{"id":972,"date":"2022-08-19T16:34:29","date_gmt":"2022-08-19T15:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.608vets.com\/news\/?p=972"},"modified":"2026-01-08T13:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T13:56:15","slug":"zasu-the-lizard-has-life-saving-surgery-at-608-vets-in-solihull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.608vets.com\/news\/zasu-the-lizard-has-life-saving-surgery-at-608-vets-in-solihull\/","title":{"rendered":"Zasu the Lizard has life-saving surgery at 608 Vets in Solihull"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The sands of time passed particularly slowly for an African lizard called Zasu who has undergone delicate surgery at our vet practice in <a href=\"\/about-608\/our-surgeries\/solihull\">Solihull<\/a> to remove an unusual blockage in its <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">intestines<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Bosc Monitor lizard, owned by Solihull College, had become unsteady and un-coordinated, was off her food and constipated, prompting staff to alert\u00a0 608 Vets on Warwick Road, which is just a 5 minute drive away from the college.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">At first, our vet, Siobhan feared Zasu might be suffering from neurological issues but a detailed examination uncovered the real cause of her problem \u2013 a blockage of sand! <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-976 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.608vets.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/lizard-has-life-changing-surgery-at-608-vets-in-solihull-after-too-much-sand-1-300x157.jpg\" alt=\"Zasu the lizard undergoing life saving surgery\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.608vets.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/lizard-has-life-changing-surgery-at-608-vets-in-solihull-after-too-much-sand-1-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.608vets.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/lizard-has-life-changing-surgery-at-608-vets-in-solihull-after-too-much-sand-1.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Siobhan explained: \u201cZasu presented with neurological signs initially. She seemed to be weak on her front legs and was struggling to strike at food.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cWe carried out a series of tests, including a barium study and exploratory coeliotomy (a surgery to examine her internal organs), which revealed Zasu was suffering from an intestinal impaction.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The surgery<\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cFollowing X-rays and a blood test, Zasu had surgery to remove a significant deposit of sand from her large intestine.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cIt was quite a challenge, as the impaction was close to the junction of the intestine with the cloaca (outlet into which the intestinal, urinary, and genital tracts open), which made sewing her back up difficult.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cHowever, surgery proved to be very successful and now Zasu is back at college and doing really well. She\u2019s finally eating and pooing regularly again!\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>One final surprise for Zasu&#8217;s keepers&#8230;<\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cThere was one surprise for the College, though, because Zasu was also spayed at the time of surgery \u2013 and they thought \u2018she\u2019 was a \u2018he\u2019!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Jo Burnard, manager of the College\u2019s animal unit, said: \u201cWe\u2019re very grateful to Siobhan and 608 Vets for the way they cared for Zasu.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201c<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">They\u2019re just a mile down the road and we schedule regular visits from Siobhan to check our animals, particularly the exotic species, and make sure they\u2019re all doing well.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cIt\u2019s quite a check list for them as we have 15 different species of lizard alone, plus a range of snakes, tortoises, skunks and meerkats, as well as more common mammals and livestock for our animal welfare and veterinary nursing courses.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cBut the 608 team is brilliant at dealing with any species, even the really exotic ones, which is a huge help.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Call us today on <a class=\"tracklocationtel\" href=\"tel:0121 705 3044\">0121 705 3044<\/a> to book your lizard or exotic pet in for a check up at 608 Vets in <a href=\"\/about-608\/our-surgeries\/solihull\">Solihull<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The sands of time passed particularly slowly for an African lizard called Zasu who has undergone delicate surgery at our&hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.608vets.com\/news\/zasu-the-lizard-has-life-saving-surgery-at-608-vets-in-solihull\/\" class=\"cta\">Read more&hellip;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":976,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.608vets.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.608vets.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.608vets.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.608vets.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.608vets.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.608vets.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.608vets.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.608vets.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.608vets.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.608vets.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}