Item
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Why we do it
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Pre-surgical blood work |
- Screen patients for organ insufficiency prior to anesthesia
- Allows us to tailor their protocol to account for any organ stresses
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Complete Blood Count |
- Can find evidence of infection, anemia ( low red cells) or low platelets ( increases risk of bleeding)
- Taking a patient with low platelets to surgery can increase their risk of bleeding and complications
- Anemic patients can have a higher risk of low oxygenation during the procedure.
- Having an infection during an elective surgery can increase risk of post operative infection.
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IV catheter |
- Allows us to give fluids during surgery
- Allows immediate IV access in case of emergency
- Allows us to titrate our medications as needed, IE give more pain meds if a patient is acting painful without having to stick their muscle.
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IV fluids |
- Allows us to regulate their blood pressure
- Allows for re-hydration of any patients who are found to be a little dehydrated
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General Anesthesia |
- Although some procedures can be done under a local anesthetic or sedative, many times animals will require general anesthesia or to be put under for surgeries.
- We intubate them or protect their airway during the procedure
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Antibiotics |
- Giving intra-operative antibiotics can reduce the risk of infection.
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Anesthetic Monitoring |
- Blood pressure: maintaining a good blood pressure is vital t o making sure your pet’s organs are getting the oxygen they need to work. Low blood pressure can cause kidney failure and blindness even if it’s only for 5 to 10 minutes
- End tidal CO2: the amount of carbon dioxide left in your pet’s breath can tell us if they are moving enough air through their lungs and if the body is getting rid of it’s wastes with every breath. Too low can mean they are panting from possible pain and too high can mean they are not moving enough air.
- EKG: the heart electrical activity can be affected by anesthesia. Monitoring the heart waves as well as the rhythm and rate can help us make sure your pet has safe anesthesia and isn’t responding to pain while they are under anesthesia either.
- Pulse ox: this measures the oxygen levels in the blood. Even though your pet is on oxygen while they are under anesthesia other things can affect like amount of oxygen in the blood stream. This number can alert us to a problem like a mucus plug in the air tube, or poor ventilation.
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Pain Medications |
- Animals feel pain but cats and dogs can hide it well. We believe in treating them for a couple days after surgery with pain medications.
- Patients who feel pain will eat less and move less and will have a delayed recovery
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