The following notes are to help you prepare for the day of your pet’s surgery.
On the evening before the surgery
Administer any medication as normal – unless the vet has specified not to. Feed your pet as normal up until 9pm at night, then remove the food. DO NOT GIVE any food, milk or treats after this time. Please DO NOT REMOVE WATER – water should be available until you bring your pet to the clinic. You may exercise your pet as normal.
On the morning of the surgery
Give medication as normal– unless the vet has specified not to. Please bring your pet into the clinic around 8.30am. Allow time to fill out some paperwork on admission– an adult needs to drop the patient off to fill out and sign this paperwork. Please bring dogs with a suitable collar/harness and lead, and cats in a secure safe carrier cage. We can supply these if you are unable to.
On admission you may be given some options relating to your pet’s procedure. As animals get older (over 8 years of age) the anaesthetic risk increases, hence your vet may recommend you take some of these options. You may elect to use any of the op-tions for your pet. Intravenous fluids (cost $80) helps to maintain your pet’s blood pressure during surgery, and makes the recov-ery smoother and quicker. Basic blood work (cost $79.50) can be run to check your pet’s organ function prior to surgery. All ani-mals are given an injection of pain relief on the day of surgery. Animals being desexed may go home with an additional 3 days of pain relief tablets, this option costs: $20 for cats, $25 for dogs under 30kg, $30 for dogs 30-40kg, and $40 for dogs over 40kg. This option is not suitable for cats under 6 months of age. As each of these alternatives are optional their cost will be in addition to the price of your pet’s procedure. For more details on these options please ask for the brochure on your pet’s anaesthetic options or speak to a staff member.
Once your animal is in hospital it will be checked by a vet prior to its anaesthetic. The vet will assess the patient and if any serious problems are identified you will be called. If the patient is healthy it will be sedated. When the petient is due for its surgery it will be anaesthetised and prepared for the procedure. There is a risk with any anaesthetic, however we minimize this risk by tailoring each anaesthetic to the individual, and monitoring closely during surgery and recovery.