Tortoise - Poo Problem Update

[pepper2924]

Hello on our recent thread we had a few replies on our feeding, bathing ect and where told we where doing everything right. Since then we have taken tortuga to the vets and they have confirmed "she" is being fed correctly. However it appears that little 1 year old tortuga has 2 masses seeming to be bladder stones, so she is booked in for an operation on monday, and we have been told to change from hemp to top soil and sand. Any suggestions on when to change should we change after the operation, she really likes her hemp bedding. Is it normal garden top soil or a specific sand ect?
Thanks for any help.

[Alan1]

Sterilised topsoil from B&Q or Homebase or Wickes. Are the bladder stones so large that it can't pass them did the vet say? They can pass fairly large stones with a lot of bathing and some baby oil up the rear end when it's got to the point where it's actually trying to pass it

[pepper2924]

Originally Posted by Alan1

Sterilised topsoil from B&Q or Homebase or Wickes. Are the bladder stones so large that it can't pass them did the vet say? They can pass fairly large stones with a lot of bathing and some baby oil up the rear end when it's got to the point where it's actually trying to pass it

"origionally took her to the vet because she seems to have a bad leg, and she had only seemed to do small poops the last few weeks"
Yeah the stones are too big to pass, there are two masses the vet said from the x-ray, and she is only a year old and quite small, we had been bathing daily as we thought it was constipation. She is still trying but is managing wees though. Vet said her diet is ok though maybe she had them when we bought her. she weighs about 4oz, vet is just worried due to size but she has gone to a specialized reptile vet.
She is settled in hemp but should we change her to topsoil before the operation. Vet said to not feed her, but bath her everday monday.

Also she was fine in herself eating everyday ect the vet could not understand why with these masses she was still eating.

[sandy]

Originally Posted by pepper2924

Hello on our recent thread we had a few replies on our feeding, bathing ect and where told we where doing everything right. Since then we have taken tortuga to the vets and they have confirmed "she" is being fed correctly. However it appears that little 1 year old tortuga has 2 masses seeming to be bladder stones, so she is booked in for an operation on monday, and we have been told to change from hemp to top soil and sand. Any suggestions on when to change should we change after the operation, she really likes her hemp bedding. Is it normal garden top soil or a specific sand ect?
Thanks for any help.

Bladder stones are mostly caused by dehydration, so up the bathing.
After any op, your tortoise needs to be on newspaper, to help stop infections. At least for a little while. Then top soil is the natural substrate of tortoises.

[pepper2924]

Originally Posted by sandy

Bladder stones are mostly caused by dehydration, so up the bathing.
After any op, your tortoise needs to be on newspaper, to help stop infections. At least for a little while. Then top soil is the natural substrate of tortoises.

Thanks for the reply she always had 3 baths a week and always had fresh drinking water every day which we saw her drinking from, she has always had a bit of a funny leg and read that this could be a symptom of stones. We just thought she was constipated and took her because she developed a bad leg, previous 3 weeks we bathed her every day because we thought it was constipated, and every few baths a little bit of poop was there when we dryed her.
The vet tried an enema first then an x-ray and found the masses.

[Alan1]

A bath every day when young is good

[sandy]

Originally Posted by Alan1

A bath every day when young is good

I agree with Alan, all the time tortoises are under the same heat all day, they need to be bathed every day:0)

[Barnclai]

Slightly off topic but I found this post helpful as a new owner, I have 3 young torts I've adopted and I've been bathing them daily and most days they each do quite a big poo it's formed is this normal? They just seem massive compared to the size of the tort

[egyptiandan64]

It's normal

Danny

[Alan1]

It's not always the best policy to assume that a vet is always correct. A specialised reptile vet maybe but many cat/dog/cow/sheep vets don't know much about tortoises and just give it their best shot. I've seen it so often on here, posts about what vets have wrongly diagnosed, many don't know what's male or female or what species they are but of course there are also many who do.
An x-ray is pretty hard to disagree with though. I wouldn't like to guess why the vet thinks it shouldn't be eating, I'm not sure if they should be eating or not but when mine have had stones it didn't stop them eating but the stones were not ones that couldn't be passed.
Are you sure it has a problem with it's leg rather than just have it twisted behind it when basking? A lot of new owners think their tort has a leg problem when in fact it's just what they do when basking. A problem when walking is different though.
They can swallow stones as well as have bladder stones form.