Hamster enucleation

Re: Hamster enucleation

Linda Filshie — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 19:22:33 GMT

Thanks Marie.

Re: Hamster enucleation

Marie Kubiak — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 18:28:24 GMT

[quote user="Linda Filshie"]

Little Patch as he is now named did very well. I am now delighted (ahem) to be doing an enucleation on a guinea pig tomorrow. There doesn't seem to be much in the literature about the anatomy - does anyone know if they've got a venous sinus like rabbits?

[/quote]

Hi,

yes they have a significant sinus so be careful dissecting! Be generous with analgesia (I use buprenorphine plus meloxicam routinely) and make sure temperature is being monitored as GPs have a lovely habit of just failing to recover if their temperature has dropped below 35C.

Marie

Re: Hamster enucleation

Linda Filshie — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 16:16:07 GMT

Re: Hamster enucleation

Linda Filshie — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 16:58:24 GMT

Did the op today after discussing risks of surgery and pros/cons of just leaving it to scar up, and Popeye (!) the hamster is up about and eating.

Fiddly but very doable. I did ligate as just clamping wasn't enough to stem the haemorrhage. Just hope he survives the next 24h as he's actually a very sweet little dude who hasn't tried to bite anyone!

Re: Hamster enucleation

Neil Wheadon — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 00:30:27 GMT

I've done quite a few, face mask works, and do it as a dog, though I don't ligate. An interesting observation was a doctor friend who let his sons pets eye granulate over 2 weeks after which it dried out and everything was OK. On the internet he had read that 'don't let your vet remove an eye' and interestingly my only death this year was a hamster that died the night after an enucleation, so maybe the trauma is too much in some cases, so warn the owners in light of mine and Doctor Google. neil

Re: Hamster enucleation

Nicola Cole — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 00:18:50 GMT

I did an enucleation on an adult Syrian hamster a few years back and just did it as I would a cat or dog! Was a bit fiddly but it did fine. I used the end of a syringe case as the face mask.

Re: Hamster enucleation

Linda Filshie — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 23:34:39 GMT

[quote user="vetmeddeni"]

Just a stupid question ,and no help at all. How are you going to keep a face mask on this hamster while you take the eye out? Or how are you going to anaesthetise it?

[/quote]

Latex glove stretched over our smallest mask and cut a tiny, tiny hole in it for its mouth/nose is my plan at present. Don't think my skills are up to placing an ET tube though I suppose I might be able to try with an IV cannula...

Re: Hamster enucleation

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 23:23:54 GMT

Unless....There might be tiny hamster masks that I have not seen

Re: Hamster enucleation

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 23:21:27 GMT

Just a stupid question ,and no help at all. How are you going to keep a face mask on this hamster while you take the eye out? Or how are you going to anaesthetise it?

Re: Hamster enucleation

Stephen Courtney — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 23:13:43 GMT

You pretty much have to just scoop the thing out - it will be a real fiddle - and leave it to granulate.

Another option is to provide antibiotic and perhaps nsaid cover and wait for the eye to granulate anyway?

Third option = referral depending on client's appetite for big sticks!