I want to thank Dr. Ivan Alfonso so much for all his help in the saving and recovery of a wonderful Male Sulcatta. Below is the story of what happened with this animal and the care Ivan gave to the tortoise and us.
We rescued 5 Sulcatta Tortoise that range from about 8" to 16" in length. There were 3.2 total. One of the larger males was presented with a large swollen right jaw and side of the head. The person that dropped the Tortoises off to us stated that the swollen area had been like this for quite some time and they had taken it to a local Veterinarian clinic for check up. The local clinic (not being the best with Reptiles), took x-rays of the animal (which we all know x-Rays of a tortoise is just about impossible to use to diagnose anything because of their hard shells. Well they decided the swollen area must be an infection and prescribed anti-biotic for 2 week dosing. The owner dosed the animal and the swollen area was still not getting any smaller but in fact was getting larger. We were well aware of the ailment and diagnosis when we rescued the Tortoise. We immediately contact Ivan who's clinic is about 1-1.5 hour drive from us to see if we could bring the tortoise in for a "Real" checkup from a qualified Vet. With my work schedule and my wife's and the distance Saturday's were the only available times. Normally Ivan closes his clinic at about noon on Sat. to spend time with his family. We made an appointment at 9am and were there for the checkup. After deciding a course of action to get a good look at the animal it was agreed that we would anesthetize the animal to check it out in full. Well with a Tortoise it is a very hard animal to get down so we had to devise a method of isolating the animal to let the Isoflourane work. After Ivan decided to use a Plastic bag we tried it out and it worked perfectly. Of course Tortoises don't breath heavily and too often so it took a while to go to sleep. When he finally did go under enough for us to check it out Ivan decided to make an incision to see what was inside causing the ailment since there was nothing obvious. It was a good thing Ivan decided to perform the surgical procedure because (here is the kicker).........The swollen area was in fact packed with huge flesh eating maggots(1/4"+ long x 1/8" in width each). They were so packed that they could not move other than to eat and grown. They were so packed and eating so much that they were just below the Eye socket and had we waited probably another day, they would have eaten into the eye socket as well as the brain cavity. Ivan hand pulled them all out (about 70+ of them). Ivan cut out some dead rotten flesh, cleaned out the entire wound, packed it with SSI and gave a prescription of Anti-biotic in case there was any infection left. We were so thankful for Ivan's time, (as the surgery made it well past closing time before he was able to leave to go home) and his wonderful professionalism in everything he does. the tortoise has made a full recovery and is the most active and probably one of the healthiest Sulcatta's in Florida.
We take all our animals including our 2 German shepherds and all reptiles to Ivan simply because he is the best anywhere. Here are some pics from the procedure. They are not the best pics as they were taken with my camera phone but they show some for everyone to see. Once again than Thank you so much for Everything Dr. Alfonso.
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Rob Trenor
RK Reptiles
www.rkreptiles.com
www.rkreptiles.net
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