We’re immensely happy to be working with St Clement Veterinary clinic when pups brought to the our Cornwall Seal Hospital need surgeries. Two seals brought to us, Hot Fuzz and Amelie, required digit amputations due to injury to their flippers (Hot Fuzz a digit on a rear flipper, and Amelie a digit on a front flipper).
We’re very happy to announce that both procedures were a success and the pups recovered very quickly and smoothly. So a massive well done to our veterinary team for rising to the challenge of these tricky patients, and of course for donating their time and expertise. We are very lucky indeed to now have access to the facilities and equipment, as well as now having the knowledge and skills, to provide this very highest level of care for our patients. Thank you so much to everyone who has made this possible through their kindness and generosity.
Find out more about the surgeries below.
Hot Fuzz being prepped for surgery. Anaesthetising seals can be a real challenge, and does not come without risks. This is why our head vet Dr Natalie Arrow spent a lot of time speaking to expert teams from around the world about the best and safest ways to perform anaesthesia on our grey seal pups (particular thanks to Zeehondencentrum Pieterburen, Seal Rehabilitation and Research Centre in the Netherlands and The Marine mammal centre in the US).
Getting Hot Fuzz stable under anaesthetic. Once asleep, the pups were connected to a ventilator and a range of monitoring equipment, as well as an intravenous drip to help maintain their blood pressure, and their body temperatures carefully managed.
With thanks again to St Clement Veterinary Clinic whose kind donation allowed us to purchase a second-hand veterinary ventilator from Elands Veterinary Clinic (huge gratitude also goes to Elands for the offer and excellent discount). This is a potentially life-saving piece of equipment that can help animals like seals (who can have difficulty breathing under anaesthesia) to stay nice and stable for their procedure.
Amelie undergoing surgery. A team of 4 or 5 vets and veterinary nurses attended each pup on the day, splitting into two teams to manage both the anaesthesia and surgery safely (thanks also goes to RVN Fay of St Clement Vets, who gave up her free time to get us settled into the practice on both days!).
Hot Fuzz looking very bright only a few hours later. After they came round, the pups were monitored intensively for a few hours and pain relief and antibiotics provided in the coming days to help them heal.
Amelie a few minutes into recovery, already growling and giving us attitude!