Surgery at Forestside Veterinary Clinic

There may come a time when your pet requires surgery. This is a difficult and anxious time for you as an owner but through proper communication and expertise, we aim to limit the stress as much as possible.

Before the day of the procedure it is very important to us that you have a full understanding of the procedure being performed, what will be needed after the surgery and the costs involved. We believe that our communication is one of our biggest differentiating factors but if there is anything you don’t fully understand we would encourage all and any questions.

Our surgical patients are admitted on the morning of the procedure. After a brief discussion with the admitting nurse or vet your pet will be admitted to hospital for the day. We are keen to be as green as possible so in the right situations we will email you a copy of the admit form to E-sign prior to coming in.

We have a dedicated operating room in Forestside Veterinary Clinic. We take sterility and anaesthetic safety very seriously. Our vet and vet nurse collaborate together to tailor an anaesthetic protocol for each individual patient prior to surgery. Often we will recommend pre anaesthetic blood work to be carried out prior to an anaesthetic as this helps us with our decision-making in medication used both before and after surgery. We also keep every animal undergoing surgery on IV fluids unless there is a prior contraindication. Throughout the surgical procedure and in the recovery phase, your pet will be monitored closely by a highly trained registered nurse.

Most of our patients are able to go home on the same day as the procedure. If they have had any stitches put in it is important that they can’t lick at them or the wound. We use an Elizabethan collar (aka a “cone of shame”) and/or a body suit to help keep the wound safe. We like to re-check our surgical patients 3-4 days after their surgery and again 7-10 days later to remove sutures if they need to be removed