Tail Amputation

[Gandalf]

Has anyone here ever had to have a significant portion of their tegu's tail amputated by a vet, say 50%+, and if so, how did it go? Did they require your tegu to undergo general anesthesia before the procedure, or were they able to do the procedure with only a local analgesic? How much was the vet bill?

 

[marydd]

Eek! I have no experience with this. Why does the vet want to amputate? People on her prob need more back ground on the issue. Let's see some pics of what is going on.

 

[Gandalf]

Background:
So my adult gu smacked his tail on something pretty hard and ended up rupturing the blood vessels in his tail. The bottom 25% of his tail died pretty quickly, and there was also a little damage at about the half way mark. I was hoping the end would just fall off by itself, but after a couple days the tissue above the dead part started to turn black also (and smelled of dead flesh), and I was worried that it was infected/septic, so I took him to the vet immediately after I noticed the problem spreading.

Pre-Surgery:
We just moved, so I needed to find a new local reptile vet. I found a reptile and amphibian specialist, board certified by the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners in Reptile and Amphibian Practice, who had good reviews and recommendations. We got X-rays done to check for any spinal injuries higher up in the tail, and to check for any sign of infection of the bone, everything looked fine. Blood work came back normal, no sign of infection or septicemia. He recommended amputating above the highest damaged area, and I concurred.

Surgery:
The surgeon wanted to put him under general anesthesia to perform the amputation. This sounded a little excessive and pretty scary to me, considering it was just chopping off something that was designed to fall off anyway... I felt like this was something I could do at home with a sushi knife and a local pain killer, but obviously didn't. I talked to the surgeon for a while about alternatives, but at the end he said the tegu was too large and strong to use a local analgesic. I bowed to the surgeon's wisdom, and he performed the surgery with my baby under general anesthesia.

The Pickup:
So I arrive back at the vet 9 hours after dropping off my baby to him up... to find the vet has stitched close the tail after amputating it. It had never even occurred to me that was a possibility or I would have inquired about it and told him not to. He said that tegus, like iguanas, had the ability to regrow their tails, but in his experience when they loose a significant portion of it like this, that they did not grow back. This is when I knew he was full of crap and had no idea what he was talking about, as it was obvious even to me that stitching the tail together would close the wound with scar tissue and prevent the regenerative cap from forming. After getting home I looked into it, and confirmed my suspicions.

The Future:
So after paying over $1,500 to have my lizard butchered, I'm left with the following choices:

a) Leave the stitches in, and my baby is short 1.5ft of tail for the rest of his life. I don't mind the look, he actually looks kinda cute with the stub tail... I'm just worried about it affecting his balance.
b) Take him back tomorrow when they want to remove the bandages, and ask them to remove the stitches.
c) Find a reptile vet that actually know what he is doing, and have him remove the stitches. Anyone know of a good reptile vet in the San Diego area that they would recommend?
d) Forget vets, and just remove the stitches myself today. I've removed my own stitches before and I don't think it would be a big deal at all. We're giving him epidural antibiotic injections every three days and I'm 99% sure he'd be fine if I just took them out and let it heal on its own.
​

Its been a fun week =/

 

[marydd]

Oh that poor baby! I am of no help in this situation. I hope someone here knows! I do think it is strange that they stitched it up. I would think that if there is a chance some would grow back the vet would want it to. But maybe they were worried about infection. That is a large wound to keep open and they do live in substrate that may irritate it. Can you call another herp vet and get a quick opinion from them on it? Please keep me updated on your handsome guy!

 

[Gandalf]

Unfortunately I don't know of any other reptile vets in the area who's opinions I would trust any more, and a lot (including the one I used) are closed on Sundays. I'm scheduled to take him back in tomorrow morning for bandage removal (not sure why this requires a vet visit either) and I'm gonna talk to them then about removing the stitches and then try to figure out the best coarse of action after that chat.

On the bright side, he's appears to be doing fine now, is walking normally, active, and eating... so at least I have that going for me.

 

[marydd]

Well that is good to hear!

 

[Gandalf]

I think I'm just going to leave the stitches in and let it heal as the vet prescribed. After doing some more research I'm not sure it would grow back anyway even if left to heal naturally.

 

[N8bub]

That's absolutely terrible and like marydd have no real input on your tegus tail and regeneration. There is a member on this forum who runs a tegu rescue in the bay area. I believe her name is snakecharmr728 and she seems to have a pretty good reptile vet used to dealing with tegus. Perhaps you could pm orcontact her thru her website northbaytegurescue.com. and possibly get a second opinion via email or phone from the Dr. Good luck

 

[Aardbark]

Terrible situation, but Im glad to hear your guy is doing ok after all thats happend to him.

Im no expert myself, but it was my understanding that the regenerative properties of tails only worked for small portions of the tail. A huge part removed like that definitely wont grow back.

Beyond that, if the stitches were removed, wouldnt that leave a giant open wound? It could be bandaged, but it would be a risk that it might get infected.

Anyway tegus are tough little guys, and even with half a tail, he should be fully functional.

 

[marydd]

The missing tail will just add character! Please update with a pic after it heals. I'm interested to see what it heals like. He is a lucky gu!