Injury or birth defect
 

Hi all, had a vet appointment today. My 10 year old male star has been loosing weight and not been himself recently so I took him to our specialist vet. His exam was uneventful until the vet poked his finger in to the rear leg area to get his head out of the shell to examin him. After this whilst preparing an anti -inflammatory injection I noticed fresh blood from his rear leg area. On closer inspection the skin has detached from the Supracaudal? area. He is booked in for an operation to reattach the flesh using holes in his shell and sutures/skin glue to reattach. I wondered if anyone has experienced this and can offer advise or even an explanation of why this could have happened. Many thanks

Is this vet a tortoise specialist?
As this does not sound right to me. I have never heard of reattaching skin in over 35years of keeping tortoises and being on the net.
I personally would go on the tortoise trust forum and ask Andy Highfield. He is not everyone's cup of tea,but very experienced with this sort of information.
Poking a tortoises leg should not detach the skin, unless their was another underlying problem.

Totally agree with Sandy I have never seen or heard of this myself. Andy is the best person to speak to. Seems a coincidence this occurred straight away after the examination.

oh sorry I thought on the other thread you found it to exist but not as a result of the examination - skin pulled from the scute is usually as a result of it being 'torn', can't imagine its genetic but Andy will know and usually picks up post quickly. CB

I have tried to register with the mentioned forum but have not been accepted and still can't post, would anyone be willing or able help, his op is booked for tomorrow am, many many thanks

Sorry I won't be much good but I saw your further post and wanted to respond somehow. If Sandy and Terry haven't heard of this then it must be a highly unusual procedure but I'm guessing that there isn't much option now but to go ahead.

It would be a very odd thing to do if your vet just invented this technique on the spur of the moment. I'm wondering if this problem is the reason your star has been losing weight or is it something quite separate.

I'm wishing you and your star all the best for tomorrow.

Thank you, yes I think it could be why he's been loosing weight although he's never been the healthiest of torts with tiny pinprick sized nares and reoccurring chest problems, have to keep an extra close eye on this one. I will update later.

Good luck Maddz, I hope all goes well.

As sandy and Terry have said this is also a new one on me.
The only thing I can think of is the vet you have seen has no idea at all and what they are looking at could just be shed skin which if you have never seen it before might be why he is thinking what he is is there anyway you can post a picture so we can advise better.