George the goldfish has 'high risk' brain surgery

SYDNEY - A goldfish called George was on the mend in Australia Tuesday after undergoing "high risk" brain surgery in an operation the vet described as "fiddly".

The 10-year-old fish had a tumour protruding from its head, leaving his owner with two options: to have it operated on or have the fish put to sleep.

The Melbourne-based owner opted for the delicate surgery.

"She was dedicated enough to give it a go," the vet who performed the operation, Tristan Rich, told commercial radio station 3AW.

George was knocked out with anaesthetic for the 30 minute procedure and is now recovering well back in his home pond, Rich said.

"It was quite fiddly as you can imagine and you have to control any blood loss. You can only lose half a millilitre," said Rich from the Lort Smith Animal Hospital.

"Obviously it was high risk but everything went well in the end."

Rich said he knew of goldfish that had lived till they were 30 and he had performed similar operations before.

"The owner was quite attached to him," he said.

"Everyone forms bonds to pets in different ways and it is not up to us to distinguish between species."

Rich added that the operation cost "a few hundred dollars". A new goldfish from a pet shop would cost less than Aus$10 (US$9).
AFP

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/George-the-goldfish-has-high-risk-brain-surgery-30243378.html


-- The Nation 2014-09-16

This must be a loyal, well behaved and affectionate pet. I don't know who is worse, the vet who took the money or the idiot who parted with $300.00 to fix a fish.

The surgeon gave the owner a new fish at USD 300, not to be sneezed at 8-)

Sounds like a good animation cartoon in the making, "Nemo has a Tumour"!

How exactly does one put a gold fish "to sleep" I always thought flushing them down the toilet was the correct course of action for dear old "nemo"

Get well soon George !

You know that the end of civilisation is not far off when we start doing brain surgery on goldfish and it makes international news.

This is a special fish, some say he fetches the paper in the morning.

if they hurt his brain does mean we have succeeded in being able to turn a fish into a vegetable?

What will the vegans have to say about that?

"The Melbourne-based owner opted for the delicate surgery."

Could the owner be a Thai wife living in Australia?

We all know that their priorities are.

1. The immediate family

2. The rest of her relatives.

3. The goldfish.

4. You

Then I wouldn't be surprised.

F|_|<I< !!! I thought for a second it was 1st of April again and I made a time jump... Who cares for an effen goldfish if there are thousands of innocent civilians (many of them children) dying on a daily basis out there in those so-called "wars on terror" or in Gaza?

300 USD would have helped some needy children to get a year of education, or anything else useful...

Makes me so angry that I actually wanna go out and kill a stupid goldfish just for the fun of it. Man, what a twisted world we live in...

Oooops, have to run - there's a cockroach I have been living with in my apartment for quite some time now and I kinda grew quite fond of him - his name is Paul and I think he needs CPR He's not moving... Heeeelp!!!! A doctor, please!!!!!!

You know that the end of civilisation is not far off when we start doing brain surgery on goldfish and it makes international news.

I'm in total agreement, Docno! We're doomed - obviously...

The world is breakling into bits and this makes the news. Really???

How exactly does one put a gold fish "to sleep" I always thought flushing them down the toilet was the correct course of action for dear old "nemo"

I once dealt with a dead goldfish by opening the kitchen window and simply tossing it out. Job done.

More money than brains

And there was me.... believing all the time that George was actually a human. It turns out he/she was actually a sodding fish.That does however explain some of the posts on TV.

a scaled-model human

Hats off to the owner willing to spend money to spare a life but I must ask

1. How does one know if fish has brain tumour?

2. How do you put one to sleep to perform a surgery? Do not they need water to breeth?

3. How does one know if tumour has been removed ?

And final question. This would be a very delicate micro surgery, $300 is a laugh, when it costs $79 just have a vaccine.

My dog had 1 knee surgery , $9000 , fish gets brain surgery for $300???

That's crazy

Cataract surgery for cats will be next

Hats off to the owner willing to spend money to spare a life but I must ask

1. How does one know if fish has brain tumour?

2. How do you put one to sleep to perform a surgery? Do not they need water to breeth?

3. How does one know if tumour has been removed ?

And final question. This would be a very delicate micro surgery, $300 is a laugh, when it costs $79 just have a vaccine.

My dog had 1 knee surgery , $9000 , fish gets brain surgery for $300???

That's crazy

You crazy.

Underestimated Goldfish,

the very first animal breed and kept by humans without the intention to eat or use it, except from watch/enjoy it's simple beauty.

If only all the posts on TV could be this funny! Good going to the vet, good going for the dam fish, and good going for the moron who actually thought that $300 was well spent on a Goldfish and not on a human being... you know the homeless one at the end of your street, or those kids in that shelter. I guess the Thais are right... we have more money than sense!

Note to self:

Look into importing gold fish to Australia.

In California, I would buy goldfish ( comets) for a dime each and feed them to my tropical fish.

There could be some money to be made here!

Then again, Jin-jokes, or house geckos sell for $4 usd each in California, at pet stores.

I count at least 40 Jin-jokes on my front porch every night when the light is on!

And a Tokay costs a fortune!

I wonder how his memory is now?

Underestimated Goldfish,

the very first animal breed and kept by humans without the intention to eat or use it, except from watch/enjoy it's simple beauty.

I always thought the first animal breed kept by humans purely as a pet was the greek badger, it was only much later they figured out you could milk them as well...

Or has Costas been lying to me all this time ?