Woman spends $500 on life-saving operation - for her goldfish

An Australian woman has gone viral after going above and beyond to save her pet goldfish who had accidentally swallowed a pebble.

Emma Marsh brought the goldfish - purchased for $12 - to Brisbane Bird and Exotics Veterinary Services and was faced with a choice - pay $500 for an operation to remove the pebble from its mouth or let nature take its course.

And Emma chose to save her pet, the aptly-named Conquer.

Veterinarian Emma McMillan told the Courier News that the fish would have died if they didn’t intervene.

"He is 13g and only 5cm long," she said. "The pebble was about 8 or 9mm long and was stuck lengthways across the side of his mouth, which is why he couldn’t spit it back out.

"He was making excessive mouth movements trying to dislodge it ... if we did nothing he would have starved to death."

So Conquer was put under anaesthetic and vets slowly worked the pebble out of the fish’s oral cavity.

And the operation was a success, with Conquer living to swim another day.

We hope he appreciates it.

H/T: breakingnews.ie