
@Yvonne G

 

[EppsDynasty]

How bout these… also forgot to mention her right eye is closed

 

[EppsDynasty]

Here is more…..

 

[EppsDynasty]

Sorry for this mashed up thread, NOT a computer person.....I hate this d...ed keyboard.
Anyways hope these pictures are more help. My wife and I will never give up on our Jo Jo, yep we named her Jo Jo after Johannesburg. You can see clearly the broken shell has been that way for no telling how long. Maybe we'll have to make a bridge repair? It is movable but only up and down, like a soda pop tab. This makes us believe the flesh under is still attached, also no blood. We'll need all the help from everyone we can get. It is sad to look into her 1 eye and see suffering. We look forward to warm sunny days with our Jo Jo.

 

[Yvonne G]

Long (45 min. to an hour) soaks in clean, warm water daily. Add some Gerber strained carrots to the soaking water for the first three days. You can set the soaking tub back inside the enclosure NEXT to but not directly under the light. Don't worry about the broken shell. It has already mended. The skin is a normal color.

Poor little tortoise. It's lucky you were notified. They're pretty resilient, but I doubt it would have lasted much longer in those conditions.

 

[EppsDynasty]

The shell is still very mobile, it will move up n down about an inch and a half in each direction. will it ever become stiff again? and most of all Thank you my friend.

 

[zovick]

The shell is still very mobile, it will move up n down about an inch and a half in each direction. will it ever become stiff again? and most of all Thank you my friend.

A good vet might be able to stabilize the broken area of the shell with an epoxy or plastic repair. In the meantime, I would recommend NOT moving it up and down, since that repeated motion will prevent any possible natural healing from taking place.

 

[EppsDynasty]

I completely understand about the movement issue, even when picking up. We try not to at all. To stabilize the shell I support it whenever moving or picking up. For this reason I was wondering the same thing about a supporting device of some kind. The one that seems to be the vet recommended procedure is a "Bridge." If that's what needs to be done, it will. This area would require a "stiff" metal piece on each side epoxy on each end. So basically a Popsicle stick sized piece of metal cut in half, each piece on one side. This is so it will not move at all. I am currently following the suggested things as well as waiting for more input. Thank you as well for the suggestions.

 

[zolasmum]

I'm no expert, but looking at her poor little face, it seems as though one nostril is blocked, and the other may be partly blocked.perhaps you could try gently rubbing her nose with a damp cottonwool bud on a stick (I don't know the correct name) Maybe a little gentle rubbing over her face area like that would be helpful, too.
Thank you so much for taking care of little JoJo
Very best wishes to her and to you
Angie

 

[Yvonne G]

Yeah stabilizing the shell is a good idea. I didn't realize it moved that much. You can use a couple popsicle sticks and tape them front to back over the crack. But clean it well first and add some first aid cream to the seam. They heal slowly, so don't be in a hurry to check the process. You might try to GENTLY rough up the tissue in the crack to stimulate new growth.

 

[TammyJ]

What about all the white skin? I think this tortoise needs a visit to a good, experienced reptile vet . NOT a regular vet. If there is one available to take her to, especially if she is infected and needs the correct antibiotics.

 

[Yvonne G]

What about all the white skin? I think this tortoise needs a visit to a good, experienced reptile vet . NOT a regular vet. If there is one available to take her to, especially if she is infected and needs the correct antibiotics.

As I said above, white skin on desert tortoises is perfectly normal.

 

[EppsDynasty]

As I look at this, this morning it is as if heaven has opened up. As far as I'm concerned the Dr. has spoken. The first night I worried myself sick, just waiting for the ONE to answer. For those who don't know, I have spent hundreds of hours with Yvonne. Whether it was building enclosures, helping out with Vet visits, daily checkups and all kinds of other things that I just soaked up info from. I Trust with every ounce of my being what she says. In all my years I have never heard of or seen a vet that knows more about DT's than Yvonne. I sincerely appreciate your answers but REALLY trust Yvonne. A support mechanism of some sort will be the agenda for today. The first aid cream/gel I have been using is Vetericyn. It's mainly to stop anything from growing in that crack. It's a miracle that a lethal infection hasn't happened, from the duck feces. I am so happy to be on the right track, I will keep every one posted on progress.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hey, Dana, while I appreciate the praise and nice words, please remember, I'm only human, and I'm not seeing your tortoise in real time. I may be off base trying to give advice over the internet without hands on experience. Please use common sense, and if what I advise sounds off feel free to question.

 

[TammyJ]

Very interesting thread, and I know we all would love to be kept up to date as "time" and first class care, heals! We are all hoping for a complete recovery!

 

[EppsDynasty]

UPDATE: Yesterday we weighed her and made a support. 580 grams and 5 gram supporting device. The weight of the device is very important to us. I don't want it to "weigh" her down. She also defecated, little round thing. I took this as a plus, the lady that found her said she was eating sand. Worried about substrate impaction we soaked the Mazuri pellets in water. This was her second day with a hour long carrot water soak. Both times she drank ALOT of the water, poor little thing. We are wondering if the closed eye is actually a missing eye. Both nares seem open and un-obstructed, skin is starting to gain color. She soaked up the sun yesterday to because it was 90 degrees, I took advantage of the free heat and uvb.
The biggest hurdle is most likely gonna be the debrided process. It seems as the shell has been cracked with no support for long enough to try and heal. We want the crack to completely heal meaning quite a bit will need to be debrided (scraped to cause bleeding). We supported it to minimize pain and movement for now. Looking into exactly how to do a proper job. Thinking of a TORTOISE vet as well, to perform the scraping off of old growth. Need a vet that's proficient not 1 that just "knows of the procedure."

 

[EppsDynasty]

So yesterday was a good day for Jo Jo. She ate 29 grams of Mazuri pellets, moistened of course. This is exactly 5% of her body weight. It seemed as if she would never stop eating. The supporting device, Popsicle stick taped on, is working good for now. Still doing research on how to get the shell debrided, from a vet. any help would be great. As here the temp is still reaching over 80, she gets some outdoor time and some sun everyday.

 

[TammyJ]

So yesterday was a good day for Jo Jo. She ate 29 grams of Mazuri pellets, moistened of course. This is exactly 5% of her body weight. It seemed as if she would never stop eating. The supporting device, Popsicle stick taped on, is working good for now. Still doing research on how to get the shell debrided, from a vet. any help would be great. As here the temp is still reaching over 80, she gets some outdoor time and some sun everyday.

That's great! Keep posting pictures too please!