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

Many people have questions about various aspects of their pet's surgery, and we hope this information will help. It also explains the decisions you will need to make before your pet's upcoming surgery.

Is the anesthetic safe?

   Today's modern anesthetic monitors have made surgery much safer than in the past.  Here at Animal Medical of Chesapeake, we do a thorough physical exam + also a pre-anesthetic Blood Pressure & ECG Screen on your pet before administering anesthesia, to learn your individual pet's 'baseline' as well as to ensure that a fever or other illness won't be a problem. 

   Preanesthetic blood testing is important in reducing the risk of anesthesia.  Every pet needs blood testing before surgery to ensure that the liver and kidneys can handle the anesthetic agents.  Even healthy animals can have serious organ system problems that cannot be detected without blood testing.  If there is a problem, it is much better to find it before it causes anesthetic or surgical complications. If serious problems are detected, surgery can be postponed until the problem is corrected.

  We offer 'send-out' and 'in-house' blood testing before surgery, which we are happy to review with you.  A more comprehensive screen will give us the most information to ensure the safety of your pet.  For geriatric or ill pets, additional blood tests, electrocardiograms, or x-rays may be required before surgery as well.

   It is important that surgery be done on an empty stomach to reduce the risk of vomiting during and after anesthesia.  You will need to withhold food (but not water) for at least 8 hours before surgery for dogs and 4 hours for cats.  Your pet may have access to water until the morning of surgery.

Will my pet have stitches?

For many surgeries, we use absorbable sutures under the skin surface.  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. Licking and chewing at the incision site can be a common problem you will also need to watch for. We provide e-collars or other after-surgery wear to cover the incision site. 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. 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-inflammatory 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.  Of course, we will provide injectable pain management peri-operatively.

Because cats do not tolerate standard pain medications such as aspirin, ibuprofen, or Tylenol, we are limited in what we can give them. We administer a pain injection 10 minutes prior to surgery.  After surgery, we will dispense other pain management options for the recovery period.

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 your 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.  You may also visit our forms page & download our Surgery Authorization Forms to bring with you.  When you pick up your pet after surgery you should also plan to spend about 10 minutes to go over your pet's home care needs with us.

We will call you the day 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.