You may have been hearing a lot lately about how there can be quite a bit of variation amongst veterinary hospitals when it comes to spays and neuters. Here at Eastern Passage Village Veterinary Hospital we want to explain what is included with our surgeries so you can fully understand the process and have an opportunity to ask questions and do comparisons.
The ways in which surgeries can vary may include; blood work, IV fluids, surgical procedure technique and monitoring, hospitalization and the take home process. Below we will try to explain what you can expect your pet to receive on their surgery day with us.
Comprehensive Diagnostic Profile
Blood work:
There is a wide variety of blood work that can be done and before surgery we do a pre anaesthetic profile (PAP). What we offer is a full comprehensive chemistry profile which means that we check multiple values measuring kidney function, liver function, diabetes, electrolytes, fats, cholesterol and red blood cells. As you can see in the example, there are many values checked prior to any medications or anaesthesia is used. We do this to ensure internal organs are healthy and to help guide medication choices. You can receive a copy of this blood work when you pick your animal up at the end of the day for your records.
IV Fluids:
IV fluids are something that most of us are very familiar with as they are used with most, if not all, human surgical procedures. If you choose to have IV fluids during your pets spay or neuter, what your animal will receive is an IV catheter placed within a vein on their front leg, a brand new bag of sterile fluids at the beginning of the day, during their surgery and continued throughout the day until approximately 15-30 minutes before they are picked up. What the IV fluids do is help keep the blood pressure up by increasing blood volume, flush out anaesthetic faster from the body following surgery and the catheter provides immediate access to the vein should there be an emergency during surgery. Each surgery patient has their own fluid pump which will distribute the fluids tailored to their individual needs and this will remain with them for the entire day.
Anaesthetic monitoring:
At our hospital we will have two licenced, trained, veterinary technicians assisting the doctor with each surgery. This means that one technician will be the anaesthesiologist and will be monitoring your pets heart rate, respiration rate, anaesthetic rate and depth, temperature, blood pressure and all other parameters while the other technician can assist the doctor when needed. Every surgical patient will have a Doppler (for blood pressure) and a Pulse Oximeter (for heart rate and oxygen rate) monitoring them from the moment they receive their first anaesthetic drug, until they are recovered and awake. Our goal with having the technicians and the equipment is to ensure all parameters are monitored vigilantly to ensure the safest anaesthetic possible.
Following Surgery:
Your pet will have received injectable pain medication prior to surgery and at the end of surgery and will have additional pain medication to go home, which is included with the price of all spays and neuters. We firmly believe that surgery hurts and it is important to manage their pain, even if they can’t tell us about it. Every surgery will receive a complimentary nail trim and will go home with a take home information sheet and a copy of their blood work. Our goal with the take home sheet is to guide you on what you can expect for the days following surgery including things such as; exercise, diet, incision care, etc. We try to use only internal dissolvable sutures when needed for our spays and neuters. What this means is that your pets incision will not have stitches you can see, will be less itchy and irritating and hopefully cause a decrease in their licking or scratching at it which will enhance healing time. One of our team members will call to check on your pet the following day to ensure they did not have any problems at home, and if you have any concerns following one of our surgical procedures, our doctors will recheck your pet at no charge.
We want to provide you with as much information as possible so you can feel you have made a well-educated decision when you choose to have your animal’s surgery done with us. If you have any questions which were not addressed in this handout feel free to call or stop in any time.