Any of your pets throwing up anything will understandably be worrying to any tortoise owner, the animal throwing up blood will definitely raise some eyebrows.
This article looks into why your tortoise is throwing up blood.
Table of Contents
Tortoise throwing up blood:
Blood shouldn’t come out of your healthy tortoise for any reason, so, if your tortoise does start to throw up some blood then you’d understandably start to worry
Here is why your tortoise may be throwing up blood:
Obstruction:
Your tortoise’s pellets are designed to not only be nutritious for the animal, but they are also designed to be safe for the animal.
If your tortoise is wondering around, gets curious, and eats something that it shouldn’t be then the tortoise may start to vomit red
The something that your tortoise may have eaten, but shouldn’t have, may have been a sharp object like a sharp rock or a piece of gravel.
Once inside your pet’s body, this foreign object could have wounded your pet’s mouth or digestive tract, and this could be the reason why your pet is vomiting blood
What to do:
This isn’t something that you should be handling at home, taking your pet to the vet, or better yet to a reptile vet, is the recommended solution in this case.
This condition can be life-threatening so taking your pet to the vet as soon as possible is a must. Your vet will take an x-ray of the animal to figure out what the issue is.
Illness:
Another reason why your pet tortoise may be throwing up blood may be that it is either suffering from a respiratory infection or that the animal has a parasite in its body.
This vomiting may be the animal’s way of removing the harmful pathogens in its body. Blood may come up along with the animal’s vomiting.
What to do:
Your pet will start to develop more symptoms and this may help you figure out what is wrong with your pet. However, doing this may take a lot of time, time that your pet does not have.
For this reason, it is recommended that you take your pet to the vet, or better yet, to a Herp vet for an examination, blood tests, and treatment
Taking your pet to the vet:
There are a few things that you would need to keep in mind before you take your pet to the vet and while there
If you can’t get your pet to the vet immediately then isolating it would be recommended, doing this will keep your pet from infecting others.
Isolating the sick tortoise somewhere quiet and warm will keep it from becoming stressed. Stress can make your pet’s health issues worse.
Keep a close eye on your pet before it gets to the vet, your vet will ask you questions about the animal’s habitat, diet, and recent behavior, having this information at the ready will help with the diagnosis.
Take note of any other odd symptoms in your pet as well.
If you can, taking a sample of the vomit or taking a picture of it to take give the vet will also help with the diagnosis.
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