Animal Health Center of Madison

What You Need to Know Before Your Pet's Upcoming Surgery

When you place your pet in our hands, your trust us to provide your pet with the best possible medical care. You expect us to provide you with the advice which will allow you to make the best decisions for your pet.

Is the anesthetic safe?

As in human medicine, the anesthetics available for anesthetizing pets are extremely safe. As a result, the anesthetic risk is greatly minimized when a healthy pet is placed under anesthesia. However, if your pet is not healthy, complications can occur both during and after the anesthetic procedure.Therefore, in order to minimize potential risk associated with anesthesia, it is vital for us to know the complete health status of your pet before placing him or her under anesthesia.

Prior to anesthesia, we will obtain a complete history, perform a detailed physical exam, and run a pre-anesthetic panel on your pet. If the results of the test are within normal ranges, we can proceed with confidence knowing the anesthetic risk is minimized. On the other hand, if the results are not within the normal ranges, we may proceed as planned yet provide additional medical support needed to ensure your pet's health for his or her condition. in other cases, the test abnormalities may be significant enough to postpone the procedure in order to monitor and treat your pet.

Why must i withhold food and water prior to surgery?

If your pet is scheduled for surgery, you will need to withhold food the night before and water the morning of the surgery day. The reason for this is that the anesthetic medication used during the surgery can upset your pet's stomach and your pet may vomit if there is food or water in the stomach. Vomiting can be very dangerous in an animal that is unconscious. The vomit can be breathed into the lungs, causing, at the least, a very serious pneumonia and at the worst, death. So, it is important to inform the medical personnel if your pet has accidentally had any food or water prior to surgery. The surgery may need to be rescheduled for another day.

What happens after surgery?

When the surgery is completed, your pet is taken to a recovery area and monitored continuously until he or she is awake. this process usually takes about 10 to 15 minutes; full recovery takes about one to two hours. Pain medication is given prior to surgery, so your pet should be in minimal pain if any at this time.

When your pet gets home, special instructions will be given to you depending upon the type of surgery, and a follow-up appointment will be scheduled if needed. Most pets recover quickly following surgery and are up and about the same or next day.

Will my pet have stitches?

For many surgeries, we use absorb-able sutures underneath the skin.  These will dissolve on their own, and do not need to be removed later.  Some surgeries, especially tumor removals, do require skin stitches.  With either type of suture, you will need to keep an eye on the incision for swelling or discharge.  Most dogs and cats do not lick excessively or chew at the incision, but this is an occasional problem you will also need to watch for.  If there are skin sutures, these will usually be removed 10 to 14 days after surgery.  You will also need to limit your pet's activity level for a time and no baths are allowed for the first 10 days after surgery.

Will my pet be in pain?

Anything that causes pain in people can be expected to cause pain in animals.  Pets may not show the same symptoms of pain as people do; they usually don't whine or cry, but you can be sure they feel it.  Pain medications needed will depend on the surgery performed.  Major procedures require more pain relief than things like minor lacerations.

For dogs, we may recommend an oral anti-inflamatory the day after surgery and several days after to lessen the risk of discomfort and swelling.  We use newer medications, which are less likely to cause stomach upset and can be given even the morning of surgery. 

Because cats do not tolerate standard pain medications such as aspirin, ibuprofen, or Tylenol, we are limited in what we can give them.  Recent advances in pain medications have allowed for better pain control in cats than ever before.  We administer a pain injection 10 minutes prior to surgery.  After surgery, pain medication is given on a case by case basis.  Any animal that appears painful will receive additional pain medication.

We use narcotic patches for some surgeries in dogs as well.  The cost will depend on the size of the dog.  Injectable pain medications may also be used after surgery on both dogs and cats.  Providing whatever pain relief is appropriate is a humane and caring thing to do for your pet.

What other decisions do I need to make?

While your pet is under anesthesia, it is the ideal time to perform other minor procedures, such as dentistry, ear cleaning, or implanting an identification microchip.  If you would like an estimate for these extra services, please call ahead of time.  This is especially important if the person dropping the pet off for surgery is not the primary decision maker for the pet's care.

When you bring your pet in for surgery, we will need to 5 to 10 minutes of time to fill out paperwork and make decisions on the blood testing and other options available.  When you pick up your pet after surgery you can also plan to spend sometime with the doctor or technician so they can go over your pet's home care needs.

We will call you the night before your scheduled surgery appointment, to confirm the time you will be dropping your pet off and to answer any questions you might have.  In the meantime, please don't hesitate to call us with any questions about your pet's health or surgery.