Rare white kiwi survives surgery (via Dawn Holloway)

The world's only known white kiwi has survived surgery to remove stones from her gizzard, reports a New Zealand Wildlife Centre.

Over a week ago, rangers noted that Manukura, the six-month-old chick, was off her food.

X-rays revealed that two large stones were obstructing the chick's guts.

In two separate operations, vets at Wellington Hospital in New Zealand used lasers to successfully break apart the rocks.
Pukaha Mount Bruce, New Zealand's North Island wildlife centre, where Manukura lives, reported that the bird's heart slowed suddenly during the surgery giving the operating team "a bit of a scare".

But the little white bird pulled through and is recovering in isolation from other animals.

Kiwis, like other birds, swallow stones to help them digest their food. But Manukura, it seems, swallowed more than she could stomach.

Manukura, a North Island Brown Kiwi, is the 13th kiwi hatched in captivity at the centre this year.
By Jennifer Carpenter Science reporter, BBC News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15524265

Hip cat: Tiger gets landmark artificial joint operation

Published: 27 Jan 11 16:03 CET

A tiger in Germany has become the world's first to be given an artificial hip after a three-hour-operation by a team of vets that she only barely survived, Leipzig University said on Thursday.

Girl, as the Malayan tiger at Halle Zoo in eastern Germany is known, had been in visible pain for close to a year because of problems in her right hip joint, the university said.

"Malayan tigers are one of the world's most endangered species, with only around 500 estimated to be living in the wild. This was another reason to operate on Girl," a statement said.

The ferocious eight-year-old feline patient was not that long in the tooth either, with a life expectancy of 20.

During the operation by five specialists, Girl's heart came close to stopping, but anaesthetist Michaele Alef was able to save her.

Girl is now recovering in a separate enclosure back in Halle Zoo, and once a six-week danger period when the new hip could dislocate is over, there is a chance that it will last her the rest of her life.

"We are happy," said Peter Boettcher, another member of the team that also included Italian Aldo Vezzoni, a specialist with a wealth of experience fitting artificial hips in dogs, who worked for free.

Artificial hips of the kind implanted into Girl were first developed by professor Pierre Montavon from the University of Zurich with Swiss firm Kyon, and contain titanium for better performance and durability.

They were first used only in dogs but in recent years have also been implanted in humans.

AFP/rm

http://www.thelocal.de/society/20110127-32711.html

Hip cat: Tiger gets landmark artificial joint operation

Published: 27 Jan 11 16:03 CET

A tiger in Germany has become the world's first to be given an artificial hip after a three-hour-operation by a team of vets that she only barely survived, Leipzig University said on Thursday.

Girl, as the Malayan tiger at Halle Zoo in eastern Germany is known, had been in visible pain for close to a year because of problems in her right hip joint, the university said.

"Malayan tigers are one of the world's most endangered species, with only around 500 estimated to be living in the wild. This was another reason to operate on Girl," a statement said.

The ferocious eight-year-old feline patient was not that long in the tooth either, with a life expectancy of 20.

During the operation by five specialists, Girl's heart came close to stopping, but anaesthetist Michaele Alef was able to save her.

Girl is now recovering in a separate enclosure back in Halle Zoo, and once a six-week danger period when the new hip could dislocate is over, there is a chance that it will last her the rest of her life.

"We are happy," said Peter Boettcher, another member of the team that also included Italian Aldo Vezzoni, a specialist with a wealth of experience fitting artificial hips in dogs, who worked for free.

Artificial hips of the kind implanted into Girl were first developed by professor Pierre Montavon from the University of Zurich with Swiss firm Kyon, and contain titanium for better performance and durability.

They were first used only in dogs but in recent years have also been implanted in humans.

AFP/rm

http://www.thelocal.de/society/20110127-32711.html

Post readers help save Smokie sight

Jan 12 2011

A Gnosall pensioner has thanked Stafford Post readers for helping him to raise funds to save his dog’s sight.

And thanks to a raft of generous donations, the wheels have been set in motion for little Smokie to finally get the operation he needs to remove cataracts from both eyes.

Since 81-year-old Geoff Arrowsmith found out his dog was going blind, he has been frantically trying to raise the cash for a £2,000 operation to save the pet’s sight. And donations have been pouring in from mystery benefactors over Christmas and the new year.

Geoff, of Monks Walk, thanked friends and readers of the Stafford Post. He added: “I want to thank you all for you kind generosity and for the help you have give me and my little dog, Smokie.

“I have had him checked out prior to his operation and the Shire Veterinary have given him a clean bill of health. So now that I have nearly reached the target I need, he can go ahead, with his operation starting on January 13.

“I am over the moon to think Smokie will see me properly again with two bright eyes - it has been the best Christmas present I ever had.

“I would also like to thank the Stafford Post because if it had not have been for them, none of this would have happened.”

