It’s 10pm on a Thursday night, so what better time to warm your hearts with the adorable story of Arnold Schwarzenegger the goldfish, right?
The Murrumba Downs Vet MD clinic took to Facebook today to share the heartwarming story of Arnold’s successful surgery. I’m not crying, YOU’RE CRYING!
Arnold is a 3-year-old goldfish who unfortunately grew a giant tumour on his right operculum (gill cover). He’s also a fucking huge goldfish, weighing in at 20 grams (that’s big for a goldfish).
The not-so-little guy was named after Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “It’s not a tumour!” line. But, it turns out it actually WAS a tumour so he might need a name change.
Don’t cry, this story gets better I swear!
[jwplayer WCgqZlic]
Thankfully, the Murrumba Downs vets were able to put him under anaesthetic to successfully operate and remove the tumour. Yes. You can give a goldfish surgery, it’s a thing.
Dr Liam Flanagan, a vet at the clinic, doped him up on the same kind of anaesthetic that they give your dog or cat, waited for him to drift off and then cut that bad boy right off. Insane, I know.
Unfortunately it wasn’t all smooth sailing during the surgery, and Arnold needed to be removed from the water for Dr Liam to complete the operation. Luckily, the assistant nurse did a superb job of pumping water through little Arnie’s gills to make sure he could still breathe.
Honestly, what a team. Vet MD? More like Vet MVPs.
Flanagan is an exotics veterinarian, so he’s a bit of an expert in fish surgeries. Arnold the bodybuilding goldfish isn’t even the smallest animal he’s operated on.
Arnie ended up needing to spend five days in the vet hospital in a special medicated tank, but has now made a full recovery and is back to living his best life.
If your goldfish has a tumour, it looks like you might not have to flush him down the toilet because apparently there are vets that specialise in goldfish surgery. What a crazy world we live in.
I’m glad to see Arnold made a full recovery. Hopefully the three-year-old goldfish lives a long and healthy life in his community pond.
