Surgeries

Bay Regional Surgical Protocol

The following protocol outlines what is included in our pre-operative care, surgical and post-surgical treatment package:

• Upon admittance to the hospital all patients receive a pre-operative physical exam to ensure that there are healthy. We offer and recommend pre-anesthetic blood work; in young and healthy patients, who are undergoing elective surgery, blood work may be optional.
• Small patients (cats and small dogs) are placed on a warming device to ‘pre-warm’ them prior to anesthesia. Small animals lose body heat quickly during surgery and it is important to keep them warm from the start.
• All patients are given an anti- nausea medication (cerenia) prior to administering any sedatives or narcotics. Cerenia has recently been shown to reduce nausea from anesthesia, make animals fee better and increase their appetite after surgery thus hastening recovery.
• We administer oral medication (gabapentin) which provides mild sedation, reduces anxiety and helps to reduce ‘wind-up’ pain after surgical procedures.
• Patients are given a narcotic (pain killer) and sedative prior to surgery.
• IV fluids are included in our package price, iv fluids are administered to maintain hydration, provide an emergency access to a vein for emergency drugs if needed and to deliver pain medication continuously during the surgical procedure. We do not make IV fluids optional as we don’t wish to compromise the safety of your pet while under anesthesia, human general anesthetic procedures would never be performed without placing an intravenous catheter, animals are no different.
• During the surgery animals are placed on an advanced warming blanket designed specifically for surgical procedures to ensure patients do not become cold (hypothermic) during anesthesia.

• Patients receive a Constant Rate Infusion (CRI) of pain medication delivered through the iv fluids during the surgical procedure and during recovery to ensure that they are as pain free as possible
• Before the incision is made a local anesthetic block is placed in the area of the incision to help reduce pain during and after surgery.
• Patients are continuously monitored by a trained veterinary technician (RVT) during surgery, this includes blood pressure monitoring, capnograph, pulse oximetry and ECG. Blood pressure is a very important parameter to measure especially in cats as they are prone to developing hypotension (low blood pressure) under general anesthesia. Low blood pressure in both dogs and cats can be a signal that the anesthetic gas should be reduced and can also make the administration of certain medications (such as NSAID’s or Metacam) unsafe. It is very important to monitor and correct low blood pressure.
• In addition to CRI pain medication animals are also given additional injectable pain medication after the surgery is completed.
• All incisions are treated with cold laser therapy immediately after surgery which has been shown to help reduce pain, inflammation and the chance of infection.
• Patients are kept on warming devices during the entire recovery period (after the surgery is completed) as long as they will allow it, low body temperature during and after anesthesia can increase the chance of surgical complications including infection.
• All surgical patients are sent home with pain medication for you to give at home, we don’t make this optional. Animals feel pain the same way we do but they are unable to communicate to us that they are in discomfort. Cats are particularly good at hiding symptoms of pain. Pain can cause a great deal of stress and discomfort to patients and may cause decreased appetite and wound healing. Administering post- operative pain medication is considered the current recommended standard of care for veterinarians in Ontario.