A bit of blood......

[yuna1971]

Originally Posted by Star

Hi Yuna,

At the end of the day, your decision is the final one.

As with the blood in the urine, yesterday you said you had seen this before and that it was much more then..............

There are many possibilities as I said, but one of them is as a result of over feeding dandelions: if she has been over eating on dandelions, this can cause a reddish discoloration of the urine as well so it may not have been blood, but again, I am not certain as I didnt see what Lily produced in her urine.

If this does happen again then try and take a picture, it could help.

Does Lily have full access to water? if you could give a brief overview of her housing conditions and daily routine, that may also help in trying to identify any additional issues that could have contributed....

Good luck again

Lily eats dandilion leaves, there is also a weed of which I am unsure of which it is - it has 3 leaves on it, like jagged nettle type leaves. It is soft to the touch, and comes in different shades of green, they kind of spread all over the garden if left to grow. I had always presumed these were ok if he ate them as they generally avoid weeds which are not good for them. If Lily doesnt take it from my hand at first offering - that is my cue to not feed him those. There are a lot like this in my garden, nothing has been sprayed or had any kind of repellent on them. I guess I just use a method which they probably adapt to if they were in the wild. They would not eat things they didnt like the smell of and avoid them. I sometimes feed him clover, and a slightly prickly one (not hard prickles) - is this ox tongue or ox thistle - I am sure I have seen it on one of the pages, mixed with this is watercress, rommaine lettuce and a bit of cabbage. I sometimes give a small slice of apple or pear. None of this I would say is drastic. You can only go by what your tort tells you that he/she likes or will eat - they dont eat it, dont feed it. I am never feeding fruit in any great proportions and try to mix the weeds up. I also use Nutrobal every day to put on top. The lighting - I have made known before on a post about lighting - which is a 60w basking bulb, and an Arcadia D3 6% uva/uvb strip which is one of the best strips on the market (if read up on). He does go in the garden and after munching on some weeds, he then usually makes a bee line for the dirt patch where I have shrubs growing. He will not usually eat shrubs, but mainly plods along quite happily - but munches all sorts of stuff - mainly small stones, bits of shell (from snails - yuk) and even bird poo (although I do move him if he keeps doing this) - sometimes, he has crunched dried dirt. I let him do what comes natuarally. WHen back inside, he is usually racing about - following me everywhere and butting his girlie cuddly toys, and this sometimes leads to the amourous activity.
*********UPDATE!!!! Vet has just called me and suggests I keep an eye on it for a couple of days. I if spot any more - then to make an appointment. But she (Polly Cornwall) said that it is more than llikely that Lily has over exerted himself with the bonking and burst a little weeny blood vessel. She knew also of the time before. She said that pointers that is probably wasnt anything to worry about - was the fact that Lily is eating, basking, active, doing his normal stuff. Mother has been down today - and Lily has eaten food of this morning, and there was poo there - no blood in the poop. So I will be watching him over the next few days and see if I see anymore. ****** This is what I was trying to mention before - it is easy to work things into hysteria of what things CAN be. But we know our torts, and their behaviour perhaps can lead the way plus a little common sense. After all, if we had anything bad with us as humans, we would not eat and be lethargic - I would imagine any animal including torts would be the same.*** I am relieved ....at least for now.

[Star]

Yuna,

I am glad you got the all clear from the vets and that she advised you to keep an eye on Lily.

At the end of the day, advice is just that, what you do with it is down to you.........but when you ask for advice and others can only go by what you say, at the end of the advice you are the one that really needs to asses the situation.

If you wasn't concerned then you would never have asked, people are only here to try and offer advice and throughout the advice, you were told to keep an eye on it and if it reoccurred to seek medical attention, which is exactly what the vet has Reiterated.

Good luck

[yuna1971]

I apologise Star if I have offended you or anyones advice. I tread carefully on here as I value all the advice, and yes it is why I ask - kind of to get reassurance and knowledge and advice. I wasnt trying to make out that I dont listen, gosh - nothing can be further from the truth. I simply took it upon myself to call the vet and just discuss the situation and see if it could have been something else. The vet came back and just gave me the answer that I had hoped for. It is good that sometimes perhaps as tort owners and that we care so much that small things can get hyped into hysteria - I say that as a general comment.
Once again, I apologise if I gave you the impression that any advice including yours was not taken or ignored.
I despair sometimes....I really feel that I walk on eggshells with what to say on here. I joined to share and gain advice and knowledge. It just seems I forever worrying if I have upset someone with any thing I put....

