It seems that this winter has been especially hard for our torts. Read about Camille here.

Stanley has been at UC Davis since Monday, April 3. The doctors there have been performing various tests on him. Much is still unknown, though.

Stanley was sedated and given a regular x-ray and a CT which showed:

Lungs: look good except for one small area which may be a mild case of pneumonia.

GI Tract: excess gas; intestines look good, no apparent impactions; there are formed feces in his lower bowel which appear to be moist and otherwise normal. A small amount of barium was given which does appear to be moving through his GI. He has not defecated, however (he has only been post-brumation for about 2 weeks, and is not eating on his own)

Mouth: lesions/ulcers with plaques; swollen mucosa

Eyes: there appears to be a small, deep ulcerated area with plaque in the center of his right eye.

Gram negative organisms have been found; however, they are still trying to determine what exactly they are.

Numerous blood tests have been done; a feeding tube has been placed; antibiotics are being injected every three days. He is showing signs of chronic dehydration. The mouth and eye lesions cause the vet to believe Stanley has a virus in the herpes family. They are probably going to start him on Acyclovir, and possibly L-Lysine (an amino acid).

Here's some of what we've learned: Sulcatas are NOT to be allowed to brumate. They don't do it in their natural habitats. They have to be kept warm and awake all year. This means a basking area of about 100 degrees F, and a temp gradient. A soaking area would be good, although they may not use it. Obviously regular vet visits are essential (Stan and Camille were both scheduled to go tomorrow, April 8).

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~~Steph

"This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world." John Steinbeck

Jeez what is the saying,..it never rains but it pours!
Here's hoping everything works out fine for Stanley.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I hope everything works out good for stanley too!

My prayers are with Stanley (and you Steph...keep your chin up) Lyn

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Warmest Regards from Lyn

Well, Stanley is STILL at UC Davis. My mother is one awesome herper! Paying for over 12 days of hospital care and numerous tests to give Stanley every chance of survival. EVERYONE should take a lesson from her.

The UC Davis staff still doesn't know exactly what family of bacteria Stanley has. They are pretty certain that the lesions in his mouth and on his eye are herpes. They put him on Acyclovir (a human med for shingles and genital herpes) and Lysine (an amino acid), and it seems to be helping as he is opening his eye now and even opening his mouth.

He's finally beginning to recover from the dehydration and is starting to urinate regularly; however, no feces yet. That's one of the main reasons that he's still at Davis.

Bottom line is that we still don't know exactly what he has, but he does seem to be doing better. No word yet when he will come home. Whatever he has, it's likely the same "bug" that killed Camille.

I think she had it much longer than he did, and I think that several things contributed to the problem: relocation stress, change in diet, and environmental changes (temps, humidity, etc). We may never know exactly what caused this.

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~~Steph

"This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world." John Steinbeck

Wow, that's so harsh. Keeping my fingers crossed for Stanley, you, and your family. Kudos to your mom, she must have an amazingly big heart.

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I give up! I've officially lost count of the critters...

He's home! He came home Tuesday evening; I had the privilege of tube feeding him his slurry that night. The UC Davis vet really commended my mom for her dedication to making sure Stanley got all the care that he needed. They see so many people simply walk away or euthanize because they can't be bothered or afford a large bill. I don't EVEN want to think about what my mom paid for 16 days of in hospital care, CT's, X-rays, injections, meds, etc.

More updates later.

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~~Steph

"This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world." John Steinbeck

Cheers to your mother for being so dedicated! I'm glad he is home and hopefully he recovers fully!

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"What is now proven was once only imagined." - William Blake

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos

Stanley's going great! He's actually started to eat on his own!!! We finally had a warm spell here, and he was allowed out on the grass... Popie (my step-dad) said that he stretched his neck all the way out toward the sun and opened his mouth; he was in that position for so long that Popie thought his mouth got stuck. lol

They're still tube-feeding him, but things are heading in the right direction.

OH yea, Stanley's a dad! He has four kittens. Yesterday morning when Mom went to check on him she opened his hutch, and there were four newborn kittens in with him. (She lives on 40 acres, and has lots of feral cats). She moved the kitties into a stout box so Stanley doesn't run over them... he's a bit clueless at times. It will be interesting to watch these babies grow up right alongside him.

FYI... Mom's vet bill came to about $2,800.00

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~~Steph

"This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world." John Steinbeck

CONGRATS TO THE NEW DADDY...my question is whos the young lady hes marrying? And why havnt the parents been able too meet her yet?? Glad to hear stanley is doing better and rather then stanley getting a honeymoon with his lover he gets his vet bill paid