Beloved pet goldfish saved after vets remove huge tumour same size as him
Nemo is now said to be doing swimmingly following life-saving operation
A BELOVED goldfish was taken on a 200-mile round trip to a vets to have a huge tumour removed.
Nemo, the five-year-old fish, underwent a tricky 45-minute operation on his head and shoulders to cut off the lump.
He was operated on out of the water and at one stage his heart stopped but vets managed to revive him.
His owners Roy Hands, 59, and wife Caroline, 54, of Aston Clinton, Bucks, paid £200 for the operation.
Roy, who works at Heathrow Airport, said: "He got a tumour that grew and grew.
";We saw that another fish was operated on so we thought we have got nothing to lose.
"We got a phone call saying that Nemo's heart had stopped but he had pulled through.”
Nemo had to undergo the operation for 45 minutes
Roy, who also owns three cats, two dogs, a hedgehog and a parrot, added: “He is doing brilliantly. You would not know he had been through an operation."
Veterinary surgeon Sonya Miles and exotics nurse Millie Gardiner carried out the successful procedure - with Nemo sent home just two hours later.
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Sonya, from Highcroft Veterinary Group in Bristol, said: "Nemo was initially a referral, a little fish sent from Buckinghamshire to come and see us as another practice who did not want to do the surgery.
"We accepted it and the owners saw my colleague for a consult and decided to go ahead with it.
"Nemo is doing really well - he had a massive lump on the side of where the neck would be and it was looking the same size as the fish itself."
Despite the success there was a moment of panic during the operation.
Nemo has now made a full recovery and is back home
Sonya said: "It was difficult keeping him asleep and alive - there was a hairy moment when his heart stopped but we managed to revive him.
"We kept Nemo asleep by putting a syringe into his mouth and gills. We had to keep oxygen in system."
But Nemo is now back to normal and enjoying life.