Gwyneth Rees [Freelance]
I don’t wish to criticise the vets (they were v nice people) but my leopard tortoise recently died and was left to suffer terribly for weeks by what I feel was inconsistent and slow treatment. I feel if they had treated this case involving a fatal infection with more urgency, she may well still be with us. Jambo had become very ill a few weeks earlier - gasping for air, not eating, lethargic, coughing. I took her to the vets v alarmed. They said she 99 per cent probably had a very serious infection (mycoplasma) that could prove fatal. She would need antibiotics, but I was strongly advised to do a swab first. Not wanting to go against this advice, I chose the swab and waited. The results took 8(!) days to come back, while Jambo just got worse. I was so worried, but when I asked again about the antibiotics, I was advised by a different vet to wait for the result. Again, I stupidly listened. Jambo had the infection. I booked her in for a tube to be fitted for antibiotics, but she laid eggs and couldn’t have it. I was told to take her home, and see if she got better. I was also told I could give her oral antibiotics if she began eating. She ate a tiny amount so being totally clueless, I opted for this. But Jambo was so ill, she stopped eating. She was gasping for air, making terrible noises, unable to walk. At one point, I rang the vets, told them Google and AI said she was going to die, and I was reassured this wasn’t so. I also told the vet Jambo hadn’t eaten for weeks, and was told this wasn’t a problem as tortoises could go for months without eating. Throughout this time, I was totally distressed – trying to do all these totally pointless things the vet had suggested, such as vitamin baths and nasal flushes. They offered bloods, x-rays – all kinds of pointless things – when she just needed urgent antibiotics. The mixed messages just left me so baffled. 1) your tortoise has a deadly infection 2) She needs urgent antibiotics 3) Let’s wait 8 days for swab results. 4) Oh, she’s laid eggs, so maybe now she will get better. 5) Tube or oral antibiotics – no big deal, you choose. Because of these totally confusing messages, I began to doubt my own instincts. I literally told myself that the vets were chilled, so I just needed to chill out. By the time I had organised another antibiotic tube to be fitted, Jambo had died. I literally drove her in, dead. The vet told me – on examining her body – that she was utterly emaciated. Jambo died gasping for breath, unable to walk, absolutely starving and with weeping eyes. I spent so much time with her in those last weeks, desperately trying to care for her and getting her to eat, probably distressing her. And it was all pointless. Fundamentally, she died suffering. My partner and I have been left absolutely crippled by guilt that we let her die and suffer, and that we didn’t get her the treatment she needed in time to give her a chance. How is this okay? We have sobbed for days & felt very angry. The vets have said they are sorry she died, but that they followed antibiotic protocol, that I was always given a full range of options, and invited back for appointments. They say I made all the decisions about Jambo’s care – not them. This is all completely accurate. But… where was the common sense? Where was the leadership? Where was the urgency and experience? Could the protocol not have been ignored for a pet this ill? Why did they not just say: “She is seriously sick, may die; we need to treat her immediately.” I basically feel that I let my pet die, and this is something I will have to live with forever.
