My tortoise has diarrhoea

[CherryBrandy]

sounds like stressed tortoise syndrome

[Jadeo09]

Originally Posted by vikki

Your choice but something clearly isn't right if your tortoise is suffering from diahorrea

hut she doesn't the majority of the time.
also it happens when she has periods where there is no lettuce.
bit I can say that countless times. common sense rules that out

[vikki]

Common Sense says that a tortoise that is 100% healthy and being kept in the correct conditions with appropriate diet doesn't regularly suffer diahorrea.

[Jadeo09]

Originally Posted by vikki

Common Sense says that a tortoise that is 100% healthy and being kept in the correct conditions with appropriate diet doesn't regularly suffer diahorrea.

Common sense says that a tortoise eating the right diet has normal poos the majority of the time and its another issue that causing the irregular diarrhoea.
Especially when the experts say its fine to feed them that

Just because there is an issue it doesn't mean its always one explanation.she obviously has diarrhoea when fed other things so that rules out your lettuce explanation

[Jadeo09]

Originally Posted by CherryBrandy

sounds like stressed tortoise syndrome

Tried researching this and found nothing?
I'll ask my vet what it is

[yuna1971]

Keep an open mind Jade, I do tend to agree with the others about the diet but I do hear what you're saying too. You checked it out with the TT and they are a reliable source. All I would say is just try the suggestions that people have mentioned. Tweak the diet and see if it makes a difference. There's nothing to lose after all.
But it is totally true in that their digestive system is slow and that it can take quite a time for foods to pass through.
Keep an open mind that's all. Hope it clears up soon xx

[CherryBrandy]

Originally Posted by Jadeo09

Tried researching this and found nothing?
I'll ask my vet what it is

Jade, , not a criticism at all as we can see you have established the facts, but Vikki is saying similar I think in that if the right food is being fed to a healthy tortoise in the right environment then she shouldn't have runny poops. The key word here is 'healthy tortoise', so this is not a criticism about you as a keeper it is a fact that something is a little amiss.
Now it maybe little Star tort has a delicate tummy on some days, and like all of us maybe just some foods don't agree with her (long time in gut passing through). She may be stressed as in its causing her anxiety, not feeling too good etc. She also eats her poops as we know - this can't help when flushing through her system and could be the cause of course.

the syndrome isn't an illness in itself but a combination of symptoms - and (extracted ) 'collection of signs and symptoms occurs in combination more frequently than would be likely by chance alone'. And I think this is what you are saying. I agree with Rach, some good advice there. take care

cb

[vikki]

Originally Posted by Jadeo09

Common sense says that a tortoise eating the right diet has normal poos the majority of the time and its another issue that causing the irregular diarrhoea.
Especially when the experts say its fine to feed them that

Just because there is an issue it doesn't mean its always one explanation.she obviously has diarrhoea when fed other things so that rules out your lettuce explanation

Read my post again and you will see that I never said it was necessarily diet but a combination of factors. I guess the best bet is to contact the "experts" and see what they say.

[Jadeo09]

Originally Posted by yuna1971

Keep an open mind Jade, I do tend to agree with the others about the diet but I do hear what you're saying too. You checked it out with the TT and they are a reliable source. All I would say is just try the suggestions that people have mentioned. Tweak the diet and see if it makes a difference. There's nothing to lose after all.
But it is totally true in that their digestive system is slow and that it can take quite a time for foods to pass through.
Keep an open mind that's all. Hope it clears up soon xx

Keeping an open mind is why I'm feeding her an alternative diet regardless of what others think because I have spent the last 6 years trying to get it right and the lettuce with Timothy hay and dried weeds produces her best poos.
I feed her a month or two at a time lettuce for a month or so and dried weeds and hay and then the next month or so fresh grasses and weeds that I've grown from shelled warriors in her soil.
So yes I am open minded and I have found that overall the month or so she has the lettuce her poo is stiffer and pellet like in comparison to the month or so of weeds and grasses.
I know it doesn't take more than a month to digest food because occasionally as a treat she has had carrot and you see bits of it in her poo within a few days.
I'm aware of her metabolism being slower than humans. I have done a lot of research into tortoise husbandry especially stars over the last 6 years and usually have consultations once a year with my specialist vet for over 30 minutes.
When it comes down to conflicting advice I generally favour the expert tortoise groups over others.
However I have tried my tortoise with both diets and her poos reflect what is best for her and the 32%crude fibre in the Timothy hay is definitely giving her better poos regardless of it having lettuce in it . so I have already ruled that out.
I came on her trying to find out what else it could be having ruled out the lettuce/timothy hay vs weed/ grass. But others prejudices have hindered me getting anywhere. However I have spoken to tortoise table and they have helped me rule the lettuce theory out.as they say my combination is fine.

Im just sad that after my explanation some people on this forum still don't understand wher as most others do.

I don't need to justify this as I had an open mind in the beginning and found out which was best for her poos in general.

[Jadeo09]

Originally Posted by vikki

Read my post again and you will see that I never said it was necessarily diet but a combination of factors. I guess the best bet is to contact the "experts" and see what they say.

I can rule that out as a factor anyway if you had read my posts properely you would understand that. And your the one who mentions lettuce constantly so much for it only being a factor. I can't see your post offering another factor/ explanation