Constipated tortoise

[gloria.bradshaw@mail.com]

Henry is around 11 yrs old and has never hibernated. At the moment he is very constipated. Have tried lots of warm baths and not feeding for a day then giving him some tomato hoping the acid with stimulate him, to no avail.

Does anyone have any ideas to evacuate his bowels. He did do a really tiny hard turd this morning after a lot of straining. Thanks Gloria

[Suze65]

Keep giving him warm baths, 3 a day. You can give tortoise lactulose, which you can buy from a chemist, get a tiny syringe from your vet , and give him small amounts of the lactulose. You can give him warm water enimas, with a tiny syringe, pop the syring just inside the vent and squirt plenty of warm water, every day. It can take up to 2/3 weeks of doing all these things before there is any movement. It might be worth getting an X-ray done to see how bad the constipation is. Good luck.

[sandy]

Originally Posted by gloria.bradshaw@mail.com

Henry is around 11 yrs old and has never hibernated. At the moment he is very constipated. Have tried lots of warm baths and not feeding for a day then giving him some tomato hoping the acid with stimulate him, to no avail.

Does anyone have any ideas to evacuate his bowels. He did do a really tiny hard turd this morning after a lot of straining. Thanks Gloria

I would get him checked out by a tortoise vet, to make sure there is no sign of a bladder stone.

[tortydat]

Originally Posted by sandy

I would get him checked out by a tortoise vet, to make sure there is no sign of a bladder stone.

I agree with Sandy take him to a specialist vet but in the meantime keep up the warm baths.

[Gordon]

All the above book him into the vets he will need an ex ray but in the meantime lots of as hot as you can bath and make them deep enough to cover his back.

[Jan W]

Just wanted to say welcome to the forum.

[emma_mcraf]

Welcome from me too. Excellent advice from everyone. Hope you Henry well soon. All that straining doesn't sound good, so keep up the baths, offer cucumber if he'll accept food and try the warm water enema. A vet appointment is a good idea and you might find he opens his bowels on the journey.
Please let us know how he gets on.

[burnt toast]

What substrate has he been on please?
Lots of great advise above. Try taking him for a ride in a car, see it that works.

[gloria.bradshaw@mail.com]

Many thanks for all the advice. I have drop foot, followed by 2 mini strokes from contacting shingles at the base of my spine last year so driving to a specialist vet is impossible. I will buy lactulose tomorrow as I feel Henry needs a stool softener. I could also do Vets for Pets for an x ray.

Henry has the run of my 3 bed bungalow, so no substrate. They are out when it is warm in a large greenhouse or the garden and I have heat lamps in 2 places for them to sit under indoors. They have their own bedroom with several hides in and always put themselves to bed in there.

Rest assured my tortoises are my life, so I will do the best for them.

[Ozric Jonathan]

Just wanted to welcome you to the forum Gloria.

I can see that others have the constipation expertise!!