Surgical removal of bladder stone in a sulcata tortoise (Centrochelys sulcata): A case study

Abstract

A 2 years old male sulcata (Centrochelys sulcata) tortoise presented to the clinic with problems of refuse to eat for 2 weeks, weaken, sleeping all day long and no defecated or urinating during last 1 week. The population is 24 tortoises in many species. Daily diets mainly on lettuce and cabbage. Clinical signs found during physical examination were closed eyelids, weakness and inactive. An X-ray imaging was presented and found a large white mass in urinary bladder. The diagnose was bladder stones or calculi vesicalis. Due to the size and the density of the bladder stones, a surgery intervention for bladder stones removal was conducted. Anesthesia using ketamine dose 30 mg/kg BW combine with xylazine dose 2 mg/kg BW injected intramuscularly. The surgery starts with cutting the plastron using a sterile dremel, opening the plastron and put the cutting plastron in saline water, opening the coelomic cavity by incising the abdominal muscles, finding the urinary bladder, incision the urinary bladder, removing the bladder stones, flushing the urinary bladder, suturing the urinary bladder, suturing the abdominal muscles, closing the plastron and applying the epoxy glue for covering the cutting plastron. Antibiotic enrofloxacine 10% with dose 5 mg/kg BW combine with antiinflamatory tolfenamic acid 4% and vitamin B complex all are injected intramuscularly once a day for 5 consecutive days. The tortoise was hospitalized and monitoring daily. The tortoise recover in day 4 after surgery, start eating and healing to normal activities in day 7.