Hibernating tortoise tips
QWe have inherited a Mediterranean tortoise and he has been hibernating with us for the first time. We don’t know how old he is but he has been in the family for 60 years. Have you any advice on whether a vet check will be needed when he wakes up?
AIf he was fully grown when he was first acquired, he could be more than 80 years old now.
Many tortoise diseases result in mistakes made prior to and during hibernation. Unfortunately these are common. Indeed it is often said by tortoise experts that 75% of the problems seen are caused by management issues.
Often tortoises are hibernated too long, typically for five months or even longer. This can lead to problems even though, according to the previous owner, for many years the tortoise was fine.
I recommend a check-up with a vet who has an interest in tortoises within a day or so of him waking up.
In the meantime invest in a heat/uv light source from a specialist pet shop as springtime weather in the UK is very variable, and it will be some time until your tortoise can bask outside.
The Tortoise Trust (tortoisetrust.org) has a very useful and comprehensive website on tortoise husbandry. This has a lot of information on hibernation, post-hibernation problems and general good care.
A post-hibernation check will ensure any problems can be promptly dealt with.
Very commonly a tortoise hibernated for too long will not eat. This is posthibernation anorexia and often requires hospitalisation and tube feeding.
Q My four-year-old domestic male neutered cat has developed some thickened red patches on the inside of his hind legs and abdomen. My vet says this is a complex disease with several possible causes. Is this common?
AThese lesions suggest eosinophilic plaques and your vet is right to call them complex with various causes.
Eosinophilic plaques are prominent features of the eosinophilic granuloma complex, which is very common in cats. Other lesions in this complex include the indolent ulcer on the lip, and other inflamed lesions (granulomas) down the backs of the legs.
You also say that your cat’s flea treatment has been brought up to date and that a short course of steroids is being used to stop the cat licking to allow the skin to heal, and time for the flea control to take effect.
This is a standard way of dealing with eosinophilic granuloma complex in the first phase of investigation and treatment.
The complex is intriguing and unique to the cat (as many things are). It is considered a cutaneous reaction pattern, meaning that a variety of different causes end up causing the same lesions.