One of the first things that alerted me to Honey's respiratory infection was her noisy breathing at night. She sounded snuffly with the occassional trumpet sounds and squeaks.

She had an xray and it showed a current infection but also that she had in the past had an infection that was not treated which had led to some permanent lung damage. Her previous owners had been aware of the snoring but not thought it odd.

My question is - after 20 days of oral baytril then a few weeks later 4 injections of gentamycin she is still making nosies when she sleeps. The vet was unclear on whether these noises were a result of the lung damage or not. Has anyone had any experience of this?

if she has always done this then i would guess its permanant. especially if she is still doing it even after treatment. poor girl. does she have any other problems apart from the breathing? does she still gain weight steadily or is it slower than the others?

She seems fine in herself Ali - she eats well and has gained weight steadily ever since I have had her ( 6 months). She was under the weather when she was having her injections but has picked up now.

She does seem to have to take more time with eating though. The vet did say that we would have to take each infection as it comes and she is susceptable. I think we just need to find the right A/B for her.

Hi Anne, i havea similar large tort like you ,she use to make snoring sounds at night ,I spent a fortune on anti biotics even had a nebulizer my tort went for every test possible . It turned out that when I turned the heating right down at night the snoring stopped , I now have two torts sleeping at 22 degrees and my snoring lady at 18 degrees and she doesnt snore any more . I also noticed she wheezes and grunts when eating yet again a fortune on tests to find out she is just greedy and eating quickly before the others get up . I noticed she likes it more humid than the others and alot of the noise was due to a blocked nare . I unblocked it by putting her in a hot steamy bathroom for ten minutes as advised by a vet . she then sneezed out alot of gunk . other than her greedy noisey eating and the snuffle noise she makes after having a drink she is fine now. I dont have enough knowledge yet but I am sure my large lady is a sub species leopard and likes it a bit more humid than my other two and a bit cooler.

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alicia x

My leopard was really poorly on baytrill she had a very bad reaction to it . I had it written on all my leopards records that I dont want that drug used on them again . I then read a number of leopards cant tolerate baytrill .

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alicia x

Just had a thought do tortoises get lung worm if so would this show up on a poo sample . Could this lead to noisy breathing . I have so much still to learn

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alicia x

Leopard tortoises should NOT be treated with Baytril - Oxytetracycline or Marbocyl are the preferred choices of antibiotics. I would seriously recommend that your vet does not give her anymore baytril.

Tamie
TT Rehoming

You beat me too it, Tamie! Exactly what I was going to say!

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Peter!!

This poor tortoise! Pumped with a drug that could potentially being doing her more harm than good.

I would seriously recommend either a new vet or a return visit explaining that Leos should not have Baytril and for him to explain the consequences of giving such a drug to a Leo.

Good luck and keep us informed.

Tamie

Honey will not be having anymore Baytril - luckily she did not show any adverse effects and it was only after she had finished the course that I read that it can be harmful to Leopards - the next course of treatment he recommended was the gentamycin injections which did seem to improve and this was evident on the xray. I should also point out that my vet is specialized and I had no reason to doubt his treatment at the time - he comes highly recommended - although there are things I have mentioned ie nebulising treatment that he does not agree with.

I adopted Honey 6 months ago and have had sleepless nights with worry - I want her to have the best care and get well but my vet is several miles away and the stress of the journey and actual treatment upsets her - I have no problem taking her to get the treatment she needs but I just needed to know if anyone else has had a Leopard with this problem.