[Star]

Hi Yuna,

I fully understand and in no way do I feel offended by your response

Its difficult when your struggling to gain an insight into what is going on with your tortoise, especially if the symptoms seem internal, believe me I have been there.

Most people here are extremely understanding and only try their best to offer valuable advice, if you feel frightened about what you say, then thats wrong, as long as your not rude then no one should be offended, and if anyone displayed aggression towards you or any other member, then that definitely is not tolerated in this forum, and should be reported right away to one of the moderators.

Often when people write, its hard to judge the tone, and can easily become miss interpreted, so please dont feel offended by anything I have said.

All I wish for, is that your tortoise is happy and healthy and that your not stressed by the situation your in.

I wish you both lots of luck
x

P.S
I also wanted to say that I was extremely glad that you contacted the vet, and that she helped reassure you, its important to seek professional advice in-situations where your either concerned or witness something out of the ordinary, if this helps to reassure you. I only stated the obvious to highlight that you said you feel that people over dramatise situations, but the advice given to you was in line with that of the vets. I hope your feeling much better and much more reassured. From your other postings on your other thread, where you stated that you were extremely distraught and crying, I felt very helpless to help you.

[yuna1971]

Originally Posted by Star

Hi Yuna,

I fully understand and in no way do I feel offended by your response

Its difficult when your struggling to gain an insight into what is going on with your tortoise, especially if the symptoms seem internal, believe me I have been there.

Most people here are extremely understanding and only try their best to offer valuable advice, if you feel frightened about what you say, then thats wrong, as long as your not rude then no one should be offended, and if anyone displayed aggression towards you or any other member, then that definitely is not tolerated in this forum, and should be reported right away to one of the moderators.

Often when people write, its hard to judge the tone, and can easily become miss interpreted, so please dont feel offended by anything I have said.

All I wish for, is that your tortoise is happy and healthy and that your not stressed by the situation your in.

I wish you both lots of luck
x

P.S
I also wanted to say that I was extremely glad that you contacted the vet, and that she helped reassure you, its important to seek professional advice in-situations where your either concerned or witness something out of the ordinary, if this helps to reassure you. I only stated the obvious to highlight that you said you feel that people over dramatise situations, but the advice given to you was in line with that of the vets. I hope your feeling much better and much more reassured. From your other postings on your other thread, where you stated that you were extremely distraught and crying, I felt very helpless to help you.

Star....that is what your Are. I love you star....xx Lily says thank you Star for caring about me...we communicate with blinks you see. I think that is their way of smiling. Im crazy see...me and Lil have our language! xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[yuna1971]

I think it just really scared me Star - hence the post last night. You were right about things, I guess I wanted the vet to reassure me as well. I think when you hear them say oh that probably is... then you start really opening up your eyes and ears. I just didnt want to upheave Lily, trapse him all the way to the vets, have him hide in his shell afraid and stressed...if it COULD have been anything normal, natural or just something that was right in front my eyes. I guess torts are more like humans than we think, and like us - any slight thing wrong - we think the worst. A cold is flu, trapped wind is a heart attack. Its natural for us to fear things that we cant see. I think it was like that with Lily - and probably most owners if they SEE something like that with their own eyes, we think - oh god, its gotta be bad when in fact it could just be something small. But I value all what you said, it made me take notice and talk to the vet rather than just guesswork. ....not a bad guess though, trouble with lily - too much of the old bonking is the problem here!....(will keep him watched though closely over next few days!) Star....your great. In love with the world and its brother now!! tee -hee!! xx

[Star]

I can imagine how frightened you were, I know I have been very much out of my depths with one of my tortoises and felt both frightened and absolutely lost as to what to do....but you managed very well and should be proud of yourself for getting through the worse part (the fear)



I am sure everything will work out and do keep me posted on how Lily does

[yuna1971]

I certainly will Star...thank you for your kind advice and understanding.