Above, Barringer is intubated and about to be put on oxygen and gas anesthesia. This is to keep him sedated during the procedure and the machine will breath for him.
Above, Dr. Innis uses an endoscope to view inside the turtle's cloaca. He was looking to see if there was any inflammation or infection that would cause this issue.
The above video is from the endoscopy equipment. From beginning to end, you will see the opening of the colon, then the opening of the bladder, the first ureter, and last you will see the second ureter. Not many people can say they've seen the ureters on a live reptile!
The procedure to repair the cloaca involved using a sterile syringe to push the prolapsed tissue back internally, which you can see in the photo on the left. The photo on the right shows Dr. Innis then suturing the area to keep the tissue in place...inside the turtle instead of outside.
The above photos are the before (left) and after(right). Look how much more comfortable Barringer will now be.
Barringer had a smooth recovery and was swimming back in his tank as soon as we got back to Quincy. He even already ate yesterday, but we are only feeding him soft foods to make it easier fo excretion. We will continue to monitor the site, and hopefully the tissue will heal well and we can remove the sutures. I'll keep you updated on his progress!
~Kerry
Yay for Barringer
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