Hydro surgery....dial up...no!

With Reptiles sometimes time is of the essence when it comes to their health. You can post your health related questions and answers here.

Hydro surgery....dial up...no!

Postby MegF » Fri Oct 16, 2009 3:15 am

Well I took Oceana in for her eye surgery this evening. We sedated her with ketamine and domosedan and they got her pretty quiet in about 10 minutes. He took the smallest scalpel and made a tiny hole at the inferior edge of the eyecap and the subocular scales. Immediately pus came out of the hole. We flushed with a saline mixed with gentomycin and then suctioned any blood that had gone into the area. I could see the cornea was clean underneath though the lenscap was fogged from the cleaning. We then did the other eye. It had large bits of pus that took a little more to get clean. We finished with an antibiotic ointment that I will use as many times a day as possible. We checked her mouth thoroughly for any sign of mouth rot, injury or respiratory infection and all was clear. We felt this was a primary infection, possibly from something getting in her nostrils. There is a small tract that runs from the external nostril to the eye. When we flushed the eye, some fluid came out the nostril. It's possible she got something from the aspen or whatever. We'll use the ointment for 7 days and I'll watch to make sure there's no other sign of infection. If there is, we'll give her a course of antibiotics but felt that it would be less stressful for her if we just watch. I'm cautiously optimistic that she'll heal up well without any vision loss. I'm going to try feeding her in a day or two. Here are the pictures from the surgery.
Cleaning the eye in preparation:
Image
the goo after the cut:
Image
After flushing the eye out:
Image
The other eye after flushing:
Image
Nice healthy mouth. You can just make out the small rear fang on the snake's upper left hand side adjacent to the scratch on Dr. Jone's hand:
Image
Dr. Jones having a little fun at my "cobra's" expense!
Image
Sleeping it off. Ketamine takes a while to wear off although the other drugs were reversed:
Image
4.4.2~Green tree pythons
4.2~Amazon tree boas
1.3~Sibon Nebulatus
1.0~Eyelash Viper
1.0~Copperhead
1.1~False Water Cobras
0.1~Cantil
0.1~Neotropic rattlesnake
http://www.franclycac.com
User avatar
MegF
SA Reptiles Member
 
Posts: 169
Joined: Sat Jul 19, 2008 11:20 pm
Location: Aiken,South Carolina, USA

Re: Hydro surgery....dial up...no!

Postby warbot » Fri Oct 16, 2009 8:14 am

Nice one beautiful!! wanna get me a pair ! I'm shes fine, my gf sisters 2 year old veiled chameleon died on Wednesday evening,
it just dropped dead!
so she was terribly upset! as usual I had to take out the viv, take him out, put him into a box, buy her a chocolate to calm her down...
and my gf ended up having the funeral the next day... (she was at home)

Some people shouldn't have pets, but people like you bud taking the effort of making sure she is fine! awesome! love it!
good repti-parent :D

(I assume its a girl) she is beautiful!
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
- by Jim Rohn -
User avatar
warbot
This member has been banned
 
Posts: 629
Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2009 9:03 am
Location: SA

Re: Hydro surgery....dial up...no!

Postby fredsmith » Fri Oct 16, 2009 8:30 am

Thanks for sharing MegF.
That is a very pretty animal, wow.
I'd love to one day look into the possibility of getting myself one or two of these (Mrs Smith will require lots of convincing), from your postings I've become quite taken with these snakes...
Holding thumbs that the healing all goes well.
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
- Albert Einstein


Fred Smith
User avatar
fredsmith
SA Reptiles Member
 
Posts: 1671
Joined: Thu May 17, 2007 12:19 pm
Location: Jhb - South Africa

Re: Hydro surgery....dial up...no!

Postby Bundu Boy » Fri Oct 16, 2009 8:30 am

Wow, great pics

Do you have any shots of the eyes before the operation?
User avatar
Bundu Boy
SA Reptiles Member
 
Posts: 557
Joined: Sat Jun 28, 2008 3:42 pm
Location: Sundowner

Re: Hydro surgery....dial up...no!

Postby warbot » Fri Oct 16, 2009 8:34 am

@ fredsmith - I already convinced the boss hehe

But struggling to find a pair as well as space lol
Unbelievable snakes!
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
- by Jim Rohn -
User avatar
warbot
This member has been banned
 
Posts: 629
Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2009 9:03 am
Location: SA

Re: Hydro surgery....dial up...no!

Postby warbot » Fri Oct 16, 2009 8:42 am

@ iron balls it was posted on another thread a while ago...
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
- by Jim Rohn -
User avatar
warbot
This member has been banned
 
Posts: 629
Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2009 9:03 am
Location: SA

Re: Hydro surgery....dial up...no!

Postby Bushviper » Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:00 am

Did you send any of the pus away for culture? It might make the right antibiotic easier to administer. Lets hope it does not re-occur. Was it just under the outer eye cap so would it have been exposed when they next shed?

Nice having a vet with some skills and a sense of humour.
It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Those who are afraid to ask are ashamed of learning.
User avatar
Bushviper
Founder Member
 
Posts: 17358
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 10:02 am
Location: Pretoria

Re: Hydro surgery....dial up...no!

Postby MegF » Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:33 pm

I posted pictures of her eyes in an earlier thread "has anyone ever seen this". We ended up not culturing the eyes as there are 3 main bacterium that usually inhabit that area and the antibiotic he's gotten in case we need it will kill all of them along with MRSA and a host of other resistant stuff. I'm hoping it won't be needed. Right now I'm concerned as she's showing little sign of coming out of the sedation. I thought she was dead last night and this morning at 5 she was still pretty motionless. If she doesn't come around by opening time, I'm taking her back. I'm sure it's due to the ketamine not getting out of her system, but it scares the bejeebers out of me. Make it thru the surgery and then have her die.
4.4.2~Green tree pythons
4.2~Amazon tree boas
1.3~Sibon Nebulatus
1.0~Eyelash Viper
1.0~Copperhead
1.1~False Water Cobras
0.1~Cantil
0.1~Neotropic rattlesnake
http://www.franclycac.com
User avatar
MegF
SA Reptiles Member
 
Posts: 169
Joined: Sat Jul 19, 2008 11:20 pm
Location: Aiken,South Carolina, USA


Return to Reptile Hospital

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest

cron