How do veterinary surgeons operate on turtles and tortoises? Where do they make the incisions?
In: Biology
Ah, finally something that I can answer! I’m a veterinarian, will be done with my surgery residency in just one year! I don’t do a lot of exotic surgery but I do have knowledge in this area.
As another poster said, if we can address something endoscopically, then we will. Otherwise, we can approach the coelom of a turtle or tortoise by using something like a sagittal saw to incise a square or rectangular shaped piece of the plastron (bottom part of the shell). Once we have access, surgery is surgery as usual — assuming for anatomic variants based on species. You then reattach the plastron, usually using wire or epoxy. In some cases, such as surgery secondary to trauma, 3D printing can be used to produce shell components that might be damaged or absent and they’re attached in the same way.
I haven’t worked on these species in awhile. About a year ago I assisted with a tortoise penile amputation because he continued to prolapse it and was having some necrosis secondary to this problem. We intubated him routinely and monitored his heart rate and blood pressure using a Doppler. Overall was an easier anesthetic candidate (and intubation) than a dog or cat, but he took forever to wake up.
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