Surgery Protocol

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Here at the Lagos Vet Clinic we aim to provide the safest and most comfortable experience for your pet, should they need an operation.  To do this we use a combination of safe drugs, monitoring devices and experience to see the animal through as safely as possible.

Before admitting patients to the hospital, owners are asked if they would like pre-anaesthetic blood and urine tests done.  This is routine for ALL people undergoing an anaesthetic and recommended for all animals as well, especially the elderly.  This is to assess the function of the major organs (namely the liver and kidneys) to determine the safety of any anaesthetic before it is given.

The clinic is equipped to run all these tests on site, on the day of the anaesthetic.

After admission to the hospital we administer a pre-med injection.  This is a combination of a sedative and an opiate drug.  This allows us to use less of both drugs (thereby making them safer) and starts the analgesia (pain-relief) plan, even before the surgery.

When the patient is ready we like to place an indwelling catheter in the vein.  This allows us to then put the animal on I/V fluids throughout the anaesthetic.  This supports blood pressure and maintains perfusion of all the major organs during the surgery.  Both these factors are vital to a safe anaesthesia.  Indwelling catheters also allow us to administer any drugs intravenously both safely and quickly, should the need arise.

The patient is then anaesthetised and placed on oxygen and isoflurane (an anaesthetic gas) throughout the rest of the anaesthetic.

Patients are then put on three different anaesthetic monitoring devices which constantly assess their respiration, pulse, oxygenation and heart function.  These stay on the patient until they wake up, with all vital signs being recorded throughout on an anaesthetic monitoring chart.

After the surgery is complete, animals are recovered from their anaesthesia in a warm kennel, being monitored by a nurse until awake.

The patients are clipped prepped in our prep area PRIOR to being brought into the surgical suite.  Once there they are aseptically prepared the operation can be carried out.

Surgery is undertaken with sterilised instruments, drapes and gowns, gloves and masks used.

Our surgeries are finished using an intra-dermal suture pattern.  This means that there will be no sutures protruding from the skin for your pet to try and pull out.  Therefore patients do not need to wear a ‘bucket' around their neck over the following week.

All surgery patients are given appropriate pain relief.  This ranges from anti-inflammatory injections through to epidural analgesia, all aimed to make the post operative period as comfortable as possible for your pet.

Pain management is paramount for our surgery patients.

We aim to send our surgery patients home on the same day, so that you can have them back home with you straight away.  Your pet will most likely be able to eat that night, though we encourage a smaller meal after an anaesthetic.  Depending on the procedure your pet may be groggy from the effects of the opiate drug used, some of which last for 10-12 hours providing pain relief throughout.

We are happy to discuss these procedures with you further, as we want our clients to feel as comfortable about our anaesthetic and surgical protocol as we do at the clinic.