Arm became stuck in filter intake

[Jenste]

My golden albino male, Butters, has gotten himself into an awful situation.

This week has been quite hectic after the sudden passing of my husband's grandfather Monday evening. On Wednesday I fed all of my axolotls their worms....Thursday I had to run right home from work to head to the wake. Today was the funeral and we just got home and I went to go feed my tanks... I found Butters stuck to the filter intake.

It seems that it swelled and he could not free himself. He has a wound circling his arm where the intake cut it as he thrashed and the lower half of his arm is brown, swollen, and dragging.

I held him still while my husband used pliers to cut through the bars of the intake so we could free his arm.

Right now he is in a container of fresh water in the fridge...

In the pictures you will see a weird toe - - he has always had two toes fused together on his front right arm. It just makes the swelling more noticeable.

 

[NeekaLovesYou]

Poor little guy I'm sorry you've had such an awful week but lots of hope he makes a full recovery! Do you not think he could loose the arm and regrow it being as it's in such a bad way?

 

[Jenste]

I hope he recovers - I feel just awful though. Due to everything else going on, he could have been stuck like that since Wednesday evening and I can't even imagine how stressful, scary and painful that must have been.

 

[NeekaLovesYou]

I know but don't blame yourself, these things can happen and you've had so much going on. You've done everything you can do to help him! How is his behavior, does he seem his normal self or his he still a little disorientated?

 

[Kaysie]

Jenste, I'm sorry you're going through so much! But given the gravity of that injury, I think I would consider amputation. The arm isn't likely to heal itself, and you do run the risk of it getting infected and septic.

 

[Jenste]

When an ACF of mine had been ill before I had been unable to contact a vet willing to take him on.

I am trying to find one now and have had no luck yet.

What do I do about the arm?

 

[squishyjaws12]

Not trying to sound inhumane here but I would amputate it. Of course this depends on the lotls age but if he is on the younger side I would do it, keep him well fed in cooler water and in a few weeks to a month he should have a little stubby arm growing back in its place. I had a similar situation three months Go when a 12 inch female mangled my 8 inch males very same leg it was all twisted and busted up, I just sanitized a pair of surgical scissors and clipped it off and in exactly 6 weeks he had a new fully formed arm. Hope this helps also if you do decide to go this route a very dilute initial salt bath would be benificial to cut down on the risk of infections and fungus.

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[Jenste]

Where would I cut it? How far above the wound?

 

[Kaysie]

If you feel confident enough to take it on yourself, Brandon's method is effective. Cut the leg off just above where the dead tissue stops. Try to keep as far away from the body as possible.

 

[Jenste]

OK. I held him and my husband did the cutting. He didn't even respond when we cut his arm...don't know whether that is a good sign or bad.

We left as much of the arm on as possible but the whole arm up to where it meets the body is red. I hope he makes it, I don't care if he regenerates or not but I will be devastated if he passes away due to a stupid thing like the filter.

 

[xcoregamerskill]

wishing you lots of luck. As has already been said, just keep him, cool, clean, and well fed.

 

[jasper408]

If he didn't react, it could just mean that it was dead tissue. Best of luck to him.

 

[Kaysie]

I agree. If there was no reaction, that tissue was already dead.

Keep him cool, and keep a sharp eye out for signs of a septic infection.

 

[Jenste]

So far so good this morning. Checked on him and he was walking around his container in the fridge. No bleeding from the site and the redness has not spread to his body from his arm.

Not interested in feeding yet.

 

[Jenste]

Here is a picture of him post amputation.

 

[RobynSYR]

Must have been a stressful incident.

Crossing my fingers for a full recovery!

 

[xcoregamerskill]

I just recall reading a post earlier that may help you avoid this in the future. a member here protects his (her?) intake by covering it with sponges so the little ones don't get stuck. looking forward to a progress update on the little guy.

 

[SapphireTigress]

aww poor guy! Lucky he is an amazing axolotl! I'm sending good wishes your way for his speedy recovery!

 

[Morrison]

That poor thing. Guess you had no other option.
Keep us updated.

 

[squishyjaws12]

Sorry for the late reply but how is the little guy doing ? If he didn't even move then the arm was surely just dead tissue. I hope all is well and within the next 3-5 days you should see the redness fading and the new tissue growth should take over, but be ever vigilant for fungus.

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