Geoff also made a special mention to his friends, Alex and Carol and Steve from the Naviagtion pub in Gnosall.

http://icstafford.icnetwork.co.uk/news/localnews/tm_headline=post-readers-help-save-smokie-sight%26method=full%26objectid=27972764%26siteid=87875-name_page.html
(Submitted by Nick Redfern)

Post readers help save Smokie sight

Jan 12 2011

A Gnosall pensioner has thanked Stafford Post readers for helping him to raise funds to save his dog’s sight.

And thanks to a raft of generous donations, the wheels have been set in motion for little Smokie to finally get the operation he needs to remove cataracts from both eyes.

Since 81-year-old Geoff Arrowsmith found out his dog was going blind, he has been frantically trying to raise the cash for a £2,000 operation to save the pet’s sight. And donations have been pouring in from mystery benefactors over Christmas and the new year.

Geoff, of Monks Walk, thanked friends and readers of the Stafford Post. He added: “I want to thank you all for you kind generosity and for the help you have give me and my little dog, Smokie.

“I have had him checked out prior to his operation and the Shire Veterinary have given him a clean bill of health. So now that I have nearly reached the target I need, he can go ahead, with his operation starting on January 13.

“I am over the moon to think Smokie will see me properly again with two bright eyes - it has been the best Christmas present I ever had.

“I would also like to thank the Stafford Post because if it had not have been for them, none of this would have happened.”

Geoff also made a special mention to his friends, Alex and Carol and Steve from the Naviagtion pub in Gnosall.

http://icstafford.icnetwork.co.uk/news/localnews/tm_headline=post-readers-help-save-smokie-sight%26method=full%26objectid=27972764%26siteid=87875-name_page.html
(Submitted by Nick Redfern)

Man f-eel-ing blue after op

By STAFF REPORTER
Published: 03 Aug 2010
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A FISHMONGER has told how he nearly died after he slipped into a tank of eels — and one shot straight up his bum.

Horrified Li Chang, 43 — who suffered severe internal injuries — had been sitting on the edge of the tank at his warehouse in Guangzhou, southern China, where the eels were waiting to be cooked.

But he slipped off his perch into the giant tank filled with hundreds of the writhing creatures.

Chang said: "I guess they were scared when I suddenly landed in the tank so they started wriggling everywhere.

"Several shot up my trouser leg. And then to my horror I felt one go up my bottom."

Incredibly Chang was so embarrassed that he carried on working.

He said: "I didn't say anything at first when I climbed out - I was too embarrassed. I dried myself off and tried to carry on working, but it was just too painful."

Colleagues dialled the emergency services when Chang eventually collapsed in agony.

Astonished medics carried out a five hour operation to remove the eel and repair the severe internal trauma caused by it thrashing about.

A hospital spokesman said: "The eel had badly injured the patient. If he had not arrived when he did he would have died. We expect he will make a full recovery though.

"The eel was as wide as two fingers and as long as a man's arm."

Bracken, the dog who swallowed a football

Tom Phillips

A dog has recovered after needing emergency surgery - because it had swallowed a whole toy football.

Bracken the labrador ended up with the deflated ball stuck next to his heart after munching it while out of sight of his owner John Grant and would have died without surgery.

Mr Grant realised the two-year-old dog needed medical attention when he started coughing incessantly.

When Bracken was X-rayed at the University of Glasgow Small Animal Hospital, vets noticed an unexpected dark shape near the labrador's heart.

Further tests revealed a congenital abnormality - a hole in the diaphragm between the dog's chest and abdomen which meant part of his stomach could move into the space.

When surgical specialist Kathryn Pratschke operated, assisted by vet Damian Chase, they were stunned to discover that the foreign object was a deflated toy football about 12cm (5 inches) long.

Mr Chase said: 'Bracken had been fine and his stomach had been gradually moving in and out from this area in his chest, but because he had eaten this toy football it got stuck up there. Part of the stomach moved and was sitting next to his heart with the football in it.

'We were surprised because when we did the X-ray and scan we couldn't tell what it was. He is a very lucky dog. He would have died without the operation.'

Mr Chase said the abnormality, called peritoneo-pericardial diaphragmatic hernia, can have catastrophic consequences, though many dogs with the same problem lead normal lives with the flaw going unnoticed.

Bracken needed two operations to correct the problem, one last spring and one in January. He is now living life to the full at the Grant home in Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire - though where he found the football remains a mystery.

Mr Grant, 70, said: 'I don't know where he picked it up, though it may have been in the park in the long grass. "He is quite inquisitive and noisy and boisterous. He eats anything - plastic bottles, golf balls, stones and sticks.'

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/817700-the-dog-who-swallowed-a-football

Reindeer Gets Lifesaving Op For Christmas

3:08pm UK, Sunday December 13, 2009

Rona Dougall, Scotland correspondent

A star attraction at Edinburgh Zoo has become the first reindeer in the world to receive life-saving keyhole surgery.

Eskimo underwent the ground-breaking operation last month and has made a full recovery.

