Tortoise suspected bladder stone surgery help please????

[Stellanne]

Originally Posted by CherryBrandy

I remember taking my dog to the vets for his jab which I paid for and the vet charged me a consultation fee. I asked the receptionist why and they went and enquired and came back and said because I asked what the life cycle of a flea was. I just stood there blinking I honestly thought she was joking. Shop around and ask for their code of practice or code of ethics too if unsure but definitely ask for a breakdown of the costs as you will find they will charge for things like two pairs of rubber sterile gloves @ £5.99, and other items you can choose not to have, like a supplement of 10 grammes taken from a jar of 100grammes and pay for the whole jar.. where another surgery won't. CB

Consultation..... this is so rubbish isn't it? Is this not part of conversation.... and a request for knowledge... it may take years to train to be a vet....but I guess like every high qualified person.... common sense disappears ... x X X hugs X X x

[Suze65]

I'm quite lucky, by the sounds of things. Although seeing a specialist vet is more expensive, my vet and I have alsorts of conversations about the whole reptile /tort subject at no extra cost, I think she enjoys seeing my torts, as she doesn't see torts very often. And the nurses like to see them too, it's good experience for them.

[Cjmur]

Hello again everyone,
I really do appreciate all your replies.

Just a quick update that my little tortoise has her operation on tomorrow morning (Monday 26/09/16) The vets have been doing everything they can to make her as strong as possible before having surgery as she was very dehydrated due to the stone. They are very pleased with her progress so far but it is still classed as a high-risk operation because my tort is so small and can't afford to lose a lot of blood.

There was the option to not proceed with building her strength up or do the surgery and have her put to sleep, but I didn't even consider that.

I am hoping for a positive outcome and will update after the operation.

[Tatty91]

Hi Cjmur. How did the operation go? I am so pleased you caught the bladder stone before it was too late and surgery was an option. Unfortunately my little tort Mabel passed away this week as a result of a bladder stone that wasn't detected in time.

[Ozric Jonathan]

I'm really sorry to hear that Tatty. Look after yourself in the coming days.

[Cjmur]

Hello Tatty, thank you for asking about the op. I am so sorry to hear about Mabel, I really am.

For anyone else reading too, this is a pretty long post, but please read. I feel it is important if you have no experience with bladder stones, like me, because I wish I was more knowledgeable on the subject earlier.

Sadly, Jen didn’t make it. She passed away on September 30th. The operation was a success, the stone was removed completely. The problem was that the location of the stone meant that she couldn’t pass faeces and some of it had somehow worked its way into her bladder (my vet had never seen this happen before – apparently it’s quite rare) Anyway, faeces in a bladder is never a good sign and there was an incredibly high risk of bacterial infection. We got to bring her home but she had a feeding tube which we had to use 4 times a day, and also injections to try and combat the bacteria infection. Two days after bringing her home she was getting worse, not better, we took her back to the vets but the infection was too much for her to fight and she passed away a few hours later. I must admit, I was, and still am completely distraught. I loved her so much.

I have another tortoise who is 2 years old (called Elsa) and we took her for a full check-up just to be on the safe side, after what happened with Jen. Well, it seems I am just extremely unlucky, because Elsa has a stone too. She has her operation tomorrow (Wednesday 12th October) so I am just hoping for a better outcome. My vet cannot explain what I was doing wrong – my feeding, lighting, supplements, drinking, housing ect. is all perfect. There is absolutely no reason why either of my tortoises should have gotten a stone, but they did.

I would seriously urge everyone, regardless of how old your tortoises are, or how well you look after them, to go and get an x-ray done for them! Maybe get one yearly too. They are only around £50-£75, and it may even be cheaper where you are. If the stone is caught soon enough it can be removed via the upper back leg, which is a lot less invasive than what my two torts needed, which is part of their bottom shell removed and glued back in place, because the stone was so big.

Tortoises often show no signs of bladder stones, and it’s not like they can tell us something is wrong. I naively thought Jen was just constipated or something, but after not passing faeces for a week or two, I took her to the vets, but I never dreamed it was because of a stone. If you have any doubts, get them checked out.

With my younger tortoise, Elsa, the vet was astonished she has a stone too because she is so lively, eating plenty, passing both urine and faeces normally. She showed absolutely no signs of having a stone, yet she has one of equal size to Jen. I would have never got Elsa x-rayed if it wasn’t for Jen getting a stone. Hopefully I have caught Elsa’s stone just in time.

I was seriously unaware that bladder stones could be such a big problem and if someone had told me about them, I would have got my torts x-rayed sooner, and it wouldn’t have been as serious. So please, anyone reading this, go and get your tortoises x-rayed to check for a stone if you haven’t already. Even if your vet thinks there is no need for such a thing, ask for it anyway. Even if you don’t think there’s any need for it, you never know what is going on inside of their little bodies. It isn’t a very common thing to happen, but it still happens, and it really could save their lives.