Panda bear critical after major surgery

A FOUR-YEAR-OLD panda that has undergone a stomach operation, in east China’s Zhejiang Province was in critical condition four days after the delicate intervention, the first of its kind in the world.

the Chengdu Panda Bear Breeding Research Base, located in the southwest of the country, said that Cheng Jiu, a male bear, has survived the reflux of gastric juices, which is dangerous, three times since surgery and is still in critical condition.

The panda lived in the zoo in Hangzhou for 18 months before the caregiver realized,  that he was eating less and had little energy. He was diagnosed with acute distension of the stomach.

The zoo veterinarians and the panda center, together with the doctors of the Run Run Shaw Hospital of Hangzhou, made a collective consultation and prepare the operation plan.

It was the first stomach incision surgery in the world to eliminate non-digestible food from a panda.

The veterinarians report that Cheng Jiu, who weighed 115 kilograms before contracting the disease, is in intensive care. The bear must fast seven days after the operation and feed intravenously.

According to the doctors, the biggest difficulty is that the movements of the animal cause the tubes to be released, which could lead to the failure of the surgery. and the reflux of gastric juices could cause pneumonia and even suffocation.