reptile surgery..

Re: reptile surgery..

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:24:55 GMT

I'm sure I remember a lecturer telling us to put an effervescing tablet (like ibuprofen!) into a small container of water with the fish, as it releases carbon dioxide which will knock them out and then eventually kill them.

I was always told that freezing in reptiles was a bad way to go for euth, as when their tissues start to freeze they can still detect the pain, but can't respond to it because their body temp is so low. It's weird how things are so different for fish

Re: reptile surgery..

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 22:22:06 GMT

awww you lucky thing, that sounded exciting, and funny(vets expressions lol)

Re: reptile surgery..

Gillian Mostyn — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 22:19:11 GMT

Sounds like you did a brill job!

[quote user="hobbits"]an exotic vet would prob have done intradermal or something[/quote]

Well, actually, an everting suture is the norm - but I'm sure your sutures will be absolutely fine!

Re: reptile surgery..

Cat Woman — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 16:12:47 GMT

[quote user="Vicky Couzens"]ust out of interest...how do you anaesthetise a fish?! [/quote]

Well, I did some research & amongst other things I came across, I found that it could be done with clove oil (the stuff you get from the chemists for tooth ache). All the advice I found differed alot, so I kind of made it up as I went along! It worked really well for my Puffer. I can dig out the protocol if anyone should need it!

Re: reptile surgery..

A Little TLC — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 13:05:35 GMT

I LOVE slow worms, they are gorgeous. Have treated several, though funnily enough never had to stitch one. Most often where they had been caught by a cat and had the tail chewed off... healed well though

Re: reptile surgery..

hobbits — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:54:37 GMT

It was run over by a lawnmower (ouch) and the RSPCA said to bring it to us (OOH service) (thanks for that guys btw). we were expecting to have to euthanase, but when it arrived had two wounds about 1cm each on upper third of body, but had only gone through the skin. Didnt want to have him/her suffer, but rang the local exotics referral place, anaesthetised with iso/o2 (made a mask out of a 2ml syringe case attached to an et tube then a t-piece) took a while for it to go to sleep, but when did I flushed out the wounds as normal and used Vicyrl and just a few simple interrupted sutures. I am sure there is a better way, an exotic vet would prob have done intradermal or something, but hey, we did what we could. Then injected baytrill at the reptile dose and metacam at 0.2mg/kg. seemed to do well.

Forgot to mention, kept warm during the anaesthetic as they cant internally regulate their temp at the best of times. also used warm saline to flush.

good job too, wouldnt have known how to euthanase it really. We had a lecture that said even with most 'humane' ways of euth, in reptiles their brains stay aware for 15-30 mins after so you have to 'pith' their brains. didnt like the sound of that and was a while ago had the lecture...sooo stitching was a better option lol.

Re: reptile surgery..

Emma Purnell — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:53:53 GMT

Don't know how phenobarb in the water affects them, but I know we didn't use anything like that at Uni, literally just put them in the freezer. It was all done specifically to monitor the stress levels to find humane methods, pretty interesting! Hope it helps!

Re: reptile surgery..

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:50:23 GMT

[quote user="Vicky Couzens"]

Just out of interest...how do you anaesthetise a fish?! And how do you euthanase them? I've kept fish for a good few years and at times have wanted to euthanase them if the treatment i've used on them when they're sick isn't working, just so that i can eliminate their suffering. I used to work in a pet shop and when fish were sick if we couldn't treat them we had the catch them and give them a swift bang against the wall....HATED doing this, thought it was cruel so most times refused to do it, left it to my manager instead.

[/quote]

There was a thread on the old forum about this. We pour pbarb? or maybe it was euthanol? in the water a little at a time and let it drift off and float then off to the freezer. But some were saying they smacked them with rocks!!! Or worse... lol others were saying that putting the pbarb in the water stressed them out. I donno. I'm not a fish, but i'm very interested in it all!

this is interesting.. http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/treatments/euthanasia.htm

Re: reptile surgery..

Claire Cameron — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:47:39 GMT

[quote user="Emma Kerry"]

On my Zoology course I did before vet nursing we once looked into that and, according to the people I worked with (who were looking at stress hormones and the like) that the kindest way was to put them in a bag of water in the freezer. They apparently just go off to sleep and then freeze and die, with no stress hormone release, so thats what I tend to do.

Also, very jealous of you getting to do all that with the slow worm and well done you! You should be very proud!

[/quote]

Wow, thats interesting! I never knew about putting them in the freezer. thanks x

Re: reptile surgery..

Emma Purnell — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:43:32 GMT

Also, very jealous of you getting to do all that with the slow worm and well done you! You should be very proud!

Re: reptile surgery..

Claire Cameron — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:42:06 GMT

[quote user="Vicky Couzens"]

[/quote]

A vet I used to work with used to put euthatal in their water, not sure if this is the only way to do it but it used to work? We used to work closely with a koi carp farmer so used to see fish regularly

Re: reptile surgery..

Saskia Quinn — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:41:14 GMT

there was a thread on this a while back Vicky, I will go and have a look for it!

Re: reptile surgery..

Vicky RVN — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:33:36 GMT

Re: reptile surgery..

Cat Woman — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:03:38 GMT

Can't believe your vet would be scared of an ickle slow worm! Well done you though. Myself & two of my vets recently anaesthetised my Pufferfish to trim his overgrown beak - it was the most nerve racking thing I've done, but he is fine, with no ill effects from the GA.

Re: reptile surgery..

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 11:53:15 GMT

Wow!! That sounds awesome!! I hope I get to experience that some day! What sort of stitching material do you use for reptiles? What sort of stitch did you use? what was wrong with it?