Surgical Services

To ensure your pet’s safety and comfort, we perform a complete physical examination and conduct in-house blood tests before their procedure. We use these tests to identify any pre-existing conditions that may affect the use of anaesthesia on your pet. We develop an anaesthetic protocol that’s unique to your pet using the information collected from these tests.

We know that surgery can be a stressful experience for you and your pet. The vets and nurses at Northlands Animal Care Hospital strive to keep your pet as comfortable as possible during all procedures. If you have questions about your pet’s surgery, please ask us! We are more than happy to answer any questions you may have. As soon as your pet is out of a procedure we will endeavour to contact you to give you an update!

Following surgery, all our patients are admitted to heated cages in the recovery ward where they are closely monitored by our recovery team, and appropriate pain relief, oxygen therapy, intravenous fluids, and other medication are administered to ensure an excellent outcome.

General Anaesthesia & Anaesthetic Monitoring

For some procedures, your pet will need to be administered general anaesthesia so that he or she will be unconscious and not feel pain. Many pet owners worry about their pets being administered general anaesthesia. We can assure you that modern anaesthesia is quite safe, and to further lower any risk, we perform a physical examination and run blood work ahead of time to catch any underlying health issues. In addition, we follow a specific anaesthetic protocol, including monitoring vital signs during the procedure, to ensure the safety of our patients.

We begin most general anaesthetic procedures by administering a sedative to help the pet relax and decrease any anxiety and pain. We then administer an intravenous drug to provide complete anaesthesia and place a breathing tube into the patient’s trachea (windpipe). To maintain the state of unconsciousness, we deliver a gas anaesthetic mixed with oxygen through the breathing tube, in combination with additional intravenous medications.

We monitor our patients closely to keep them as safe as possible during procedures that require general anaesthesia. A veterinary nurse will continually assess your pet’s heart and respiratory rate, blood pressure, and other vital signs to help prevent any anaesthetic complications. Our staff are all fully trained and experienced in monitoring anaesthesia, and collaborate closely with our veterinarians to keep your pet safe.

Please feel free to ask us about our patient monitoring protocol or any concerns you might have about your pet’s procedure. We’d be happy to discuss these matters in more detail.

Desexing Your Cat or Dog

Cats on average have 4-5 kittens per litter, and dogs can have up to ten puppies per litter. You will need to be sure that you can provide food, water and care for each puppy/kitten plus its mum and sometimes its dad. Kittens and puppies should have a vet check and their first vaccinations before they are sold. Desexing is the best way to prevent this, and provide other health benefits to your pet.

Benefits of Desexing

• A significant discount on registration fees
• Less likely to show aggression to humans, wildlife and other animals
• Less likely to try to escape or wander
• Less likely to get cancer or other diseases of the reproductive organs, such as testicular cancer, prostate cancer/disorders in males, and cystic ovaries, ovarian tumours, acute uterine infections and mammary cancer in females, and also other diseases like, perianal tumours and perianal hernias
• More likely to live a longer and healthier life
• Eliminates the “heat” cycle for females, and male dogs are less likely to “mount” legs and other objects

Desexing Myths

• Your pet will lose significant personality
• Your pet will become fat and lazy
• Your pet will be in unbearable pain for weeks

Desexing should only be performed by a vet and is normally at around six months of age.

Speying

Speying your pet has many benefits. The procedure, which prevents female animals from becoming pregnant and reproducing, can help your dog or cat live a longer, healthier life. Speying will not change your pet’s personality.

By speying your female pet, you’re protecting her against potentially deadly diseases, including bacterial infections, reproductive tract diseases, and several types of cancer. You also won’t have to worry about her going into heat. This means avoiding the mess that often accompanies the heat cycle in female dogs and the pacing and crying that happens with female cats. In addition, speying your pet will help control the dog and cat overpopulation problem, keeping more animals out of shelters.

