Tortoise wound healing
Posted: 21 Mar 2017, 22:48
Hi everyone
Thor has a ongoing problem with a wound on his face (posted aaaages ago about this on the old forum). It initially started as a suspected abscess in october 2016, was removed by the vet, and has been scabbing over ever since. He's been to the vet twice, in october and january, had the scab removed when i got a bit nervous about it, and has had two courses of antibiotics (after testing the wound for bugs). I was told to keep removing the scab to keep the tissue clean underneath (unlike my childhood scabs where I was told to leave them alone!). The wound has no obvious sign of infection, such as puss, redness, or weeping, nor is there evidence of a foreign body in the wound.
The problem is, 6 months down the line, the scab is still forming on either side of the wound, rather than evenly over the whole area. Every time I remove the scab it seems to grow back a little bigger, now getting a little close to one of his eyes. My vets have been very vague about how long these things take to heal, but I feel like 6 months should be enough time to see some improvement. I know the sensible option is to go back to the vet, but I feel like I'm just going to be given another course of antibiotics to give him, which isn't going to solve the problem. He's very small, and so is quite difficult for the vet to examine. He's in otherwise good health, with a hearty appetite and regular toilet habits, and has started to put on a gram or two a month now spring has arrived (40g). He is bathed daily. His environment is a tortoise table with top soil, and arcadia UVA UVA heat light lamp (30 degrees ave basking spot). He is isolated on newspaper for a couple of weeks when a large portion of scab is removed.
If anyone has any insight to offer on the following, I would be very grateful! Part of me feels like I'm just wasting the vets time when I've been before, and part of me is super paranoid.
Does anyone have any experience of tortoise wounds and the time-frame these things take to heal?
Does it sound like there's still a chance this will just resolve itself?
What do people thing about removing the scabs?
Could the humidity from his daily baths be affecting the scab growth?
Best Wishes
Beth and Thor
Thor has a ongoing problem with a wound on his face (posted aaaages ago about this on the old forum). It initially started as a suspected abscess in october 2016, was removed by the vet, and has been scabbing over ever since. He's been to the vet twice, in october and january, had the scab removed when i got a bit nervous about it, and has had two courses of antibiotics (after testing the wound for bugs). I was told to keep removing the scab to keep the tissue clean underneath (unlike my childhood scabs where I was told to leave them alone!). The wound has no obvious sign of infection, such as puss, redness, or weeping, nor is there evidence of a foreign body in the wound.
The problem is, 6 months down the line, the scab is still forming on either side of the wound, rather than evenly over the whole area. Every time I remove the scab it seems to grow back a little bigger, now getting a little close to one of his eyes. My vets have been very vague about how long these things take to heal, but I feel like 6 months should be enough time to see some improvement. I know the sensible option is to go back to the vet, but I feel like I'm just going to be given another course of antibiotics to give him, which isn't going to solve the problem. He's very small, and so is quite difficult for the vet to examine. He's in otherwise good health, with a hearty appetite and regular toilet habits, and has started to put on a gram or two a month now spring has arrived (40g). He is bathed daily. His environment is a tortoise table with top soil, and arcadia UVA UVA heat light lamp (30 degrees ave basking spot). He is isolated on newspaper for a couple of weeks when a large portion of scab is removed.
If anyone has any insight to offer on the following, I would be very grateful! Part of me feels like I'm just wasting the vets time when I've been before, and part of me is super paranoid.
Does anyone have any experience of tortoise wounds and the time-frame these things take to heal?
Does it sound like there's still a chance this will just resolve itself?
What do people thing about removing the scabs?
Could the humidity from his daily baths be affecting the scab growth?
Best Wishes
Beth and Thor