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Operations

Your pet is always in safe hands

As pet owners ourselves, we know how worrying it is if your pet needs to have any kind of operation. Rest assured we look after every pet with as much care as if they were our own animals.

We provide a wide range of operations, the most common being neutering and dental treatments. For complicated procedures, such as orthopaedics, we have a visiting orthopaedic surgeon who we will call in to treat your pet. This means they can still be looked after at one of our familiar practices and you are both saved the stress of travelling to an unknown animal hospital.

Pets which are with us for an operation are looked after in our kennel rooms in a central part of the practice where they are regularly checked on. All our kennels have high quality vet beds and your pet will have all the home comforts he or she needs.

The x-ray facilities at both our practices allow us to examine bones and some major organs, usually while your pet is sedated or anaesthetised. Ultrasound scans allow us to get very detailed information about a number of internal conditions usually conscious or with mild sedation.

We are unusual in avoiding overnight stays for our patients as much as possible, because we find the majority of pets rest and recover much better at home. Even if your pet needs to be with us for treatment over a couple of consecutive days we will recommend they go home with you each night, where they will feed and sleep better.

You are given all the information and support you need to look after your pet as it recovers from treatment. We find owners often like to be involved in nursing their pet, and additional advice is always available by phone, 24 hours a day, via our out of hours emergency service.

One of the most important parts of any operation is the general anaesthetic, which makes sure your pet is asleep and not experiencing any pain. No anaesthetic procedure is 100% risk free but we individually assess every patient to reduce the risks as much as possible. The whole process is overseen by our veterinary nurses, who have thousands of hours of experience monitoring anaesthetics.

Your pet will be given a bespoke treatment designed with their particular circumstances in mind, taking into account their age and general health. The drugs we use are the most modern available, and the gas used to keep your pet asleep during surgery is the same as that used in human medicine on babies. It really is that safe.

Every pet having a general anaesthetic is weighed so we can calculate precisely the right amount of drugs needed. They are given a pre-med, made up of a sedative and a strong pain killer, then the induction drug to make them unconscious. Once asleep they are put on a breathing tube which delivers a mix of oxygen and an anaesthetic gas to ensure they don’t wake up before we want them to.

After surgery they’re brought round with 100% oxygen and are thoroughly checked over to make sure they’re suffering no ill-effects from the anaesthetic. They’ll be given more pain relief and any other drugs to help their recovery, such as anti-inflammatories.

Once we’re sure they’re recovering well, we make sure you’re given all the information you need to help them recuperate at home. Our experienced staff are always at the end of the phone if you have any concerns, and we’ll see your pet for a follow-up appointment to check they’re healing well.

Orthopaedics

We are able to have most major orthopaedic surgery carried out in house which means you do not have to transport your pet to an unfamiliar surgery and see vets you don’t know. We have a visiting orthopeadic referral surgeon who is able to perform these operations at either of our surgeries with minimal waiting times.