Tortoise eye

Re: Tortoise eye

Mark Hedberg — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 21:16:53 GMT

[quote user="CatherineThomas"]

Hypovitaminosis A is a possibility but I think it's quite rare in tortoises, particularly if it is eating greens.

[/quote]

Surprisingly common; vitamin a and beta carotenes are found in brightly colored veggies; lettuce-based diets are notoriously bad at providing A vitamins.

Re: Tortoise eye

Rob Davis — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 19:19:33 GMT

[quote user="CatherineThomas"]Reptiles don't usually produce muco-purulent discharges because their heterophils don't have lysosomes, so lack of discharge doesn't mean it's not infectious. [/quote]

That's interesting - I wasn't aware of that!

[quote user="CatherineThomas"]I would still guess that husbandry is likely to be a problem.[/quote]

I will find out some more details about husbandry in due course.

Any thoughts from anybody else?

Re: Tortoise eye

CatherineThomas — Wed, 29 May 2013 19:56:02 GMT

You may be right. Mader says that Aeromonas, pasteurella and pseudomonas are commonly associated with conjunctivitis. The only one I've ever cultured came back as a staph infection. Ciprofloxacin drops might be more suitable if you can't culture. Reptiles don't usually produce muco-purulent discharges because their heterophils don't have lysosomes, so lack of discharge doesn't mean it's not infectious.

I didn't realise it was only 60g. But you could still try to get enough blood to do a blood smear at least

Hypovitaminosis A is a possibility but I think it's quite rare in tortoises, particularly if it is eating greens.

I would still guess that husbandry is likely to be a problem. A while ago I saw a tortoise that had been seen by a colleague with an interest in ophthalmology who had been treating the tortoise for weeks with antibiotics for conjunctivitis. I went through husbandry with them and told them to increase the temperatures slightly, within a week the eye was nearly back to normal.

Re: Tortoise eye

Rob Davis — Wed, 29 May 2013 19:16:42 GMT

Thanks for that, Catherine. I was under the impression that fucidic acid wasn't great against most reptile ocular pathogens, and there doesn't appear to be any discharge at present. Husbandry appears to be ok (the tortoise belongs to the brother of one of our veterinary nurses who is fairly clued up on these things). I would rather avoid blood sampling unless it is necessary - I'm no tortoise expert, and this chap is only 60g!

Re: Tortoise eye

CatherineThomas — Sat, 25 May 2013 17:15:34 GMT

I can see what they mean the lower eyelid does look slightly thicker. What is the husbandry and diet like? It depends how much they want to spend I'd probably use fucithalmic at first and see if it made a difference but I'd suspect there is some reason for this such as wrong temperatures, poor diet, lack of UV so make sure that is corrected too. A blood sample to check haematology and a profile including ionised calcium would be helpful too. You could also do culture and sensitivity if they will pay for that. The fact that they've noticed something which you think is quite subtle is a good sign, hopefully they are the kind of owners who want to do the right thing and are willing to pay for it.