FAQs

Small breed dogs (under 45lbs estimated adult weight)

• Female – spay at 7 months
• Male – castration at 9 months

Large and medium-breed dogs (45+lbs) – doctors will discuss the timing of the surgery.

There are some benefits to waiting until a year of age in larger breed dogs:

• Conformational differences (in dogs refers solely to the externally visible details of a dog’s structure and appearance, as defined in detail by each dog breed‘s written breed standard.)
• Less joint problems
• Golden Retriever FEMALE only – reduced incidence of cancer (except breast)

• Increased risk of breast cancer (3%-8%)
• Possibility of unwanted pregnancy
• Male Behavior Problems
• Females having heat cycles

The incision should be clean and dry with no discharge. There will be a slight amount of swelling, but not so much that the skin has swollen around the sutures. The area around the sutures should be pink and possibly a bit bruised, but not beet red. Please call or make an appointment to come in if you still have concerns or questions about the incision.

We do recommend some kind of pain medication with most surgeries. Studies have shown that pets given pain medication post operatively heal faster, eat sooner, have fewer infections, and are much less stressed than pets that don’t receive pain medication. Frequently they only need the pain medication given while here in the hospital. Sometimes they need medication at home too. If you are concerned that your pet may be in pain, the doctor will make a recommendation for pain control for your pet.

Just as your doctor would have you get a blood test before undergoing anesthesia, we do the same for pets. This simple blood test allows us to evaluate your pet’s basic physiologic condition and will let us know if we need to take extra precautions with your pet. If test results are within normal ranges, we can proceed with confidence, knowing anesthetic risk is minimized. But if results are not within normal ranges, we can alter the anesthetic procedure, or take precautions to reduce the risk of potential complications. It may indicated that we should avoid a procedure altogether until a discovered problem can be corrected.

An intravenous catheter is a device that allows for the rapid delivery of fluids and medications directly into the bloodstream. Although anesthetic emergencies are rare, when they occur an open line into the bloodstream can save precious minutes in the delivery of life-saving drugs. The catheter also allows for the delivery of fluids during the surgical procedure.

The administration of intravenous fluids into the bloodstream helps maintain blood pressure and preserves health and function of vital organs such as the kidney and liver. It also keeps the patient hydrated when they haven’t been drinking for a while.

We will monitor your pet’s heart rate, respiratory rate, and the level of oxygen in your pet’s blood during anesthesia to watch for any early warning signs of problems, so we can correct them before it becomes a problem.

We recommend that your pet does not eat after midnight the night before they are admitted for surgery, dentistry, or any other anesthetic procedure. They may have access to water until they are admitted to the hospital.

Diabetics should be given ½ of their normal insulin dose on the morning of surgery. If your pet is taking antibiotics, pain medications or other daily drugs, go ahead and give them, and bring the medications with them so we can administer it while they are here in the hospital. Do not give any drugs that can prolong bleeding such as aspirin.

It is dangerous to feed any of your animals the following items: chocolate, grapes, raisins, currants, fatty table scraps, onions, garlic, compost, macadamia nuts, unbaked bread dough, alcohol, sugar-free gum, candy, xylitol, and any type of human medications or household cleaners.

We generally do not recommend feeding milk to cats. A cat’s digestive system does not digest milk well. Feeding milk to your cat can cause diarrhea, which can lead to further nutritional problems (your cat won’t be able to absorb nutrients from his/her food.)

Start now! It is important to help your puppy associate nail trims with “good things” so one that they look forward to this time. This is accomplished by playing with the puppy’s feet one at a time while rewarding with food treats. Do not clip any nails at this time. The slower you progress without forcing the puppy, the quicker he will pick up the fact that “when my owner holds my foot, I get lots of treats!” You then gradually increase the length of time spent holding the foot, start touching each individual toe, then clicking the clippers (a noise that can be scary to some pups), then clipping a toenail! Do not expect to be able to clip all his nails at the same time or to reach this comfort level within a couple days. Give him plenty of time and treats!

Some dogs do not become adequately immunized against certain preventable diseases (parvo most notably) until 18 to 20 weeks of age. Therefore avoidance of locations where many dogs of unknown background congregate or have been seems to make sense. However, puppies do need to be socialized by being exposed to many sites, sounds and experiences so we recommend taking them to less “canine intensive” sites and exposing them to healthy, vaccinated dogs belonging to friends. Since some diseases and parasites are transmitted by exposure to feces, you need to control where your puppy puts his nose when he walks.

Grass eating by dogs and cats is considered normal by most veterinarians. Dogs in the wild do the same thing to supplement their diet with vegetation. You should only be concerned about access to grass that has been treated with herbicides, insecticides or fertilizers that might cause illness.

Rawhide chews usually do not cause a problem. Problems may arise if your do swallows them whole causing choking, gastritis or blockage. It’s usually best to supervise your pet when it is chewing on any toy.

It is dangerous to feed any of your animals the following items: chocolate, grapes, raisins, currants, fatty table scraps, onions, garlic, compost, macadamia nuts, unbaked bread dough, alcohol, sugar-free gum, candy, xylitol, and any type of human medications or household cleaners.