Surgical

Information

Dear Client
Your pet has been scheduled for an upcoming surgery in the near future. In our attempt to assist clients, we have put together this packet to make surgery day as easy and stress-free as possible. In addition to this letter, you will find that the following information has been enclosed:

1. Pre-Anesthetic Blood Testing Information Form (Bring in Day of Surgery)
2. Surgical Information Sheet (Bring in Day of Surgery)

Please read carefully all the enclosed information. If you have any questions, please feel free to call us. On your pets’ surgery day, we require you to review and sign an Authorization/Estimate Form— which allows you to choose optional services.

We require a phone number(s) where you can be reached surgery day. Failure to be reached on the day of the procedure may result in postponement of the surgery.

The night before your pet’s surgery…

• Withhold all food and treats after 9:00pm.
• Water may be left down after this time period.
• If you are currently administering any medications, vitamins and/or injections, withhold the morning doses unless otherwise instructed by the doctor.

Please make arrangements for your pet to be dropped off on the morning of scheduled surgery, unless other arrangements have been made in advance. For example, new clients are required to have a presurgical visit the morning of procedure and may not have an appointment until later. At time of drop off, our team will be happy to answer any questions/concerns and collect the enclosed/completed Authorization Form.

Our veterinary nurse will escort your pet to the surgical prepping area to wait for their surgery. If you have elected any of the recommended blood tests, our nurse will collect all blood samples and tests prior to surgery.

If any questions arise, the doctor may contact you at the number on the Authorization Form.

You are welcome to check up on your pet’s status. However, we request that you allow plenty of time for your pet’s procedure to be done. At this time, we will be able to give you an idea when your pet may be discharged. When you arrive to take your pet home, the receptionist will bill you out and the veterinary nurse will go over all discharge orders verbally and give you a written copy. If you do not understand any instructions, please do not hesitate to ask them to go over them one more time.

We hope surgery day will be a pleasant experience. Remember, our team knows surgery can be an anxious time and we are always available to answer any and all questions concerning the upcoming procedure.

We look forward to serving you and your pet on the upcoming surgery day and for years to come.

Our greatest concern is the well being of your pet. Before putting your pet under anesthesia, we routinely perform a full physical examination.

We require pre-anesthetic blood work on all patients, except those in which obtaining an appropriate sample is difficult or impossible due to the small size of the pet. All dogs and cats will have blood work performed and the cost of this is included in the estimate/price quoted to the owner. Pain medication is included for ALL animals as needed, based on the recommendation of the doctor, without exception.

The pre-anesthetic blood profile helps alert our surgeon to the presence of dehydration, anemia, infection, diabetes and/or kidney or liver disease that could complicate the procedure. These conditions may not be detected without a pre-anesthetic profile thus not allowing for the most appropriate and safest anesthetic regime to be administered. These tests are similar to those your own physician would run if you were to undergo anesthesia. In addition, these tests may be useful if your pet’s health changes to develop faster, more accurate diagnoses and treatments. State of the art equipment enables us to perform the pre-anesthetic blood profile at our hospital and we are committed to making this technology available to our patients.

The Authorization Form you will sign on your pet’s surgery date will include pre-anesthetic blood work.

1. The Quantitative Blood Count (QBC) and Pre-Anesthetic Profile which includes:

• CBC: PCV (Anemia), White Blood Cell Count (Infection) & Red Blood Cell Count (Anemia/Bleeding Disorder), Platelet Count (Clotting Disorder)
• Profile: BUN and Creatinine (Kidney), ALKP and ALT (Liver), Glucose (Sugar), Total Protein (Dehydration), and Electrolytes (Imbalance).

You will notice other tests available that are not included in the above choices. We have selected tests that give the doctors a suitable overview of healthy patients. However, if the patients are in their senior years (above 7 years old) or are sick, the FULL senior profile can be done the day of the procedure at the owner’s request. It has been included in the high amount estimate.

On the Feline Patient Authorization Form, our feline owners will see a FeLV/FIV Test option. We highly recommend this test be preformed on all feline patients at least once in their lives because Feline Leukemia and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (Feline AIDS) are viruses for which no cure exists. If your pet goes outside, we recommend administering the Feline Leukemia vaccine as well. Please ask questions if you would like to learn more about Feline Leukemia and Feline AIDS.

We realize surgery and anesthesia are scary for both the owner and patient and we attempt to make surgery day safe and comfortable for all involved. The physical examination and blood work done prior to any surgical procedure allows us to best minimize anesthetic and surgical risks and maximize patient safety.

If you have any questions or hesitations about the scheduled procedure, please do not hesitate to call us to discuss any aspect of the upcoming procedure.

Anesthetic Procedures & Risks

We use a combination of pre-anesthetic medications/injectable and/or inhalant anesthetics to achieve optimum levels of anesthesia that are safe for your pet.

For short procedures, an injectable anesthetic is given alone that produces a good plane of surgical anesthesia with a quick recovery.

For most procedures, your pet is anesthetized and then intubated (insertion of a tube into the trachea or wind pipe). This will ensure that your pet is able to receive oxygen at all times and prevents aspiration of any fluids into the lungs.

For procedures that require minimum sedation, an injectable anesthetic is given that produces a good plane of sedation with quick recovery. Anesthesia is maintained with a gas anesthetic, Sevoflurane, which is very safe and is not metabolized by the body. This allows us to have more control over anesthetic depth and it is less irritating to the airways. Another advantage to Sevoflurane is a quick induction using a mask verses using injectable anesthetics that require metabolism from the body.

Monitoring & Pain Management-Monitoring of patients during anesthesia is done in two ways. First, a veterinary nurse is with your pet continuously from the beginning of anesthesia to recovery. Second, we have a computerized monitor that records heart rate, pulse rate, oxygen levels, respiration, ECG, core and rectal temperature.

Our clinic strongly believes in compassionate, quality, medical care for our patients. As a result, all surgery patients will receive pain management before, during and after surgery. Additionally, pain medication may be prescribed to take home. Additional information will be given at discharge. We hope this program will reduce any discomfort experienced and aid in a quicker recovery.

For Intravenous Catheterization & Fluids, we highly recommend the placement of an IV catheter and use of IV fluids during all anesthetic procedures. This allows us to have quick, available access to the circulatory system (blood) in case of an unforeseen emergency. The fluids help provide support to the circulatory system and prevent dehydration, as well as aid in a quicker recovery from anesthesia.

Potential Surgical Complications

• Canine and Feline Spay
  1. Bleeding 2. Infection 3. Recurrent Heat 4. Urinary Incontinence 5. Weight Gain 6. Suture Reactions
• Feline Declaw
  1. Bleeding 2. Infection 3. Limping/Lameness 4. Regrowth of Nail
• Tumor/Lump Removal
  1. Bleeding 2. Infection 3. Swelling and Drainage 4. Suture Reaction