What You Need to Know Before Your Pet's Upcoming Surgery

Many people have questions about various aspects of their pet's surgery, and we hope this information will help.  It also explains the decisions you will need to make before your pet's upcoming surgery.

Is the anesthetic safe?

Today's modern anesthetic monitors have made surgery much safer than in the past.  Here at Russell Vale Animal Clinic, we do a thorough physical exam on your pet before administering anesthetics, to ensure that a fever or other illness won't be a problem.  We also adjust the amount and type of anesthetic used depending on the health of your pet.

Every patient deserves an individual anaesthetic protocol, and we do this with each and every patient. 

Many of our routine procedures do include blood testing (eg all of our Dental patients, and Deluxe desexing patient).  In other cases, we strongly recommend it, and this will be in the estimate given to you.  We do this, because we strongly believe in the benefits of blood testing.  If they are all normal, then that is great!  But, what if your pet has a hidden problem such as diabetes or kidney disease. 

Blood testing before surgery to ensure that the liver and kidneys can handle the anesthetic.  Even apparently healthy animals can have serious organ system problems that cannot be detected without blood testing.  If there is a problem, it is much better to find it before it causes anesthetic or surgical complications.  Animals that have minor dysfunction will handle the anesthetic better if they receive IV fluids during surgery.  If serious problems are detected, surgery can be postponed until the problem is corrected.

It is important that surgery be done on an empty stomach to reduce the risk of vomiting during and after anesthesia.  You will need to withhold food for at least 8 to 10 hours before surgery.  Water can be left down for the pet until the morning of surgery.

Will my pet have stitches?

For many surgeries, we use absorbable sutures underneath the skin.  These will dissolve on their own, and do not need to be removed later.  Some surgeries, especially tumor removals, do require skin stitches.  With either type of suture, you will need to keep an eye on the incision for swelling or discharge.  Most dogs and cats do not lick excessively or chew at the incision, but this is an occasional problem you will also need to watch for.  If there are skin sutures, these will usually be removed 10 to 14 days after surgery.  You will also need to limit your pet's activity level for a time and no baths are allowed for the first 10 days after surgery.

Will my pet be in pain?

Anything that causes pain in people can be expected to cause pain in animals.  Pets may not show the same symptoms of pain as people do; they usually don't whine or cry, but you can be sure they feel it.  Pain medications needed will depend on the surgery performed.  Major procedures require more pain relief than things like minor lacerations.   Proper pain control involves not only the anaesthesia, but a variety of additional medcations and treatments (such as local anaesthetics, monitoring and handling techniques) for the sole purpose of relieving operative pain.

For dogs, we may recommend an oral anti-inflamatory the day after surgery and several days after to lessen the risk of discomfort and swelling.  We use newer medications, which are less likely to cause stomach upset and can be given even the morning of surgery. 

Because cats do not tolerate standard pain medications such as aspirin, ibuprofen, or Tylenol, we are limited in what we can give them.  Recent advances in pain medications have allowed for better pain control in cats than ever before.  We administer a pain injection  (an opioid) 10 minutes prior to surgery.  After surgery, we administer an non steroidal medication which lasts up to 48  hours in cats.

What other decisions do I need to make?

When you bring your pet in for surgery, we will need to 5 to 10 minutes of time to fill out paperwork and make decisions on the blood testing and other options available.  When you pick up your pet after surgery you can also plan to spend about 10 minutes to go over your pet's home care needs.

As with every procedure at Russell Vale vets, your pet's comfort and safety is our primary concern.  Anaesthesi and surgery can be the most stressful tme for your pet; we do everything we can to minimise this whilst employing the safest procedures possible.

We understand that cost is definitely a factor in choosing your pet's heath care, and want to be sure that you understand some of the differences between our hospital and the providers of low cost care.  We always recommend that you ask as many questions as you can of your veterinary health care provider, as you always ave the right to know what it is you are actually paying for.

Questions you should always ask include

1. Is your facility licenced to do this procedure (not all veterinary hospitals in the Illawarra are licenced to do major surgery).
2. Who will actually be doing the procedure, and what are their qualifications and experience (in practices with many vets, the vet who you are speaking to, may not actually be the vet doing the procedure).
3. Has the person doing this procedure on my pet actually done this procedure before?  and if so how many times nd how often?
4. Who is my contact person if I am worried about my pet after the procedure, and will I receive detailed written home instructions.

We love what we do, and it shows.

At Russell Vale vets, the answer to the above questions are -
1. We are fully licenced by the Veterinary Practitioners Board of NSW for all types of major surgery on small animals" pursuant to Section 68 of the Veterinary Practice Act 2003.
2. I, Dr Liz will be doing the procedure.
The answer to q 3 depends on the procedure in question, and this is discussed with you at the time.
4. Your contact person is me. And yes, you will receive detailed written home instructions, as well as contact details in the event of any questions.

Cheers!