Arthur had her surgery today, and thankfully it went as good as it could, according to the vet. She is a total trooper, and is super easy going to work with. She loves people and is comfortable (as much as an axolotl can be) being handled, so they were able to get things done very easily and in the quickest way possible.
I took her in to the vet in a big Tupperware of her water, with another big Tupperware full of her water to change her into after the surgery. I had everything in a big insulated picnic basket (lol) with an ice pack to keep the water cool.
They sedated her with an alflaxalone injection. I was told that there's two ways of doing this, one would be to do a bath, but it takes a lot longer. They wanted to minimize the length of the procedure to avoid stressing her unnecessarily, and she handles so well, that they decided to do the other (more invasive way), which was the injection. After injecting her and letting the drugs kick in, they wrapped her in a towel damp with her water and very quickly went to work. They used very sharp scissors and forceps to very carefully cut first the skin and flesh rather than forcefully snapping thru bone. They decided to amputate at the elbow, leaving a little bone exposed for the healing process. After cleanly removing the damaged limb, they applied pressure to stop the bleeding. While the sedatives were still affecting her, they did another injection of the anti-inflammatory meloxicam. After monitoring her for an hour, I came to pick her up. She pooped in her container, so I swapped the water and took her home as gently as I could.
The reason they sedated her, despite it having risks itself, is because trying to do the surgery without being calmed (and also feeling all the pain, which is unethical), can cause so much stress it kills them in the process, or keeps them from healing properly. They are also able to do the delicate cutting and such properly without her flipping around and freaking out. It was a risk that I thought was worth taking, given how easily she takes invasive handling and injections to begin with.
It ended up being much cheaper than even the vet anticipated, which was a big relief. Here is the estimates and invoices for everything that I was given:
On Monday, I paid for the pain medication and exam, which was $110 and $20, so $130CAD. Everything else is just an estimate.
This is what the invoice ended up being:
So the surgery and everything involved today cost almost $500CAD. In the end, I paid $630 Canadian in total to get her fixed up professionally. I'm so, so glad that I am doing well enough that I was able to afford this unexpected expense. I can't imagine trying to do this myself, it wouldn't be fair to her (yes I briefly considered it, but I didn't think it would be right for me to try to do myself). If I wasn't able to find such a great vet to take her to, it may have been a different story.
And here she is now, about 12 hours post surgery:
She's not loving the stump, but I bet it's a lot better than the mangled mess of an arm lavender gave her. She's a little clumsier now, but rebounding well. Has a great appetite, still seems plucky and cheerful- if perhaps a bit tired. And her eyes say, I've seen some shit. Can't blame her!
Ive been keeping her tank half covered and the light off, and will continue to do so for a couple days while the stump heals a bit. I just don't want her all excited swimming around, because she's normally very active.
I will update as the healing progresses. I figured I would try to document this as best I can since when I was searching for something similar on here, I was finding everyone's questions seemed to go unanswered or the thread dropped off. Hopefully this will help someone
TL;DR it's worth it to go to the vet in a similar situation!! Not as expensive as I anticipated and the professional equipment and training makes it more likely you'll have a positive outcome if an amputation is necessary
