by Angela Cole

acole@thekmgroup.co.uk

Surgery seems quite a drastic way to try to lose a stone, but for this little chap, he could have died without it.

Humphrey the 3oz Indian star tortoise, who is one year old, had been straining with the size of the stone in his bladder and surgery was his only option.

Enter exotic vet Mark Rowland of Trinity Vets in Hermitage Lane, Maidstone, and his specialist skills.

Dr Rowland had to give the plucky patient anaesthetic before cutting a square hole in his shell to take out the stone and fixing the shell back with a special form of putty.

Humphrey's op was finished off with this fetching red bandage.

Dr Rowland said: "Although these stones can form and have been removed in larger tortoises, it is not common in these younger ones to see a stone of this size."

"He had to have painkillers after such a large operation, but he was moving much quicker without the stone weighing him down and is recovering well."

Humphrey is now recovering well and had a check up this week when his bandages were taken off.

Dr Rowland, who has a Royal Colege of Veterinary Surgeons' Certificate in Zoologicall Medicine, opened the practice with his wife Lis in 2007, seeing normal pets as wel as exotic animal referrals from all over the south east.