"Buddy" - 18 month old Dromedary Camel

While everyday in veterinary medicine can present new and exciting adventures, it's not every day that we get to work on a camel.  Buddy presented to CLAH for a routine castration.  He was excellent to work with, and we thought we would share our fun day with you.

Just as in equine castrations, the first step is to perform a physical examination.

Buddy is sedated and administered perioperative antibiotics and a tetanus booster.  His tail is wrapped and secured away from the surgery site.  Buddy is trained to cush (or lay down) with voice commands. 

Buddy is placed in a lateral position, and his hind leg is secured with a soft rope.  The surgical site is scrubbed and an anesthetic block is performed.  The testicles were extracted from incisions made in the scrotum, and the spermatic cords were ligated with suture.  An emasculator was used to crush and cut the cords.

Once it was ensured that there was no bleeding from the incision site, Buddy was assisted to stand.  He was able to go back home that day.