He has fairly severe shell damage to the corners above three of his legs and a little damage to the little bit under his chin. 

Now I really need some advise on what to do next, I have pictures but do not want to upset anyone so will not be putting them on here unless absolutely necessary for the advise needed.

Sydney is five years old and a Hermann's tortoise as I'm sure for advise this is something you will need to know.

He has been to the vets twice this week Monday he had a antibiotic injection and the same again on Thursday, bathed daily and his wounds then swabbed with a 4-1 water/iodine mix this has helped to calm down his wounds and start them on the healing process.

My question is 'what now' the vet suggested horse hoof treatment as it is something that he has had success with in the past but admitted that he has limited knowledge of shell damage although he has a good knowledge of reptiles.

There are two types of hoof treatment 'Stokholm Tar' which is the one he was thinking of but having now seen it and chatted about this option with the vet at work ( she has actually spade an eggbound tortoise in her time) and because I work for a charity with very strict rules he can not be treated there but the vets (we have five) are always happy to try help with advice, her feeling was that this would be too harsh for his damage and felt the vet had probably got mixed up with ' Cornacresin' which promotes the repair of the tail/hoof to grow and seems like the better choice.

So am wondering if any body else has any real experience not just pulled from the internet guesses ?? 

On what to do next as to if the shell will grow back over and seal itself and what if anything I can do to help promote this on its way, the vet at work is from Australia and told me what to look for and has some experience but again admitted she is no real expert on tortoises.

should not have had access to it at any time of year, given it's self-evident lack of training.

This is a veterinary matter & you need to find a specialist. Take a look at the green box on the left titled "Vets & health…"

Regards,

Tom

ps I'm not anti-dog, we've always had them, including a GSD for many years.

The tortoise climbed up on top of the female and then somehow manage to scale the side of the pen he had been put into to catch some winter sunshine.

They are not hibernating as firstly I have been working on getting them up to full health have got them from somebody in London who has only ever kept them in a viv and never hibernated them, thereby I join this site hoping to gleam the necessary help and advice to be in a position to maybe do this for the first time next year.

I have a fully enclosed 5x5 metre cage (like a bird Avery) in my garden that they live in all summer and the dog was not out or anywhere near them, Syd escaped and having searched with a torch until l 10.30 pm I decided to carry on in the light of the morning as I rightly or wrongly assumed he would stay buried in the dense hedging around the perimeter, sadly he did not and the dog spotted him when we let him out to have a weee in the morning.

Syd has seen a total of four vets and all agree that he has had as much done as is necessary, and I was merely asking advice on promoting the shell healing, sadly you have decided to use it as a chance to sound off at a fairly new owner rather than offer any kind of advise.

I guess you must be important round here and that i will get slated for saying any of this but sadly now I will no longer be donating (as i did yesterday, just because darren was kind enough to call) to TPG if this is the kind of assistance it offers members, a full understanding of the situation and maybe a smidge of compassion may of helped.

 

The shell will self heal over a long period of time, provided you continue to prevent infection. It depends on the extent of the damage as to whether some bridging is necessary. 

Regards,

Tom