To amputate or not to amputate?

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sherylbobbins

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I've already got a board (http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=54849) but would love to hear the opinions of other axies owners and possibly some moderators. For quite a while now I have been pulling the fungus off the legs of my badly bitten axolotl, Sarge. I've come to discover the following:
- on the left leg, the top half of the leg is seperated from the bottom half with approximately 3-4mm of bone
- the bottom half of the leg is definately decomposing
- when pulling off the fungus, the flesh seems to come (accidently) much more easily.
- there is no movement AT ALL in both of the legs affected
- the right leg is bleeding at the elbow joint

The attack happened at least a week ago and Sarge's situation appears to be getting worse.. and more fungusy. The only consolation is that he occasionly likes to eat the odd worm. The poor little guy has also lost his gills :(

What am I to do?
 
hi,
i'm no expert on the matter but..... the last few pictures on the thread looked really bad. if you are able to find a good vet who has knowledge on axolotls then i would probably get the leg amputated. this will not only get rid of the infection but if you are lucky he will still grow a completly new leg. also since his gills are not looking good they may grow back aswell once the infection has been taken care of.
however its your choice.
Blackhawk
 
I live in rural Australia. All the vets around here know only about horses, cats, dogs and cows. Vets aren't really much of an option unfortunately :(
 
hey again,
aaahhhh.... thats not so good.... erm, well i may get some criticism for saying this but maybe if you put him in the fridge for a while to calm him down and then if you are VERY careful.... or maybe not. hmm this is a tricky one.

Blackhawk
 
I agree about the trickiness of the situation. :( But something has to be done about it. If i leave the arms there, they're just going to rot leaving the whole body open to infection. It wouldn't be overly hard to do... my mum's axolotl did a pretty good job of attempting to sever the arms off lol

100_2216.jpg
 
Last edited:
Woah... how very cool of you! Yeah... umm... Melbourne is about 8 hours away from me... I live near the Deua National Park in NSW. Bah.
 
Righty ho... I have thought about this and if I was in your situation I would go for amputating the limbs, but only if you think you can do it neatly and quickly and can use sharp clean instruments.You will probably need an assistant to hold on to your axolotl. If you use the search function and enter 'amputation' there are a few posts that may help . I would like to stress to others however if you have access to a vet ,do use them. Let us know how it goes...crossing fingers and toes for too long gets rather painful.
 
Hello Sherylbobbins,

As Bellabelloo has suggested already, you must conduct the amputation with a sharp edge that has been sterilised. One apparatus I'd recommend are those out-dated double edge blades. I have included a link if you are not aware of what I'm referring to:

http://www.leesrazors.com/oldsite/images1/merkur/Blades.jpg

Also, it would be a good idea to fridge your axolotl for at least a day that way you can lower its motility and also the shock/stress that it will endure during the amputation process.

Jay.
 
It looks to me like amputation may be necessary. I think standard industrial razor blades that you can buy at the hardware store should be perfectly serviceable for this task. Make sure to rinse them thoroughly with rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) before use to wash off any lubricants on them.

After washing with isopropyl alcohol you will need to sterilize them. A good way to sterilize them would be to buy some grain alcohol, something around 70% alcohol (140 Proof), and dip the blade in a small amount of that and burn it off by moving the blade over a candle (a sterno burner would be better). Repeat a few times and the blade should be close to sterile. Make sure to use a tweezers to hold the blade and be careful with the fire. Alcohol fires can be nearly colorless and drops of flaming alcohol may roll off the blade so hold the tweezers up. Let the blade cool and then use immediately.
 
Hi Sheryl,

I assume living in rural Australia is similar to rural New Zealand and that you may be used to having to undertake emergency care with any stock you may have.

Amputation is not a job for the light hearted and is of course best carried out by a vet. In the absence of one I would say that you will be needing to do it yourself.

I think from your photo that it should be done sooner rather than later. Follow the advice you have been given and best of luck.

Great photo of fungus though
 
I think I'm prepared enough to carry out the procedure. I've got a fridge; sharp, clean cutting instrument; isopropyl alcohol, the 140 proof alcohol; an assistant (gotta love little brothers); a patient; fairly clean operating station lol and a steady hand.

What do I do if he starts bleeding? How much blood is too much?

Wow. My 1st surgery. Myself and the patient are very greatful for the guidance. Hopefully nothing will go wrong. Hey, it's no worse than being bitten by another axolotl in the long run.
 
hey,
sounds good, keep us posted on how it goes, it sounds so exciting!:D

Blackhawk
 
If you keep it cool, there shouldn't be a terrible amount of blood.

Best of luck.
 
I agree the circumstances you describe and the picture merits a home amputation. The damaged limbs are non-viable and at best will self amputate, at worst the infection will spread and kill the patient.

If you have not yet operated I suggest you cool even more than usual for the operation, perhaps about 5 minutes in water with a few ice cubes in it stirred to take the axolotl down to nearly zero Celsius. This will slow its reactions down and may make the operation less bloody and painful by slowing nerve impulses.

Cut at a level where no dead tissue remains. Standard medical practice is to cut at a level with a good blood supply and this applies even to axolotls.

Have a bowl of clean water to put the patient in afterwards, the biggest risk of further infection is from the water not the instruments.

As a Human Pathologist I've seen a quite a few limbs chopped off, sometimes for gangrene. This patient stands a better chance of a full recovery if you amputate than if left and a better chance of full recovery than any of the humans I've seen.

You are trying your best - Good luck.
 
The operation was a success! I did everything you all recommended and things went pretty smoothly. Amputation is not for the light hearted. Believe me, I found that out. It took a little while to take that very first snip and feel the bone crunching. Not nice. It's hard cutting off your baby's legs :(. But with that said, his new stumps are looking fairly good. Certainly better than they did before lol.

Before:
104_0019-2-1.jpg


I had a look at both cut off legs and I strongly believe I made the right choice. The left leg had no bloody supply and the right leg had minimal blood going through. There wasn't hardly any blood at all. The stumps look like they were already growing where the legs had partially seperated. I just hope I cut the right areas lol. On the right leg, I decided to cut just above the elbow joint because I figured there would be far less bone fragments that would complicate matters than if I cut right at the elbow. On the left, I just cut near the top of the bone.

After:
104_0024.jpg


Thank you oh so very much everyone! Without your help, Sarge quite possibly would have passed on (like we previously thought lol). Gosh axolotls are full of surprises :D
 
I have been avidly following the progress of your and your Axie Sarge. I'm so pleased it all went well, you are so brave! I wish Sarge a speedy recovery and well done you give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back, Kerry
 
The post-op picture looks very good. Congratulations - I wish Sarge a speedy regeneration.
 
Sigh.. what's with Axie's only half chewing off each others legs!! :( I have a pregnant female and the male half bit off her front leg :( ( im so very very new to Axie luving) She looks the same as sarge in the piks..cept it only happened last nite..so no fungus as yet.. im going to be ringing vets today but im guessing i have the same problem as i live in a rural area also..So if the vets fail...I have a feeling i cant stick her in fridge in her condition??? or amputate the leg in her condition?? and im scared im going to freeze her cos i dont think my fridge is reliable in temperature.. sigh all and any of your opinions will be greatly appreciated.. Venessa
 
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