Global Animal Rescue And Response

Butsyk Surgery (11 May 2026)

This video contains surgical procedures, blood, and tissue. If you do not want to see these things, do NOT watch this video.

This is Butsyk's process for the removal of a HUGE lipoma from his leg that had doubled the size of his entire forearm. Who knows how long it was there, but it is out now and he is recovering. What we do know is that it was a mystery to begin with. We did a needle aspirate on it and nothing came out to test as we thought it was an abscess or possibly a cyst. But once it was opened up a little and we got a look at it after the failed aspirate, surprisingly it was exactly what we thought it wouldn't be when we started. There was time to get it out the same night, and we took that opportunity to surgically remove it. (No video from the full surgery) What came out was beyond what we could have imagined. The lipoma was almost the size of my hand, and it actually was removed in one piece without any compromise or issues with his bones, muscle, or vascular system.

The negative is that he is heartworm positive. But unlike Ralph who was fully infested with the worms, Butsyk's ultrasound did not show worms infesting his heart. He will start on a slow kill method to eliminate the microfilaria in his blood and be tested again in roughly six months.

He is recovering now and we are scrambling for a foster home where he can continue to receive his treatments and vet care. His total bill came to just around 11,000UAH with meds, which is $250 USD. In the US, this would have cost thousands.

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