31. Electro-surgery in 3-day-old pups

The home-alone first-time-mother Shih Tzu bit off the ear lobes of her 3-day-old pups. "She must have scratched off the ears," the male owner would not believe that mothers would bite progeny. "The male dog may be responsible." The pups had full rounded abdomen showing that they had suckled well.

I showed him one puncture wound of 3 mm above the ear of one pup and one wound on the chin of the second pup. These wounds would heal.


Surgery: Stitching.
Four tattered ears in 2 pups. What should the vet do? The first thought would be to suture the skin and cover the ear cartilage. However the bite wounds were irregular in shape with more skin torn off in some parts of the ears and there would be insufficient skin to stitch up.

Cosmetic Surgery:
This was my first time in over 3 decades of practice to encounter two 3-day-old pups being presented with bitten ears and were still alive. In most cases, the dam just killed the pups by biting their skulls, neck and abdomen.

Lacerated ear wounds are usually treated by stitching. So, my assistant took out a rabbit anaesthestic mask to give isoflurane gas anaesthesia to the puppy after washing the ear area for surgery. He got out a small hair clipper which we use to clip the coat of hamsters.

"Puppy anaesthesia is high risk," I said. "The rabbit mask is not suitable for flat-nosed 3-day-old puppy. Use the plastic container. Some vets use plastic bags to contain the gas.

Electro-surgery
Stitching the torn ears would not present a good appearance for these Shih Tzus when they grow older. Buyers will notice that two ears of the pups are not symmetrical in shape and size. Therefore I decided on the use of electro-surgery. But can electro-surgery be performed in such a young pups? Would they die of heart failure due to the passage of electricity into their bodies? If you know the theory of electro-surgery, this does not happen as the electricity passes through the surgical area and incise and coagulate. But theory may not translate into practice. I could just incise the ears using scalpel. But the results would not be so good. Therefore I commenced electro-surgery.

Electro-surgery in 3-day-old Shih Tzus.
After cleaning the ears and after light gas anaesthesia, I placed the puppy's belly onto the saline-damped gauze which was placed on the indifferent electrode. This electrode was placed onto of a plastic tray which was then placed on the stainless steel operating table. Stainless steel does conduct electricity*

I used the artery forceps to clamp the remaining part of the ear, exposing the jagged ends. Electro-incision electrode cut off the tattered ends. Then electro-coagulation electrode sealed all bleeding. The results were 2 "ear-less" pups. When they grow up, their lack of ear pinnae is obvious but will not be distracting as one ear bigger and more irregular than another.







The dam was isolated. She was watched while she suckled her pups after 24 hours of my assistant hand-feeding the pups. The pups are then removed from her. Today is Day 5. The pups are OK and have had reduced their earlier puppy fat.

Conclusion

*Stainless steel operating table conducted electricity. Therefore do not place your elbows onto the table. At one stage, I had an electric shock during electro-surgery as my elbow touched the operating table.

Electro-surgery is safe in 3-day-old Shih Tzu pups. The use of saline-moist gauze on top of the indifferent electrode helps to conduct electricity better.

More pictures and final report will be at www.toapayohvets.com