Deer Park Animal Hospital

DEER PARK ANIMAL HOSPITAL

Office 757-595-9720

Fax 757-595-5866

LASER SURGERY FOR YOUR PETS!
The Accuvet 20 watt CO2 Laser is now an integral part of our surgical suite. Call us for more information about the gentler, kinder way of performing surgery for your pets!
Less swelling, less bleeding
**LESS PAIN**
If you would like to know more about Laser surgery for your pets
CLICK HERE

Accuvet CO2 Laser

Deer Park Animal Hospital
648-C J. Clyde Morris Blvd. (Hwy 17)
Newport News, VA 23601

Phone 757-595-9720
FAX 757-595-5866

Is your pet having surgery soon? Have questions about what happens during this surgery? Here are a few answers to put your mind at ease. We at Deer Park Animal Hospital feel very honored that you trust us to perform surgery on your beloved pets and we've put together a few common questions about surgery.

What do you remove when you spay an animal? When the doctor performs a spay or "ovariohysterectomy", he removes the ovaries as well as both horns of the uterus. The ovaries must be taken out completely so the animal won't continue going into heat cycles.
Do you remove the scrotum when you neuter dogs and cats? No. A laser incision is made directly on the scrotum and the testicles are removed from that one incision. The same is true for cats. There is no need to remove the entire scrotum. With the laser technique there is virtually no swelling and less pain that with an ordinary scalpel.
How long is the recovery time for my kind of surgery? Animals make dramatic recoveries as compared to humans.For spays and neuters, they usually feel back to themselves the next day! For some it'll take maybe a day or more for recovery. We furnish pain medication to take home for every surgery we do when you think your pet is in more pain than usual. As for orthopedic surgeries, it depends on the procedure done. Generally we would want to see what is called (toe touching) in about a week or 2 after surgery. Toe touching is when the animal feels comfortable enough with the leg that he/she starts to put it to the ground instead of holding it up all the time. For broken bones, it takes about 6 weeks or so for a callus to be strong and stable enough for removing casts or splints. There will be limping for a while after the leg is healed while the animal is getting used to "trusting" it to carry weight again, and also to build up the muscle mass that was lost during disuse. Mass removals are pretty common and take no more than a days recovery. Sutures must be removed in 7-10 days. Declaws take about 3-4 days of recovery, then they must be contained in areas where they can't jump around. UPDATE! Now with the laser technique there is only one day of recovery! There is no need for bandages and an extra 2 days in the hospital. Only an overnight stay is required. Cats that have been declawed with the laser are considerably less painful and tend to wake up happy and hungry! There are no sutures to remove, and the owners must use shredded newspaper or "Yesterday's News" in the litter box for a week to prevent injury from litter getting onto the toes. Pain medication is given during the surgery and take home medication is supplied. A dentistry procedure is done to clean the teeth using an ultrasonic cleaner and polisher. Sometimes tooth extractions are necessary. The recovery time for a dentistry and tooth extractions is about a day or 2 depending on the condition of the teeth before the procedure. There are too many other procedures done here at Deer Park Animal Hospital to list. However, if you have a question about a specific procedure please contact Dr. Savell at savellj@cox.net .
Is the animal being watched over during surgery to make sure they are ok? Of course! A technician constantly monitors respiration, heart rate, pulse oximitry, and makes sure the animal is in a constant and safe surgical plane of anesthesia. A special form is filled out for every patient going under anesthesia and levels are recorded every 5 minutes to ensure the best safety for your animals. All animals are placed on a towel and a heating pad that circulates warm water underneath them so they don't lose too much body heat during the procedure. We take great care in monitoring our patients under anesthesia as it is the most dangerous part. No anesthesia made today is 100% safe and close continuous monitoring is the key to making sure everything runs smoothly.
Why should I consider LASER SURGERY for my pet? The Laser Surgery technique provides considerably less post-operative pain! Which means quicker recovery time. How does it do this??? When the laser is used, as it's working it seals off nerve endings and small blood vessels which result in less pain and less swelling after surgery. Wouldn't you want that for yourself? :o)
What kind of anesthesia do you use? To perform surgery, we use a gas called Isoflurane. It is one of the safest gases out today and is easy to monitor and control. For the animal to get rid of Isoflurane in their bodies, they need only to exhale a few times and it's gone. It's not absorbed into the kidneys or liver so it is the safest gas for our geriatric patients as well. It works so well, that we must use pre-anesthetic medication to keep them under for a little more recovery time and for a smoother induction to gas. We use Propofol for short procedures like taking an x-ray when the animal must be completely still, or when taking care of the animal and treating them is much too painful. There are other anesthesias that we use, but these are the most common.
Do I need to seperate them from my other animals when I take them home? Why? Yes, it is a good idea. These animals, although they don't look like they hurt, have been through a lot and need rest for a day or 2. Let them have their own food bowl and bed for a while to recover and they should be ok to go back with the "pack" in a few days. Sometimes the other animals can get rough trying to play and they can cause our patient injury, and in a few rare cases, when it's the Alpha dog (head of the pack) that's had the surgery, the "lower ranked" ones may sense a weakness and challenge him/her and cause injury. Although this is unlikely, it can happen so we tell our clients that a few days for them to be alone will be a wonderful way to recover.

Do you have any other concerns regarding surgery techniques and recoveries? Let us know and we'll give you answers quickly to put your mind at ease. We know that performing surgery on your animals is the greatest sense of honor and trust you can give us. We treat your pets as if they were our own...with care and love.
Email us at savellj@cox.net !