Services | Surgery
Your Pet's Surgical Procedure
Here at Canyon Pet Hospital, we pride ourselves in the quality of care given to our patients before, during and after surgery. Any surgical procedure, whether routine or complex, can bring much anxiety to you and your pet.
Do you have questions about what the surgery check-in process is going to be like? Do you have feelings of anxiety about leaving your pet at the clinic (most do!) and wonder what your pet does here all day? Do you wonder why we offer optional procedures with your pet's surgery? Well if you do, we would like to take you on a step-by-step tour of what you should expect before, during and after your pet's surgical procedure.
The night before surgery
The night before any anesthetic procedure, your pet should be fasted from food and snacks after 10 p.m. and water should be picked up the morning of surgery. If your pet is on any medications, they should be given as usual unless otherwise directed by your veterinarian. If you have any questions about whether or not to give your pet's medication, please call.
The day of surgery
We ask that you drop your pet off between 7:30 and 9 a.m. The entire check-in process typically takes around 20-30 minutes. If you are a new client there will be new client forms to be filled out, in addition to surgery paper work. The surgery paper work will have some questions for you to answer, an anesthesia release for you to sign, and a place to put a phone number where you can be reached throughout the day of your pet's procedure. The form also explains and allows you to choose additional options we offer with your pet's anesthetic procedure. These options are not included in the base price of the procedure that you may have been quoted. We have often been asked why we offer these as options and not make them mandatory, if they will increase the comfort and safety of the procedure. The answer is this—each of the following options has an added cost that, if included in cost of the surgery, would increase the base price of all of our procedures, making some very important and necessary surgical procedures not affordable to everyone. However, we feel that each of the options are important and fall into standard of pet care that we want to offer all of our clients.
Option 1—Pain Medication: Canyon Pet Hospital has a pain management protocol that includes a pain injection and pain medication to go home with canine and feline spays, canine neuters and feline declaws. (There are some exceptions to this—please call the clinic for more details.) Other surgical procedures we perform give you the option to choose pain medication for your pet. The obvious reason to elect pain medication for your pet is to aid in their comfort during recovery. Another, not-as-well-known reason for using pain medication is it allows us to use less anesthesia during your pet's procedure. If your pet is feeling the sensation of pain, he or she will need to receive more anesthesia in order to become and stay anesthetized. When we give a pain injection prior to surgery, your pet will not only be more comfortable, but also will be able to receive less anesthesia. Your pet will also be sent home with a few days worth of oral pain medication that you will start administering the day after surgery.
Option 2—Pre-anesthetic blood profile and electrolytes: Your pet's kidney and liver are the organs used to process and eliminate anesthesia from your pet's system. This blood work evaluates your pet's liver and kidney function to confirm that they are working properly. It also gives us valuable information on your pet's hydration level. This profile may also reveal hidden health conditions that may put your pet at risk with anesthesia. To learn more about what specific areas we test, visit Diagnostic Blood Testing.
Option 3—CBC blood profile: A CBC is another blood test done prior to surgery that will check red blood cell, white blood cell and platelet counts to let us know if your pet has a bleeding issue. These tests can also indicated leukemia, stress, inflammation or an inability to fight infection. If any of these conditions is indicated, your pet's surgeon may recommend that surgery be delayed because these conditions could cause serious surgical complications. For more information about what a CBC tells us about your pet visit Diagnostic Blood Testing.
Option 4—Fluid therapy: We offer two kinds of fluid support for your pet's surgical procedure. IV fluids and SQ fluids. In the case of IV fluids, a catheter is placed prior to surgery and remains in place until just before your pet goes home. Fluids are administered directly into the vein via the catheter during your pet's procedure. IV administration of fluids helps support the cardiovascular system, flushes the anesthesia out of your pet's system and helps to keep your pet hydrated for the day, as most pets do not feel like eating or drinking very much the night after their surgery. The major advantage of IV fluids versus SQ fluids is that we are allowed direct access to your pet's vein to quickly administer life saving medications if your pet has complications during or after surgery. SQ fluid administration helps to keep your pet hydrated, but does not allow us this kind of immediate access, which could mean the lose of valuable seconds that could potentially save your pet's life.
