I know someone on here is a vet tech, but I can’t remember who it is.
Anyway, I love watching “Emergency Vets” on TLC. Occasionally they have to give a dog or cat oxygen, and it has a small thin tube going up its nose. (At least I assume it’s oxygen). When the tube comes out of the animal’s nose, it goes up over the snout and to the machine. It LOOKS like it is stapled (!) to the animal’s snout. It is actually stapled to the snout or the skin, or maybe just the fur or something? It looks terribly painful.
The tube is stapled to the head, and usually sutured once or twice in the corner of the nose. Some of my vet tech friends have tried the stapler on themselves and they say it doesn’t really hurt. And since the animals never react to us when we staple them, I guess it doesn’t. Sometimes we’ll numb the nose before throwing in a suture, but for the most part that doesn’t bother the pet either.
Michi
Oops, I forgot.
Thanks, Cyndar-Michi. It sure looks like it hurts!
I had staples when my son was born (C-section), but I had an epidural. But now that I think about it, it didn’t hurt when they took them out.
So, what’s the deal with the show “Emergrncy Vets”? They find someone who can’t afford the vet and they pay if they can film the guy crying when the pet dies? I can think of no reason to display grief to the world.
That fellates with great allacrity.
Kinsey, the pet IS DIEING! What if it hurts? Usually the pet does not feel at that point and, definetely, does not care. There is no time to administer anesthesia. That’s why it’s called EMERGENCY.
They do similar things to people.
This is purely anecdotal. I’ve had sutures and I’ve had staples as wound closures. I was anesthetized (either local or general) when the closures were put in, so I can’t say how much they hurt, or if they hurt. However, given my druthers, I’d rather have staples. They LOOK and SOUND nastier, but they are less irritating, and they are much easier to remove. In my experience, anyway. YMMV.
Cyndar, just how big are the staples they put into the animal’s head?
I had staples when I had an emergency appendectomy years ago (early 80s). The doctor let me keep them as a souvenir and these things were huge (very long prongs and sharp too!)! I still have a scar that looks like someone squashed a caterpillar across my abdomen (the stapler points look like the footprints). Or has medical technology advanced to where they can get away with smaller staples?
And are staples used elsewhere on the animal’s body? Whe HyperKitty was neutered/spayed {I always get those terms mixed up} fixed, the vet used sutures. Are staples used only in the bony areas or also on soft tissues?
This reminds me of an off topic story. On the tv show ER whenever they have a code blue the person always passes out when their heart stops beating. This isn’t how it always is in real life. Many times i’ve seen people go ‘code blue’ while being wide awake. It goes something like this.
nurse: Mr Smith, your having a heart attack. We’re going to shock you with these paddles now. ZAP
The staples we use in animals are small and they can be used for a variety of reasons. We can staple things to the animal’s head, as has already been discussed, and we can use them to close incisions. Stapling is faster than suturing, and they are also very easy to remove.