At some stage during their life, your pet will most likely require a surgical procedure. The most common procedures include dental surgery, lump removal or desexing.
It’s natural for you to be worried about your pet and be concerned about how they will cope with their operation and going under anaesthesia. Knowing what to expect will not only help put your mind at ease – it will also help to ensure you and your pet are well-prepared for their procedure and recovery.
In this blog, we take you through the key steps involved in your pet undergoing a surgical procedure at Bryants Road Vet – including the preparations you need to take, the day of surgery, and how to care for your pet post-procedure.
Preparing your pet for surgery
All surgical procedures will require your cat or dog to be placed under anaesthesia. To reduce the chances of your pet vomiting during their operation they will need an empty stomach.
This means that prior to their procedure, your dog or cat will need to fast overnight before being brought to the clinic the morning of the procedure. Water is fine during the night; however, this should also be stopped a few hours before you drop your pet off. When your pet is booked in for their operation, we will advise you on the exact time to stop offering water.
If your pet takes regular medication, you will also be advised whether to skip this on the day of the operation or to take it as usual.
The day of surgery
We will advise you of the time to drop off your pet at our clinic. Typically, this is between 8am – 9am. This gives our vets plenty of time to perform a thorough physical examination of your pet to make sure they are fit to be operated on.
Based on our pre-procedure discussions with you, we may also perform a blood test prior to their procedure as a further check that they are healthy enough to be sedated. We recommend pre-anaesthetic blood for every procedure and strongly recommend it for our senior pets as it helps guide our anaesthetic and analgesia protocols to keep your pet as safe as possible.
Once we are happy with the results of the check-up and blood test, we will place your cat or dog under anaesthetic and commence the operation. We will also administer some IV fluids to ensure your pet has appropriate blood pressure support, always using a fresh bag and line for each of our patients. During the procedure, your pet’s heart rate, blood pressure and blood oxygenation levels will all be closely monitored by our team.
Once surgery is complete, we will give your pet some long-last pain medication to ensure they are comfortable. Our vet nurses will then carry your pet to their bed and monitor them closely while they come around fully from the anaesthesia. We also always make sure they receive lots of cuddles during this time!
Once they are more alert and we are happy with their recovery, we will give you a ring to let you know how the operation went, and their pickup time. Most of the time this will be later in the afternoon. We will also usually give your pet something to eat and drink before sending them home to make sure they can tolerate something in their stomach post-anaesthesia.
Surgery aftercare
Due to the pain relief given post-surgery, your cat or dog will probably be a bit sleepy at first. Regardless of the type of surgical procedure your pet has had, it’s important that you follow the aftercare instructions we provide to you. This will ensure they recover as quickly as possible and will help to minimise any potential infections or other issues that can arise.
If your pet has been desexed, we will provide your pet with some pain relief to use at home to make the first few days post-procedure more comfortable.
If your pet has had stitches, we will send them home with a cone to discourage your pet from licking, biting or scratching at them.
A few key aftercare instructions include:
- Isolate your pet from any small children or other pets – this is particularly important for the first 24 hours (this may be longer depending on the procedure performed).
- Check their wound/s daily and let us know if it appears to be red, or swollen or if you notice any bleeding.
- If your pet has stitches, keeping their cone on at all times is the best way to help prevent them from being pulled out or licked, and a potential infection developing.
- Keep your pet quiet until the stitches come out. Take dogs for gentle walks on a lead only and try to keep cats from jumping on and off higher surfaces.
Trusted care for your pets
The Bryants Road Vet team perform surgeries on most days of the week, including desexing, lump removals, dental procures, caesareans and wound repairs. Our vets are very happy to answer any questions you may have about your pet’s upcoming procedure and will always take the utmost care of your cat or dog.
Our Loganholme vet clinic has a fully equipped operating theatre, and a range of the latest diagnostic equipment that allows us to perform X-rays, ultrasounds and in-house blood and urine analysis.
To book an appointment you can call us on 07 3801 1744 or book online.
