7 Oct 2021
Surgery helps goldfish Dorothy see clearly
Team at McDonald Vets swings into action to help when student VN colleague spots tumour growing on the eye of her 12-year-old pet comet goldfish.
Joshua Silverwood
Job Title
Dotty’s tumour.
A Glasgow vet team has saved the sight of a goldfish named Dorothy (Dotty) in an unusual surgery to remove a tumour growing from her eye.
The 12-year-old comet goldfish was brought into McDonald Vets by student VN Caroline McHugh after she spotted a tumour growing from her pet’s eye.
A team – made up of vets Lee Shrigley and Calum Aitken, VNs Diana Fodor and Vikki Harvey, and patient care assistant Katie Brady – worked to anaesthetise the goldfish and remove the tumour.
Hydrated
Aesthetic powder was added to Dotty’s tank to cause her to fall asleep before carrying out the operation, which required vets to keep her gills hydrated.
Dr Shrigley, who removed the tumour, said: “The biggest challenge was getting Dotty to sleep, but once she was the surgery went very smoothly.
“The tumour itself was fairly big, so we used the smallest kit that we have to cut around the eye and tie off the blood vessels.”
Optic nerve
Dr Shrigley added: “The tumour was pulling on Dotty’s optic nerve and would have been uncomfortable for her. We had to be careful not to pull on it anymore as it could have caused her to go blind in her other eye.
“We put her back in her own tank water after the operation and she woke up within five minutes. Three days after the operation, she was back to eating and causing trouble in her aquarium.”