Pre Operative Care Advice from New Lodge Vets
How to prepare your pet
Most operations or procedures will involve a full general anaesthetic or sometimes a profound sedative, depending on the case. The preparations for both of these are very similar.
If your dog is being admitted for an operation or procedure please ensure that it is clean, as this will reduce the time your pet spends under anaesthesia. Some dogs may require bathing a couple of days before coming in.
Food & feeding
Do not give your pet anything to eat from 6.30 pm the evening before the scheduled procedure and no food in the morning before coming in. Please make sure water is always overnight but picked up first thing in the morning.
Remember to pick up all food bowls and feed any other pets separately. Please tell the admitting nurse if you think your pet may have eaten anything overnight or that morning, a fast is essential to stop intra operative/post op vomiting complications and possible inhalational pneumonia. Please ask us for advice if your pet taking medication, as to if and when to administer.
Toileting
Take your dog for a short walk in the morning to allow it to go to the toilet before coming in but keep them clean. Ensure they eat nothing on their walk. An empty bladder is essential for neutering operations and for comfort during the day. If your dog has any special toileting commands please inform the admitting nurse so that we are able to use familiar phrases.
Keep Cats in overnight and provide a litter tray to allow toileting.
When to arrive
Please bring your pet to the Reception Desk a few minutes before your admission appointment with your admitting nurse, who will start by weighing your pet to allow accurate medication administration. You will usually be asked to bring in your pet at a certain time, to enable us to admit each animal in turn.
Admission
The admitting nurse will go through the Consent Form with you, which we will ask you to sign before your pet is admitted. The consent form identifies your pet and lists the procedures required. We will also record any other important pieces of information and will be careful to get a contact phone number from you where we can contact you throughout the day. This is very important as we may need to discuss aspects of the procedure with you while your pet is under anaesthetic. If we cannot contact you we will make decisions based on the best interests of your pet. Our staff will be pleased to discuss any concerns you may have. Please tell our staff if your pet is already taking prescribed medication or if you think your pet is unwell.
Your pet will then be admitted to the Veterinary Centre and pre-operative procedures will be undertaken. Both our dog and cat holding areas have pheromone diffusers to make our patients feel more at home.
Updates
The kennel nurse will ring you when your pet has recovered from its anaesthetic with a progress reports and then to arrange a time for you to collect your pet. Depending on our operating schedule, this may not be until the afternoon. Should there be any delay in scheduling your pet’s procedure, for example due to an emergency case coming in, we will do our best to let you know. We operate from 10.30am so do not consult between 10am and 4pm, and if your pet has been one of the later ones on our list it may not be discharged until the early evening.
Discharge
A nurse will discharge your pet and go through any particular instructions following the procedure that you need to be aware of. In most cases, the nurse will arrange an appointment for a post- operative check in the next 2-4 days.
Occasionally, it may be necessary to keep some patients in overnight.