Surgical Procedures

Learn more about surgery at our facility.

Best Friends Animal Hopital’s facility ensures procedures are as safe and efficient as possible.  We have two dedicated surgical suites – one for general surgery and one for orthopedic/advanced procedures.  Both surgical suites are equipped with state-of-the-art monitoring equipment, warming blankets and staff to constantly observe/monitor each patient undergoing anesthesia.

Pre-Surgery Exam

A pre-anesthetic exam is performed on all patients the day of their surgery by the surgeon. All clients are offered pre-anesthetic bloodwork which is performed in our in-house laboratory and gives us an indication of their pet’s kidney function, liver function, and blood glucose. This blood test is optional (but recommended) for animals under 5 years of age, and required for all pets over 5 years of age. Clients can also choose if they would like an intravenous (IV) catheter placed and IV fluids administered to their pet while under general anesthesia. The purpose of the IV catheter is to give us an easy route to administer IV fluids and also in the rare instance that emergency drugs are needed during the anesthesia or surgery. The IV fluids help maintain adequate blood pressure during the procedure. The IV catheter and fluids are optional (but recommended) for animals under 5 years of age, and required for all pets over 5 years of age.

Anesthesia

For most surgical procedures, anesthesia is required. While under anesthesia, your pet is continuously monitored by our staff and specialized anesthesia monitoring technology.  Your pet’s blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, body temperature and oxygen level are all tracked during surgery.  Specialized warming blankets are used to assist in maintaining your pet’s constant body temperature during the procedure.

Pain Management

For all routine (spay/neuter/declaw) surgeries, we follow our hospital pain management protocol, which includes a combination of injectable and oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and opoid pain relievers. We believe strongly that adequate pain management is mandatory and necessary in all surgery patients. Our surgery treatment plans include all of the pain management medications, as well as one night of hospitalization. We keep most of our surgery patients overnight to ensure that pain is under control, to hopefully identify animals that may have tendencies to lick at the surgical site, and to ensure they have a good night’s rest.

Postoperative Care

The amount of time your pet will need to be monitored after surgery varies. In some cases, animals will need to be monitored overnight; in others, they can be sent home the same day. When your pet is discharged, you will be provided information on proper home care after surgery  Often your pet will be prescribed medication; in the case, we will explain how and when to administer it. In addition, many  of our routine surgery patients, we use absorbable suture material under the skin, meaning suture removal is not necessary. If the surgeon decides to place non-absorbable skin sutures, suture removal is performed generally in 10-14 days at no additional cost.

Call us at (406) 255-0500 today to schedule a surgical consultation for your pet!