Our surgical suite is also now equipped for minimally invasive surgery for various common surgical procedures, including ovariohysterectomy, prophylactic gastropexy, and abdominal exploration. Learn more about minimally invasive surgical techniques here.
Anesthesia
We utilize the safest available anesthetics to provide an extra margin of safety, especially for our older or high-risk patients. Using the most modern equipment, the patient’s vital signs are monitored during all anesthetic procedures.
Minimally Invasive Surgery
Minimally invasive surgery is accomplished through small portals using cameras that can look inside the body cavity and instruments that can be inserted through the portals.
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TPLO Surgery
In a Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy procedure, a curved cut is made in top of the tibia and the bone segment is rotated in order to level the slope of the tibial joint surface, creating joint stability. A stainless steel plate and screws are used to hold the bone in place.
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What You Need to Know Before Your Pet’s 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 Whitefish Animal Hospital, 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 type of anesthetic used depending on the health of your pet.
Preanesthetic blood testing is important in reducing the risk of anesthesia. Every pet needs 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. All animals should also receive IV fluids while under anesthesia. The IV fluids help to maintain your pets blood pressure, flush the system of anesthetics and provide a port to a vein in case of an anesthetic emergency.
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 12 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.
For dogs, we may recommend an oral anti-inflammatory 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 will send home an oral suspension for cats to reduce pain and inflammation. Any animal that appears painful will receive additional pain medication.
We use narcotic patches for some surgeries in dogs as well. The cost will depend on the size of the dog. Injectable pain medications may also be used after surgery on both dogs and cats. Providing whatever pain relief is appropriate is a humane and caring thing to do for your pet.
What other decisions do I need to make?
While your pet is under anesthesia, it is the ideal time to perform other minor procedures, such as dentistry, ear cleaning, or implanting an identification microchip. If you would like an estimate for these extra services, please call ahead of time. This is especially important if the person dropping the pet off for surgery is not the primary decision maker for the pet’s care.
When you bring your pet in for surgery, we will need 5 to 10 minutes of time to fill out paperwork. When you pick up your pet after surgery you can also plan to spend time to go over your pet’s home care needs.
We will call you the night before your scheduled surgery appointment, to confirm the time you will be dropping your pet off and to answer any questions you might have. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to call us with any questions about your pet’s health or surgery.
