© Trinity Vet Centre 2012

This baby Indian Star tortoise was rescued and presented at the surgery with a cloacal prolapse. As well as replacing the prolapse it is of vital importance to try to establish the reason for the prolapse. In this case an Xray showed the cause very clearly. The poor little tort was straining as it had a massive bladder stone inside it. The stone was far too big to be passed naturally and so surgery was required to save the tortoises life.

This was a massive operation for this poor little tortoise which weighed only 88 grams. Here at Trinity we are used to operating on small high risk patients but the enormity of this operation for this tortoise was not lost on us. Painkillers were provided and the stone removed by opening up this tortoises shell.

Shown is the tortoise in recovery with the breathing tube still in place. The recovery was uneventful and this little chap has shown massive inner strength going through a major operation at such a young age.