Can my dog eat before surgery?
- We will instruct you not to feed your animal after 10:00 pm the evening prior to surgery. Water is okay to leave down but should be removed in the morning by 7 am.
Why does my dog need Blood work prior to surgery?
- Anesthesia is a procedure that requires all organs to be working well. When we evaluate the blood work we determine that the kidneys and liver are functioning correctly along with normal levels of red blood cells and white blood cells are present. If abnormal finding is noted then we either change our anesthesia protocol or wait on doing the surgery until a cause for the abnormal finding is diagnosed. Our goal at Lake Anna Veterinary Hospital is to perform the safest anesthesia possible and return your animal to you alive!
What other precautions do you do prior to surgery?
- Physical Exam
- ECG screen to evaluate the heart is functioning normally
- IV Catheter for administering Anesthesia medications and IV Fluids. This is also important because if an emergency occurs we already have access to the blood stream.
What occurs during the surgery?
- We monitor the animal by evaluating the following
- Heartbeat and Rate (ECG)
- ETCO2: Monitors the amount of Carbon Dioxide they are exhaling
- Blood Pressure
- Respiration Rate
- Oxygen concentration in the blood
- Temperature of the patient
- We keep the animal hydrated with IV Fluids