INTESTINAL AND CLOACAL STRICTURES IN FREE-RANGING AND AQUARIUM-MAINTAINED GREEN SEA TURTLES (CHELONIA MYDAS)

Abstract

Intestinal or cloacal strictures that resulted in intestinal obstruction were diagnosed in six green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) from three rehabilitation facilities and two zoologic parks. The etiologies of the strictures were unknown in these cases. It is likely that anatomic adaptations of the gastrointestinal tract unique to the green sea turtle's herbivorous diet, paired with causes of reduced intestinal motility, may predispose the species to intestinal damage and subsequent obstructive intestinal disease. In aquarium-maintained green sea turtles, obesity, diet, reduced physical activity, chronic intestinal disease, and inappropriate or inadequate antibiotics might also be potential contributing factors. Clinical, radiographic, and hematologic abnormalities common among most of these sea turtles include the following: positive buoyancy; lethargy; inappetence; regurgitation; obstipation; dilated bowel and accumulation of oral contrast material; anemia; hypoglycemia; hypoalbuminemia; hypocalcemia; and elevated creatine kinase, aspartate aminotransferase, and blood urea nitrogen. Although these abnormalities are nonspecific with many possible contributing factors, intestinal disease, including strictures, should be considered a differential in green sea turtles that demonstrate all or a combination of these clinical findings. Although diagnostic imaging, including radiographs, computed tomography, or magnetic resonance imaging, are important in determining a cause for suspected gastrointestinal disease and identifying an anatomic location of obstruction, intestinal strictures were not successfully identified when using these imaging modalities. Lower gastrointestinal contrast radiography, paired with the use of oral contrast, was useful in identifying the suspected site of intestinal obstruction in two cases. Colonoscopy was instrumental in visually diagnosing intestinal stricture in one case. Therefore, lower gastrointestinal contrast radiography and colonoscopy should be considered in green turtles when gastrointestinal obstructions are suspected. Although partial strictures of the cloacal opening may be identified on gross examination and might be managed with appropriate medical treatment, surgical intervention or humane euthanasia are likely the only options for sea turtles once small or large intestinal strictures have formed.

The Oral and Skin Microbiomes of Captive Komodo Dragons Are Significantly Shared with Their Habitat

“…The decreased exposure to the outdoors and other microbe-rich locations together with the increased indoor lifestyles (working and living) and obsessive cleaning habits that characterize Western culture today have led to the formulation of the hygiene hypothesis ( 27 ), which posits that a lack of exposure to beneficial microbes present in the environment leads to the increase in disease that we have seen in the past century. Captive animals, which live in enclosed environments not equivalent to their normal environments in the wild, experience diseases that are associated with or worsened by the captive environment, including gastric ulcers (vervet monkeys [ 28 ]), intestinal stricture (green sea turtles [ 29 ]), and end-stage renal disease (polar bears [ 30 ]). As we and others have shown, human houses and Komodo dragon zoo enclosures represent closed locations characterized by possibly circular microbial sharing with less microbial input from outside environments than that received by animals and humans living and working predominantly outdoors.…”

Description of cloacoscopy in the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta)

“…Sea turtle cloacoscopy allows the view of different apparatuses, such the gastrointestinal, reproductive, and urinary, and if an accessible foreign body is present, it allows a minimally invasive removal, similar to esophagoscopy (Pressler et al 2003). Recently, diagnostic cloacoscopy in sea turtles was performed by Erlacher-Reid et al (2013) in order to diagnose the intestinal stricture in six green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas). To the authors' knowledge, no cloacoscopy study of loggerhead sea turtles has been found in veterinary literature.…”

Field-Based Radiographic Imaging of Marine Megafauna: Marine Iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) as a Case Study

“…In addition, radiography can sometimes provide a noninvasive way to investigate diet (Schumacher and Toal, 2001;Erlacher-Reid et al, 2013;Beckmann et al, 2015). Mineral opaque material in the gastrointestinal tract is apparent in several of the iguanas (Figures 1a,b).…”

“…Radiography is an established and clinically important way to assess bone integrity and health through the visualization of bones and internal organs (Mitchell, 2002;Banzato et al, 2013;Thrall, 2018), and can also sometimes be used to non-invasively investigate diet (Banzato et al, 2013;Erlacher-Reid et al, 2013;Beckmann et al, 2015). Despite these advantages, the large size of conventional radiography equipment has typically precluded imaging live marine vertebrates in the field.…”