FAQs

Our surgical schedule depends on a multitude of factors – type of procedures scheduled that day, age of the patients, any underlying disease of the scheduled patients, etc. Our surgical team determines the order based on these factors.

In some cases your pet will need to wear an E-collar to prevent any licking/chewing at the surgical site. Depending on the surgery, we have an alternative -a medical pet shirt that covers some incision sites (spay and neuter incisions).

Your pet is monitored just like you would be under anesthesia. All vitals are constantly being monitored including heart rate, ECG, pulse oximetry, respiratory rate, end tidal CO2, blood pressure, and temperature.

This depends on the procedure. For instance, with a spay or neuter they might be under for about 30 minutes, but for a dental they could be under 2 hours.

This is probably the number 1 question we receive after dental extractions. We usually recommend that your pet eats a soft diet for the 2 weeks following dental extractions but then most times they can go back to their regular kibble after the 2 weeks of healing time.

It is important to remember when teeth are diseased, they are painful whether your animal is showing signs or not. So the pain postoperatively is honestly not that different from the pain preoperatively.

We will have you drop off your pet at a designated time between 7:30-8am. Our staff will get you checked in and started on some preoperative paperwork. One of our anesthesia technicians will come get your paperwork and your pet. They can also answer any additional questions you might have before bringing your pet back to our treatment area. The surgery doctor will evaluate your pet and create an anesthesia protocol specific to your pet. This consists of a pre-medication (usually a combination of pain control + sedation), induction agent (usually propofol or alfaxan).

Expect your pet to go home late afternoon, but it will ultimately depend on when their procedure is over. Someone from our team will call you once they are awake from their procedure, and we will schedule a pick up time during this call.

With most of our procedures, we recommend feeding your pet a slightly smaller dinner after bringing them home from the hospital. We recommend feeding the diet they are used to eating unless specifically instructed otherwise. You can have water out like normal.

You do NOT need to withhold water. Your pet is fine to drink water prior to the procedure. We recommend no food after 10 PM the night before.

Exception: If your dog is diabetic, your doctor will give you specific feeding instructions prior to the procedure.

Depends on the procedure. If they have any skin incisions (spay, neuter, mass removal, etc), then we recommend waiting at least 2 weeks prior to bathing.

Typically we recommend suture removal at 14 days. If your pet needs them for a longer period of time, that will be discussed during your surgical discharge.

This depends on the procedure and your pet. The surgical doctor will determine if your pet needs antibiotics postoperatively.