Vet performs life-saving surgery on goldfish

A cherished goldfish in Australia was saved from the final flush when his owners decided to fork up $200 so a veterinarian could perform surgery to remove his deadly tumor.

The owners of George the goldfish knew something was wrong with their longtime pet when they noticed he was having a tough time breathing and swimming in his tank,the Daily Mail reports.  

When they spotted the growth of a lump on his head and also saw that the other fish had been bullying poor George, they rushed him to the Lort Smith Animal Hospital in Melbourne  to see what was wrong.

Dr. Tristan Rich, head of exotics and wildlife medicine at the hospital, examined the ill-gilled swimmer and came to the conclusion that his sickness was due to a life-threatening tumor. He would need to undergo an intricate surgery to have the tumor removed that would cost a whopping $200 to perform.

But no price was too steep for George’s owners, who have had the beloved goldfish for 10 years, according to the Daily Mail.

“For the owners, it’s not about having a fish, it’s about having this fish,” Rich said. “If you have a pet, regardless of what it is, then you have a responsibility to look after it as best you can.”

The extensive procedure all went down with the help of three buckets filled with water – one with a mild anesthetic, one with a strong anesthetic and the last with oxygen.

Dr. Rich then used a tiny tube to trickle the water over George’s gills “to keep him asleep and alive,” he told the Mail.

After carefully slicing away at the tumor, which had grown all the way down into George’s skull, the skilled vet managed to successfully remove what had been causing so many problems.

Once the pioneering surgery was complete, Rich had to think quick on his feet so he could properly close up his incisions.

“Very little of our methods are fish-specific,” he said. “We tried to seal him closed with sutures but they didn’t take, so we had to use tissue glue to seal the cut, which is used in surgery on humans.”

George safely made it out of the procedure and is currently on the road to recovery, according to the Daily Mail...