medical leeches

[LoveForLizards]

Originally Posted by ditta

maybe im gonna regret asking this megan......but how do you know?????

About what? the care or the feeding side of things?

We fed leeches at a farm when we were young, and ever since have had a fascination with them, and have friends with leeches so info is consistently drummed into my small brain.

[ditta]

Originally Posted by LoveForLizards

About what? the care or the feeding side of things?

We fed leeches at a farm when we were young, and ever since have had a fascination with them, and have friends with leeches so info is consistently drummed into my small brain.

how do you know how they feel whilst sucking your blood

[LoveForLizards]

Originally Posted by ditta

how do you know how they feel whilst sucking your blood

Fed them at a farm a couple years ago.

[ditta]

Originally Posted by LoveForLizards

Fed them at a farm a couple years ago.

on your blood

[LoveForLizards]

Originally Posted by ditta

on your blood

Yup. They are only used for "pets" so there isn't much risk of cross contamination so why not. It's quite fun actually I want some now lmao.

[starburst]

Originally Posted by sarahc

Well thankyou for that amazing info.Can I share my blood?I really don't know.Might have to have a stiff drink which is probably no good for leeches.On the other hand I don't really want to starve them to death.Perhaps I could attach to the oh whilst he's sleeping.

Getting bitten by leeches really doesn't hurt- it's just a bit icky the first few times. I was in the jungle a while back and got bitten by loads of the little guys! If you need to remove them, don't squeeze them, unless you want them to regurge! Letting them drop off naturally is best.

[sarahc]

The leeching went well, a bit bloody though... I'm optimistic of a good outcome with no anesthetic. The leeches are now relaxing in a jar of evian water.

[Shell195]

How did your dog react to them?
How long did they need to be on the dogs ear?
Has the haematoma gone down now?
How often will you need to repeat this procedure?

Sorry for all the questions but Im fascinated. Years ago a vet removed a Haematoma from my cats ear by using a needle and syringe to draw the blood out.

[sarahc]

No real reaction from the dog .The leeches fell off after about 3 minutes,you can see a dropped off one in one of the pictures.The ears bled quite a lot after which the others licked off.The haematome does look flatter.As for how often it needs to be done,I'll let you know.They didn't come with instructions.I hope they do work as it's far better than having an op.The ear I previously had an op on is ruined so it can't be a worse result.I'm going to have another go today.It's a bit of an initial panic as the leeches try to attach to me.

[LoveForLizards]

Originally Posted by sarahc

No real reaction from the dog .The leeches fell off after about 3 minutes,you can see a dropped off one in one of the pictures.The ears bled quite a lot after which the others licked off.The haematome does look flatter.As for how often it needs to be done,I'll let you know.They didn't come with instructions.I hope they do work as it's far better than having an op.The ear I previously had an op on is ruined so it can't be a worse result.I'm going to have another go today.It's a bit of an initial panic as the leeches try to attach to me.

You may find they wont want to feed again for another couple of weeks. And when handling to avoid them attaching to you use a serving spoon to handle them.