Surgery Day

WHY USE US?

Our doctors have decades of medical experience in both general practice and in emergency.  Our animal hospital is always looking at advancing our medicine to the highest quality and level of care.  Did you know?  A portion of every transaction is reinvested back into the hospital to enhance your pet's experience with new and more advanced diagnostics, operational efficiencies, and day-to-day tools.  You deserve the best, so expect the best.  

PRE-OPERATIVE BLOOD PANEL

After you and your veterinarian have decided that surgery is the best option for your pet, we will recommend a pre-operative blood panel to ensure your pet is healthy enough to undergo anesthesia. We require blood work be performed within 3 months of the surgical procedure. This will provide us with the best information possible about how your pet’s organs are functioning. It may also expose any underlying disease that is not yet obvious.  Once that blood panel has been evaluated and your pet is considered a good candidate for surgery, you will bring your pet in the morning of the procedure usually between 7:00AM to 8:00AM, or as scheduled with our front desk staff.

NO FOOD AFTER 12AM MIDNIGHT PRIOR TO SURGERY

It is important that your pet does not eat after 12AM midnight the night before and does not have any breakfast or treats that morning. We would like to have at 12-14 hours of fasting prior to surgery. Typically, you can allow your pet to drink water the night before and some water on the morning of surgery. Please let us know if your pet is on any medication so we can determine what your pet can have the morning of the procedure.

SOFT TISSUE SURGERY

If your pet will undergo soft tissue surgery, then your pet will have a PT and aPTT coagulation test prior to surgery using our in-house lab equipment.  Our lab station assists in the diagnosis and evaluation of bleeding disorders, toxicity/poisoning, evaluation of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), hepatic disease and monitoring therapy, and progression of disease states.  The coagulation test may result in a surgery deferment.  If so, this would be in the best interest of your pet's health. 

PRE-OPERATIVE CARDIOLOGY EVALUATION

Your pet will undergo a pre-operative cardiology evaluation  This is helpful information about your pets heart health.  It is an easy, fast, and affordable way to identify potentially hard-to-detect arrhythmias prior to anesthesia  Arrhythmias are more common than you may realize. And they can be difficult to identify. Preanesthetic screening and guidance about how to interpret electrocardiograms  (ECGs) can be lifesaving for veterinary patients. If health concerns are identified, then surgery may be delayed until further diagnostics can be performed.

Case Study Video -- Toby: Auscultation missed detection        Case Study Video -- Monkey: Examination missed detection

ARRIVAL FOR SURGERY

When you arrive you will meet with a staff member to fill out consent forms and leave the best phone numbers to contact you throughout the day. It is very important to be available by phone should the doctor need to reach you with any questions prior to or during the procedure.  Before undergoing any procedure, the doctor will examine your pet to affirm that your pet is still healthy and can proceed with surgery.

DURING SURGERY

When your pet is ready to go into surgery, a sedative and pain medication will be given. Once anesthetized, your pet will constantly be monitored by a veterinarian, and a veterinary nurse technician while undergoing the procedure. An IV catheter will be placed, giving us intravenous (IV) access to administer medications for sedation, antibiotics, and fluids, to maintain your pet’s blood pressure using an IV infusion pump.

TEMPERATURE MANAGEMENT

We monitor and manage your pet's temperature during and after surgery.  Decrease in temperature (hypothermia) occurs in almost all surgeries.  We use safe and proven technology to circulate warm air flow comfortably either from under or from the top downward over the anesthetized patient. Your patients will recover more quickly and safely when doing any procedure requiring anesthesia or hypothermia prevention.

SURGICAL MONITORING

Our highly advanced, veterinary vital signs monitoring system tracks key clinical parameters throughout the patient's surgery.  We monitor ECG, SpO2 Pulse Oximetry, Indirect Blood Pressure,

Direct Blood Pressure, End Tidal CO2, and Temperature.

ELECTROSURGERY AVAILABILITY

Our doctors may elect to use electrosurgery as a viable option versus traditional surgery methods. Electrosurgery has been common in human hospitals for over 60 years. Today, over 80% of all human surgical procedures involve electrosurgery and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

estimates that electrosurgical devices are used in over 41 million procedures per year. We use this same technology in our animal hospital. Electrosurgery allows our veterinarians to operate efficiently and with great precision. By providing the ability to cut  tissue and control bleeding with a single hand-held

device, the method can reduce blood loss, procedural time, and minimize the animal’s time under anesthesia.

AFTER SURGERY AND IN RECOVERY

After the surgical procedure is complete, a veterinary nurse technician will stay with your pet until recovered. During the recovery process, a nurse technician will remove the endotracheal tube which assists your pet's breathing and protects their airway.  They will closely monitor body temperature.  If your pet needs additional warming, we have warm air flow equipment available to help them recover more quickly and safely.  We will also remove the IV catheter prior to being discharged. Each pet  metabolizes the sedation medications differently.  Most pets recover within four (4) hours after the surgical procedure.  We will reach out to you with an approximate pick up time.  Please know your pet may not want a full meal after surgery.  We recommend providing them about half their normal portion size.

READY FOR PICKUP AND DISCHARGE

When it is time to pick up your pet, a veterinary nurse technician will review home care information with you and answer any questions you may have. This usually takes 5-10 minutes to review everything thoroughly. Your pet may go home with medication, so please let us know if you have any questions about these. Always know that we are happy to answer any questions you have at that time or give us a call/text later.  Any pain medications sent home are usually administered one day after the surgical procedure.  Stitches are removed approximately14 days or two (2) weeks after being applied.  Unless you have a concern, we will schedule a recheck with our doctors for two (2) weeks after the procedure.