Vancouver Veterinary Hospital Services

Tips for You and Your Pet Before Coming in for Surgery

The day of surgery is stressful for both you and your pet. The next bit of information is about what you should expect before your pet comes in for a surgical procedure at our Vancouver veterinary clinic.

Procedure: Our normal procedure for any veterinary surgery at our Vancouver clinic (including dental) is to give a pre-med to sedate the animal, and then maintain them on induction with Isoflurane during the operation. Isoflurane is the safest anaesthetic gas available and is the only one we use in our Vancouver veterinary clinic OR. It is more expensive, but is also considered to be safer, especially for very young or senior animals. Any surgery or dental work comes with some amount of risk: we try to keep your pet as safe as possible. All surgical procedures at our Vancouver veterinary hospital are performed with a pulse oximeter, which monitors the heart rate and oxygenation of the blood.

Blood work: We always offer our veterinary clients pre-anaesthetic blood work. The type of blood work required depends on age. For young animals there can be a mini blood work for spay and neuter which costs $56.00. Animals over seven years of age are more inclined to have problems with kidney and liver function and we prefer to do a geriatric blood screen ahead of time. A veterinary geriatric screen includes a CBC (the number of red and white blood cells, platelets, etc), a chemistry screen (enzymes of the body: how will the kidney, liver, pancreases. are functioning), and a T4 (thyroid level, to ensure a dog is not hypothyroid, or a cat hyperthyroid - both common conditions in senior animals). Geriatric screens are done at Idexx Labs and cost $130.00.

During Drop-off: When you drop off your animal at our Vancouver veterinary clinic, the assistant who greets you will ask about fluids and pain medication for your animal. Fluids can be given in 1 of 2 methods; subcutaneous (under the skin), or intravenous (through a vein in the front arm or back leg). While IV fluids are seldom needed in younger animals, they speed their recovery, help prevent hypotension, and provide an easy and quick site for administering drugs if there are any problems during anaesthesia. This is highly recommended for older animals. Cost for surgical IV is 40.00, and cost for surgical subcutaneous fluids is $25.00. Pain medication can be administered by injection for $20 - $25, and can be given by an oral dose. We can also send home oral pain medications if necessary.

Identification: If your animal is not currently tattooed or microchipped, you may want to consider some permanent identification by which your animal might be identified and returned to you should he/she ever be lost or stolen. The best time to ID your pet is while they are already sedated for veterinary surgery.

• Tattoos are placed in the right ear and include 3 letters (representing the year and clinic id) and a series of numbers. The cost is only $25.00 when added to any veterinary surgery.
• Microchips are very small scanning chips placed between the shoulders. Should the animal be found anywhere in Canada or the United States, the organization/vet who scans your animal can contact you through AVID through our Vancouver veterinary clinic to let you know where your animal is. This procedure costs $51 including registration.

The Night before Surgery: The night before you bring your animal into our Vancouver clinic for veterinary surgery, you will be called to remind you to take away your animal's food supply and to prevent any eating after 9 p.m. Water can be given until early morning. Most animals are to be brought into the veterinary clinic between 8:30 and 9 am. Should your animal be suddenly too ill for surgery, or you are unable to make it on time, please call us so that we can reschedule.

After Surgery: Make sure that you fully understand and closely follow any post-operative instructions that you will receive when picking up your animal after surgery. If you have any questions, ask Dr. Bhatia or one of his assistants at the Vancouver veterinary clinic.

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Cypress St. Veterinary Animal Hospital in Vancouver offers a full range of healthcare services for your pets.