Speying, which involves removing the ovaries and uterus, is a surgical procedure and does need to be performed with the pet under anaesthesia. We follow strict protocols and continually monitor your pet’s vital signs to help ensure her safety.

To set up an appointment to have your pet spayed or to learn more about this procedure, call or visit our clinic. If you are struggling with the decision of whether to spay your pet, please call us so we can discuss your concerns.

Neutering

Neutering your pet has many benefits. The procedure, which prevents male animals from reproducing, can help your dog or cat live a longer, healthier life. Neutering will not change your pet’s personality.

By neutering your pet, you’re reducing or eliminating his risk for prostate and testicular cancer, as well as sexually transmitted diseases. Neutering will also reduce or eliminate undesirable and embarrassing behaviour, including roaming, fighting, humping, and spraying. In addition, neutering your pet will help control the dog and cat overpopulation problem, keeping more animals out of shelters.

Neutering, which involves removing the testicles, is a surgical procedure and does need to be performed with the pet under anaesthesia. We follow strict protocols and continually monitor your pet’s vital signs to help ensure his safety.

To set up an appointment to have your pet neutered or to learn more about this procedure, please call or visit our clinic. If you are struggling with the decision of whether to neuter your pet, please call us or stop by so we can discuss your concerns.

Soft Tissue Surgery

We perform many types of soft tissue surgeries at our clinic. Soft tissue surgeries are those that are not associated with bone. These surgeries can provide many benefits to pets.

The most common soft tissue surgery performed on pets is the removal of masses, or lumps. Most of these masses, once removed and tested, are found to be benign (nonharmful); however, occasionally they are more serious. Early removal and accurate diagnosis of a lump is necessary to improve the outcome in your pet if the mass is cancerous.

If your dog suffers from frequent ear infections, surgical intervention can reduce their occurrence by improving airflow into the ear canal.
Surgery can also help resolve several problems related to the eyes. Tearing in your pet’s eyes can mean an infection is present or may be a sign that the cornea (outer layer of the eye) has been damaged. Surgery may allow the cornea to heal faster with less scarring, improving your pet’s ability to see. In some pets, the eyelashes may actually damage the cornea. Surgical intervention improves comfort in these pets, reduces the chances of corneal scarring, and enhances the pet’s vision in the long term.

Please contact us if you’d like to discuss how soft tissue surgery might be able to help your pet.

Orthopaedic Surgeries

We perform many types of orthopaedic (bone) surgeries in our clinic. Because we want to ensure that our patients receive the best possible outcome, we occasionally refer them to board-certified orthopaedic surgeons to perform back surgery and other very complex surgeries.

Cruciate ligament disease, patella abnormalities, and bone fractures are among the most common orthopaedic problems presented at our clinic. They can all be treated in a variety of ways, depending on the patient, breed, severity of ligamentous damage, and location and severity of fracture.

Please contact us if you have any questions about these procedures or if you think your pet might benefit from them.

Pain Management

We are dedicated to providing the most effective and safe pain management to all our patients, customised to their needs, life stage, breed, and specific procedure. If you have any questions on how we manage your pet’s pain or the medications we use, please ask.

Local Anaesthetic

If your pet is having a minor surgical or diagnostic procedure performed, we sometimes use a local anaesthetic to help control pain. For example, when we perform a biopsy (in which a small portion of tissue is surgically removed so it can be examined), we often use a local anaesthetic. Local anaesthetics cause a loss of sensation in the area where the procedure is being performed. We sometimes use a sedative and/or anxiolytic (anti-anxiety medication) in combination with the local anaesthetic to keep pets calm during a procedure.

Continuous Rate Infusions (CRIs)

If your pet is having a major surgery or is extremely unwell, we sometimes use continuous rate infusions (CRIs) to provide a high level of multi-modal pain relief. The medications we use are frequently a combination of sedatives, opioids, local anaesthetic and other pain relief delivered via a fluid pump. This is a safe and tremendously effective way to manage severe pain.