Your Pets Surgery

We place a high priority on surgical excellence which includes placing great care on your pets individual needs before, during and after surgery.

As pet owners ourselves we know you will be worried so we wish to keep you fully informed. We will ensure your pets surgical procedure is as stress free, comfortable and safe as possible.

We have an experienced team of Veterinarians and trained Nurses at East Coast Bays Vet Clinic. Our Nurses are actively involved in training the next generation of Nurses and we receive referred surgical challenges from other Veterinary Clinics around the Auckland region. Whether we are performing a routine de-sexing operation or a complicated bone fracture repair the same standards of care will apply.

Before surgery

Initially you will be greeted by one of our surgical nurses that will be monitoring your pet through out the day. You will be able to discuss any last minute concerns you may have. The surgical nurse will discuss if a pre anesthetic blood test or operative fluid support is advisable, discuss pain relief and go through the important admission form checklist.

Your pet will be examined and a pre-medication injection will be given based on breed, age and health. This will provide pre-emptive pain relief and sedate your pet to reduce stress and the amount of subsequent anesthetics required.

During surgery

Your pet will receive the same safe intravenous anesthetic drug you would receive in hospital. This is administered via a vein of the foreleg and through a catheter if intravenous fluids are to be given. As is the case with people also, a tube is then gently placed in the airway so an anesthetic gas can be inhaled. This allows more precise control of anesthetic depth.

The patient is then clipped and cleaned in our preparation room before transfer to our sterile surgical suite.

We have invested in the very best anesthetic monitoring gadgetry, the Wireless PC VetGard+ that we imported from the US ( www.vmedtechnology.com ). This allows us to monitor anesthetics at a very high standard for optimal patient safety. We can routinely measure blood oxygen levels, heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, ECG patterns, core body temperature and even the amount of carbon dioxide in the air breathed out by the patient. Despite this we also rely on our skilled nurses to be constantly evaluating the patient.

We routinely use electrocautery with a fine tipped pen for pin point control of bleeding. This is just like you see on TV with human surgeries and minimizes blood loss and complications. During most surgeries blood pressure is supported with intravenous fluids given at a carefully controlled rate with an infusion pump.

Being able to see exactly what you are doing is crucial during surgery and so we have invested in the latest technology, with a powerful human grade, LED operating light system.

Our human surgical table is padded and heated. Our small Veterinary patients are very prone to dangerous body temperature drops during surgery which can increase complication rates. Due to the importance of this, we have invested in the latest warming technology for the pets under our care. Patients at our Clinic will be warmed during their procedure whether surgical, dental or imaging with the Hot Dog Patient Warming Device ( www.vetwarming.com ). Again we will be the first general practice to offer this standard of care to our patients in New Zealand.

After surgery

The surgery isn't over when the anesthetic is turned off with evaluations of comfort, warmth, toileting and general wellbeing continuing through out the day.

Pain control is important to us and we will individualize pain relief from a local anesthetic through to an adjustable constant flow of pain relief intravenously ("pain pump").

Warmth after surgery is also critical for a good recovery. We have cages with underfloor heating, polar fleeces, dry beds and good old hot water bottles in constant use. For those with extra needs we use a "Bear Hugger" warm air blanket system and the Hotdog device.

Pets go home after their surgery with comprehensive discharge notes covering the procedure and after care requirements.

Each evening kennel staff come in to clean cages and surfaces for the next days surgery.