Pre-operative guidelines for your dog

To ensure that your dog is ready for admission, and procedures run smoothly on the day please follow the following instructions unless specifically told otherwise.

No food should be given after 10pm the evening before surgery but water should be available overnight. This is important and if you do accidentally feed your dog it may lead to the operation being postponed. The exception is puppies under 5 months of age who may be offered a small meal before 7am on the morning of their operation.

Please bring your pet to the surgery at the correct appointment time on the morning of the operation. They should be as clean and dry as possible (a quick shampoo the previous day helps!) in preparation for going into an operating theatre. Please take your dog out for a short walk in the morning to empty the bowels and bladder.

Before any anaesthetic or surgical procedures can begin we must, by law, have a consent form completed. This will need to be signed by the owner or an agent acting on the owner’s behalf, and they must be over the age of eighteen. One of our nurses or vets will run through the form and explain everything to you before we ask you to sign the form. Please do ask questions at admission – we want you to be confident that you understand what we are going to do and why we have made certain recommendations.

We will require a contact number where we can reach you all day, or if you are unavailable, an agent who can act on your behalf. We need this just in case we need to speak to you about treatment, or we find something unexpected and need your permission to act up on it. It is important that we are able to contact someone all day and once your dog’s procedure is complete one of our nurses will call you with an update.

All invoices must be paid when your collect your dog, unless previously agreed with the Practice. If your dog is covered by an insurance policy, please bring a signed claim form with you so that we can process your claim as quickly as possible.

After sedation or general anaesthetic, your may be drowsy and we advise you to collect your dog by car or some other means of transport. A post-operative care sheet will be given to you when you collect them from the surgery.

If you have any queries or concerns please do not hesitate to contact the surgery on 01367 710595

Anaesthetics:

All pets in this practice are anaesthetised with the safest and most modern veterinary anaesthetics as standard, reducing risks to a minimum. Please expect some areas of your dog to be gently shaved to allow medication to be given and monitoring equipment to be used.

To make this procedure safer for your dog you may also like to consider the following:

Pre-anaesthetic blood tests:

You may want to consider your dog having a pre-operative blood profile performed immediately prior to surgery, to establish any underlying conditions that may affect our choice of anaesthetic and to pick up on any unexpected abnormalities. We especially recommend this for dogs over 9 years of age or those who are unwell at the time of admission.

Intravenous fluids:

Your vet may also recommend that we place your dog onto intravenous fluids to maintain their blood pressure during the procedure, to protect sensitive organs and to help flush out the anaesthetic drugs post-operatively.

K-Laser Therapy:

We have a special laser which will improve healing and reduce pain and inflammation after surgery. During laser treatment the infrared light penetrates through the skin and interacts with the tissues at the cellular level. This increases the metabolic activity within the cell, improves the transport of nutrients across the cell membranes and speeds up the normal functions of the tissue cells helping everything get back to normal more quickly. In a few cases we can’t use Laser Therapy but your admitting nurse will be able to advise you. 

Reducing Stress: 

Some dogs can become stressed when you leave them in strange places or with people that they don’t know well. We have seen this more since lockdown when we all naturally socialised less. This stress and the hormones that it produces in the body can make our pre-med drugs less effective and make the whole day harder for your dog. We have a gentle but effective supplement called Nutracalm that can make everything easier and safer for a stressed pet. We advise that you start Nutracalm by either giving the capsules whole, or sprinkling them on the food, 2-3 days before the procedure and continue for a few days afterwards. Nutracalm is available without prescription and if you would like some Nutracalm for your dog please contact the surgery. 

Insurance: 

If your dog is coming in for a non-routine procedure and you intend to submit a claim to your insurance company, please discuss this with us beforehand and please bring your insurance details with you on the day.  Many companies now require a pre-authorisation form before the procedure takes place and you may need to pay any excess or co-payment to us before leaving your dog with us for the day. We charge a small administration fee for any claims made. Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any concerns or queries.  

Post op feeding 

When your dog goes home after their procedure, we will send them home with a special food called Gastrointestinal Diet which is high in nutrition but readily digested. This is often easier on the stomach after an anaesthetic and will ensure that your dog gets a good start to their recovery. We feed the same food when your pet first wakes from their anaesthetic, it is highly palatable and usually disappears quickly. If you would prefer we didn’t send your dog home with Gastrointestinal diet, please let your admitting nurse know.  

Estimates 

We will provide you with an estimate of the total cost of your procedure either with this pre-op form or when you bring your pet in for their procedure. Please note that this an estimate and not a quote and as such the final bill may vary from the estimate. Sometimes we only find out the full extent of a procedure once it is underway. We will aim to contact you should it be likely that your final bill will exceed the upper range of the estimate by more than 10%. Please make sure that you are available on the number that you give us on the day of the procedure. 

Is a friend dropping off or collecting your pet? 

If a friend is dropping off or collecting your dog from the surgery, please settle your bill with us before admission. You can easily make a payment over the ‘phone, please just ring the surgery on 01367 710595. 

If you have any queries or concerns please do not hesitate to contact the surgery on 01367 710595