Romain Pizzi, a veterinary surgeon for the Royal Zoolological Society of Scotland, successfully removed one of Eskimo's testes, which had been lodged in his abdomen since birth.

"The operation was a great success and Eskimo has made a speedy recovery," Mr Pizzi said later.

"Laparoscopic surgery is still very uncommon in veterinary surgery, even among common species such as cats, dogs and horses.

"So for keyhole surgery to be carried out on a reindeer shows a great advancement in veterinary surgery.

"We were especially pleased with how quickly Eskimo recovered after surgery. He was standing and happily eating lichen again within 10 minutes of recovery from anaesthesia.

"This would simply not have been possible with traditional open abdominal surgery, as the long wound would have been much more painful and debilitating."

Eskimo is one of a herd of eight tundra reindeer at the zoo.

Staff there are relieved that one of their most popular inhabitants will be fit and well for the festive season, as they prepare for a huge influx of visitors over the Christmas holidays.

See video at: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Strange-News/Eskimo-The-Reindeer-Becomes-The-First-Of-His-Species-To-Have-Life-Saving-Keyhole-Surgery/Article/200912215499315?f=rss

Reindeer Gets Lifesaving Op For Christmas

3:08pm UK, Sunday December 13, 2009

Rona Dougall, Scotland correspondent

A star attraction at Edinburgh Zoo has become the first reindeer in the world to receive life-saving keyhole surgery.

Eskimo underwent the ground-breaking operation last month and has made a full recovery.

Romain Pizzi, a veterinary surgeon for the Royal Zoolological Society of Scotland, successfully removed one of Eskimo's testes, which had been lodged in his abdomen since birth.

"The operation was a great success and Eskimo has made a speedy recovery," Mr Pizzi said later.

"Laparoscopic surgery is still very uncommon in veterinary surgery, even among common species such as cats, dogs and horses.

"So for keyhole surgery to be carried out on a reindeer shows a great advancement in veterinary surgery.

"We were especially pleased with how quickly Eskimo recovered after surgery. He was standing and happily eating lichen again within 10 minutes of recovery from anaesthesia.

"This would simply not have been possible with traditional open abdominal surgery, as the long wound would have been much more painful and debilitating."

Eskimo is one of a herd of eight tundra reindeer at the zoo.

Staff there are relieved that one of their most popular inhabitants will be fit and well for the festive season, as they prepare for a huge influx of visitors over the Christmas holidays.

See video at: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Strange-News/Eskimo-The-Reindeer-Becomes-The-First-Of-His-Species-To-Have-Life-Saving-Keyhole-Surgery/Article/200912215499315?f=rss

World's tallest dog loses a leg

Gibson, meeting the world's smallest dog in 2007

Friday, May 15, 2009

The world's tallest dog has been struck by misfortune, as he has had to have one of his legs amputated.

Gibson, a Great Dane who resides in Grass Valley, California, shot to fame when he was officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the tallest dog in the world in 2004 - standing over 7ft tall (42.4 inches, to be precise.)

Gibson's still standing tall - but only on three legs, after being diagnosed with bone cancer. The cancer forced vets to amputate his front right leg to prevent the cancer spreading from his paw. Losing the leg gave him over a 95% greater chance of survival.

Gibson, who is now recuperating at home, will have follow-up chemotherapy treatment over the next few weeks. The operation will not affect his height.

'Gibson is a loving, gentle dog who provides joy to those who meet him. The loss of his leg will not slow him down,' said Sandy Hall, Gibson's owner.

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?Worlds_tallest_dog_loses_a_leg&in_article_id=664322&in_page_id=2

Frog ripped open by lawnmower stitched back together

Amphibian given emergency operation in Australia
Thursday, May 14, 2009

A tree frog ripped apart by a lawnmower has been stitched back together after undergoing life-saving surgery in Australia.

The unfortunate amphibian was given emergency anaesthetic and operated on by doctors in the Northern Territory.

More: Top 10 fantastic frogs

According to Ark Animal Hospital vet Stephen Cutter the green tree frog had its back sliced open by the mower's blades.

"It was a pretty horrific injury," he told the Northern Territory News.

"It basically took the top layer of the skin off and did some internal injuries."

"But from day one she fought to live. It's very lucky to be alive."

The frog, nicknamed Victoria after Victa lawnmowers, had to be put to sleep before the 30-minute operation.

"Frogs are very delicate and sensitive to chemicals and toxins," Cutter said.

"The obvious one is Dettol - it is good for cleaning human wounds but for a frog or cane toad it kills them.

"So we had to be really careful when using any products on her, especially when cleaning out the wound. Frogs have reasonably loose skin so we just pulled it together and sewed it up."

The charity has operated on several frogs, including one that was hit by a car.

More photos at: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/world/article.html?Frog_ripped_open_by_lawnmower_stitched_back_together&in_article_id=662128&in_page_id=64