The eyes are one of the most important body parts of any animal, without eyes the quality of life of an animal will decrease quite rapidly
If your Russian tortoise has puffy eyes you’d understandably start to worry, this article looks into why this is happening with your pet
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Russian tortoise puffy eyes:
If something goes wrong with your pet, or if something is out of the ordinary, then the animal’s body will show it, like your Russian tortoise developing puffy eyes
Here is why your Russian tortoise may have puffy eyes:
Dehydration:
One of the simplest reasons why your tortoise may have swollen eyes may be that the animal is dehydrated.
If your pet isn’t drinking enough water or if it isn’t getting into the water often enough then dehydration may set in.
What to do:
Thankfully this condition can be treated at home with minimal effort. Treat the reptile by giving it a warm water soak for about 15-30 minutes.
Also, make sure that your pet always has access to clean drinking water, and water-rich foods and that you mist the animal’s enclosure, or use a humidifier in the enclosure to keep the air moist.
Vitamin A deficiency:
Your pet’s diet also plays a big role in the health of the animal. A vitamin A deficiency may cause your pet to develop puffy eyes.
When vitamin A in your pet’s body is low the epithelial tissues in your pet’s body may start to break down, this may be causing the swelling in your pet’s eyes.
What to do:
Supplementing vitamin A into your pet’s diet will help with its condition. You can give your pet vitamin A supplements or you can feed it vitamin A rich foods.
Foods that are rich in vitamin A include leafy greens like dandelion as well as yellow or orange vegetables like carrots, and other foods rich in carotenes.
You can sprinkle vitamin A supplements onto your pet’s food if the supplement is in powdered form.
You can also inject the vitamin into your pet’s body. However, it is only suggested that this be done under veterinary supervision. Overdosage of vitamin A is possible so watch out for this.
Taking your pet to the vet to make sure that there are no additional issues in your pet is also recommended.
Ear abscess:
Another reason why your pet’s eyes may be swollen may be that the animal has an ear abscess.
An ear abscess will not only affect the animal’s ears, it will affect the eyes as well because the two are so close together.
An ear abscess will cause swelling at the animal’s ear just behind the eye, this can cause the animal’s eyes to swell up and even swell shut.
What to do:
Abscesses in tortoises are usually remedied by opening the abscess and then draining out the pus.
Doing this at home on your own can cause complications and doing this on an abscess close to the animal’s eye can not only cause complications overall but can harm the eye as well.
For this reason, it is recommended that you take your pet to the vet for treatment.
The tortoise may need surgery to remove the abscess. If you can, take your pet to a herp vet rather than a general vet.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other turtle/tortoise related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Why Is My Tortoise Panting?, Hermann Tortoise Wheezing, Tortoise Drooling, Why Is My Tortoise Screaming?, Why Does My Tortoise Walk Into Walls?