Option 5—Propofol anesthesia: Propofol is an anesthetic induction agent, which is by far the safest method of anesthetic available. The reason it is so safe is that your pet has the ability to metabolize it quickly meaning it leaves your pet's system quickly. This will mean a speedy anesthetic recovery for your pet. It is highly recommended for pet's over 8 years of age because these pets naturally metabolize anesthesia more slowly than younger pet's.
Option 6—Laser: The use of a surgical laser is beneficial to your pet because it seals the nerve endings and cauterizes the capillaries. This leads to less bleeding and less pain, meaning a quicker recovery for your pet. The use of laser is included in all of our declaw procedures because we have witnessed first-hand the benefits of less bleeding and less pain in the recovery of these pets.
Once the surgical release form has been filled out and all of your questions have been answered, the technician will take your pet to our surgical ward and get a weight and temperature. If you elected for your pet to have blood work performed, this is when we would draw the blood and start the testing process. If your pet's blood values indicate that there might be a concern with anesthesia, the surgeon will call you to discuss your options. If your pet's values are normal and your pet is healthy enough to receive anesthesia, we will administer a pre-medication injection. Pre-medicating allows us to use less anesthesia in order to intubate your pet and anesthetize. Because the pre-medication is a sedative, it also helps to keep your pet more comfortable while waiting to have the procedure done.
Here at Canyon Pet we perform anywhere between five and 10 procedures a day. Surgeries are typically started around 10 a.m. When it is your pet's time to have their procedure performed, he or she will be given and injection of anesthesia, intubated and hooked up to isoflourane. At this time, the area where the surgeon will be making the incision is shaved and sterilized. The procedure is then performed with continuous technician monitoring of your pet's temperature, pulse, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation. While your pet is under anesthesia, any additional services that were requested are performed such as pain injections, vaccinations and microchips as well as trimming your pet's nails. There are times when decisions need to be made while your pet is under anesthesia to avoid future procedures. It is very important that you are available by phone or designate someone that will be available that can make decisions for you. When the surgeon is done, your pet will be monitored by the surgery technician until fully awake.
Once the procedure is done, the surgeon or surgery technician will call and let you know how your pet is doing and how the procedure went. We will also let you know what time you can take your pet home, which could be anywhere between noon and 8 p.m., depending on when your pet had surgery. All anesthetic procedures require a minimum of two to three hours of recovery time before going home to make sure your pet is waking up safely and completely from anesthesia.
If your cat has had a declaw procedure they will be spending the night with us. After surgery the paws are bandaged and those bandages need to be removed and the paws examined the following morning. Once this is done, and as long as there are no complications, your cat will be able to go home, usually anytime after 10 a.m.
Post Surgical Instructions
When you come to pick up your pet from surgery, one of our technicians will go over Post Surgical Instructions with you. We do this before we reunite you with your pet in order to clearly communicate the importance of the instructions and answer any questions you may have. You will also be informed if and when you need to return to have your pet's sutures removed. If we are sending home any medications, such as pain medications or antibiotics, the technician will go over the specific dosing instructions and when to start the medications.
If your pet received IV fluids, the catheter will be removed at the time of pick up and a bandage placed to prevent bleeding. This bandage needs to be removed one to two hours after your pet leaves the hospital, unless any swelling is noted. If this happens, please remove the bandage without waiting.
If your pet is prone to licking or chewing, you may want to take home an Elizabethan collar to prevent the possibility of opening the incision and the need for further surgeries. This collar must be left on at all times unless under your direct supervision.
If your female pet was spayed and was in heat, she will continue to have hormones in her system for the next few months. These females should have no contact with intact males until the incision is completely healed, because we do not want any internal sutures to become damaged.
If your male dog was neutered, he can still show signs of dominance and aggression or even marking for quite sometime after the procedure.
The very last thing we will do before we bring your furry friend up to you is check the incision and clean around the area with hydrogen peroxide if needed. Your pet's gums will also be checked to make sure their color is normal. It is now time for your pet to go home with you! If you ever have any questions or concerns after a procedure is done, never hesitate to call us.
We hope this helps to put your mind at ease and gives you a better idea of what your pet's experience is like when he or she comes to Canyon Pet Hospital for a surgical procedure. If you have any other questions regarding your pet's procedure, please call and talk to one of our receptionists prior to the surgery date or ask your technician at the time of the surgery.
If you would like to expedite your surgery check in process, please call the hospital at 928-774-5197 and one of our receptionists would be happy to fax or e-mail a copy of our Surgery Release Form to you.