Not All Surgery Is The Same
Many pet parents don't understand that there are differences in the quality of care in surgery. Those differences are often reflected in prices. Some animal hospitals will take shortcuts that reduce price but also reduce the level of care and comfort for their patients. (After all, veterinary patients aren't really able to complain!)
That means that routine spay and neuter surgeries -and their prices- can vary wildly from hospital to hospital. There are many substantive reasons to choose to have surgery at Hope Animal Hospital over a less expensive place. Below is a list of supplies, techniques, and procedures which Hope Animal Hospital utilizes to provide safe and comfortable surgery for our patients.
- Pre-anesthetic blood testing
We have all the equipment in house to test your pet the morning of surgery for any abnormalities that might cause problems with surgery or anesthesia.
- IV catheter
A catheter allows us to give injections and fluids comfortably in the vein. It becomes a vital life line if there are any complications. Precious minutes can be lost trying to place an IV catheter after a problem occurs.
- IV fluids
IV fluids support circulation and blood pressure during anesthesia.
- Pre-anesthetic pain medications
Pain medications used early on allows us to use lower doses of anesthetics and prevents pain ‘wind up’. Treating pain before it occurs is vital to controlling pain.
- Oxygen supplied by intubation
Intubation is placing a tube in the airway to prevent closure of the airway during surgery. Oxygen and gas anesthesia are given this way.
- New, sterile surgical gloves for each case
We never reuse gloves.
- Surgeon wears a cap, mask, and sterile gown for each surgery
We feel these things are necessary to help prevent incision complications.
- Heated Surgery table
Maintaining body temperature helps a patient feel more comfortable and supports normal metabolism during anesthesia.
- Monitoring of patient temperature, heart rate, respiration, ECG, and oxygenation of the patient’s blood
Monitoring these vital signs lets us know if a problem is occurring early on and we can respond to it appropriately.
- Trained assistant providing human monitoring of each patient
Machines cannot replace having an assistant available to monitor the well being of a patient
- Fresh, sterile instrument pack for each patient
Packs are not shared among patients
- Sterile instruments for dental procedures
Instruments are sterilized between each patient.
- Sterile surgical drape for each patient
This keeps the patients hair from contaminating the incision.
- Laser incisions
Laser incisions have less pain, less bleeding, and less swelling because the laser seals nerve ending and small blood vessels.
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- Swaged on suture
This is when a suture is not threaded to the needle but is instead attached to the end of the needle. It creates smaller holes that allows for less irritation at the incision site.
- Postoperative warm water heating pad or heating disk
Providing heat postoperatively is important for patient comfort and recovery, but it must be done safely. A normal heating pad is dangerous. We have invested in special heating pads for the safety and comfort of our patients.
- Postoperative hands on monitoring during recovery.
Postoperative care to make sure our patients recover well and to provide for their comfort.
- Postoperative Pain Medication
Omitting pain medication is not an option at Hope Animal Hospital. We have seen over the years how much better pets do with pain medication and we will not deny them an important part of their recovery.
- A comfortable overnight stay
This prevents pets from being too active right after surgery. It also allows them to rest quietly.
- Follow up pain medication
We will dispense pain medication to help your pet heal well. Experience and experimental evidence on people and pets overwhelmingly point to how important this is.
We encourage potential clients to not just compare price, but to also ask questions about what kind of care will be offered for their pets.
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