Pre-operative Instructions
Surgery preparation can be a worrying time for you and your pet, whether it is for a routine or more complex surgery. At Port Macquarie Veterinary Hospital, we understand the concerns regarding anesthesia and surgery and appreciate the relationship between you and your pets, therefore we are committed to providing the best veterinary care.
You, as pet owners, play a very vital part in preparing your pet for their surgical experience.
So, how can you help?
Please do not give your dog or cat food after 8pm the night before admission. This includes treats. Please leave water available for your pet until the morning unless you have been specifically advised not to. This applies especially to pets over 8 years. Providing food just prior to anaesthesia, can greatly increase the risk of vomiting and aspiration under anaesthesia.
Please ensure your dogs are clean before undergoing a sterile surgery. A bath a few days prior to surgical appointment is advised. Your pet will not be able to bathe for at least 10-14 days post sterile surgery. Also, provide your dog with a toilet walk prior to admission.
Cats should be confined to the house with a litter tray the night before their surgical appointment to ensure they are clean and around when the time comes to bring out the cat carrier. Always bring your cat to the hospital in an enclosed carrier. These can be purchased for a small fee at reception.
Patient admission occurs between 7:45am - 8:15am unless advised otherwise. You will be greeted and welcomed by one of our friendly staff. Please allow 5- 10mins of time to assist us in this process.
Majority of our surgical admissions are completed by a qualified nurse, although some surgeries may require a surgical admission with one of our experienced veterinarians.
During this time, we ask you to assist us with details such as -
- Up to date owner contact details
- Recent or current medications and times of administration
- Current health concerns, illnesses or history of seizures
- Providing a signature confirming consent to the outlined procedures.
During the admission process, you will hear our staff discuss pre-anaesthetic blood testing. Before you can make an informed decision as to whether this quick and non-invasive procedure is beneficial to your pet, let us explain what Pre-anaethetic blood testing is.
This is a laboratory test that is run in the clinic prior to the administration of drugs and medications. It examines your pets organ’s, specifically the kidneys and liver. These are the organs responsible for metabolising the majority of the anaesthetic drugs we use. This test also identifies any abnormalities in the blood cells that carry oxygen, fight infection and those responsible for clotting.
If results are within normal parameters, we can proceed with the surgical plan.
If results reveal any issues, this can allow us to tailor our anaesthesia protocol to each individual patient or in some cases, postpone procedures in order to monitor and provide treatment if needed.
For this reason, we strongly recommend PAB’s be performed on patients 8 years and over. Although,
occasionally abnormalities can be detected in our younger animals which could affect your pets safety while under anaesthetic. If results are normal, it not only gives you peace of mind, but also provides a healthy baseline for comparison if your animal becomes unwell.
Have you ever wondered what your pet experiences throughout the day within the veterinary hospital?
Let us explain…
Once your pet has been admitted, they will receive a health check to assess vitals, including heart, lungs, temperature and gum colour. Blood is draw for pre anaesthetic bloods if applicable. A premedication is administration, which generally includes a sedative to help calm and relax your pet and pain relief to preemptively control pain. This injection starts to work within a short period of time, but lasts for several hours.
All patients have an enclosure complete with comfortable, clean bedding where they are housed before and after their procedure. These enclosures are thoroughly cleaned before and after each patient's stay.
Intravenous catheters are placed in all of our patients. This provides us with immediate assess to administer intravenous anaesthetic, medications and fluid throughout the procedure, and on those rare occasions, emergency drugs. It is necessary to clip your pet's hair around the catheter and surgical site for optimum surgical conditions.
During surgery and the recovery period, all patients are monitored by our team of experienced veterinary nurses who provide the utmost professional care.
