Facts about Spaying and Neutering

Client Concerns

Financial constraints
Fear of anesthesia
Lack of understanding
Wanting to show the breed
Pet will gain weight
Pet's personality will change

Benefits

Spaying and neutering is more cost-effective than skipping the surgery. A uterine infection that requires emergency surgery to save your female pet’s life easily can cost several thousand dollars, while a simple tomcat neuter costs much less than products needed to eliminate urine odors after your home has been well-marked by your territorial male cat.
Risks of anesthesia have greatly decreased over the last years. Monitoring equipment has been upgraded, along with Registered Veterinary Technologist knowledge of the field.
Hormones are decreased after these procedures but weight gain dose correlate with food consumption as well. Monitoring the food intake and weight are recommended after surgery.
Spaying your female pet drastically slashes her risk of mammary cancer, which is fatal in about 50% of dogs and 90% of cats.
Neutering your male pet eliminates his risk of testicular cancer.
Spaying and neutering limits pet overpopulation.
Spaying your female pet prevents heat cycles and eliminates yowling, crying, erratic behavior, and bloody vaginal discharge.
Neutering your male pet reduces inappropriate behaviors, such as roaming to find a mate, marking inside your home, and fighting with other males.

Pre-Operative Vital Assessment

The veterinarian will assess your pets most important vitals. These include heartrate,

pulse, respiratory rate, temperature along with mucous membrane colour. With being able

to auscultate and palpate these parameters the doctor can assess for any abnormalities.

We recommed having this completed the day before the scheduled procesure. At this appointment we can also run the pre anesthetic blood and prescribe an antinausent for your pet to take the night before the surgery.

This antinausent, Cerenia (Maropitant), has been proven to reduce the risk of vomiting during and after surgery. This will help pevent any such issues like asperation pneumonia. It will also help your pet get back to eating and to their normal self faster.

This is offered to every surgical patient.

Pre anesthetic Blood work

Blood work is recommended to maximize patient safety. The Pre-Anesthetic Blood Panel can help alert our veterinarian to the presence of dehydration, anemia, infection, diabetes, kidney, or liver disease that could complicate the procedure. These conditions may not be detected without bloodwork being preformed thus not allowing for the most appropriate and safest anesthetic protocol. Plus, these tests could help if your pet’s health changes in the future to develop a faster, more accurate diagnoses and treatment plan.

Creature Comforts is equipped with on site, state of the art Idexx Blood Analyzer Technology at our fingertips. This technology allows us to preform these tests at the time of your admission. Running a pre anesthetic panel requires a small amount of blood to be obtained and only takes approximately 15 minutes to have results. The tests included are Complete Blood Count (CBC)- PCV (Anemia), White Blood Cell Count (Infection) & Red Blood Cell Count (Anemia / Bleeding Disorder), Platelet Count (Clotting Disorder) Chemistries - BUN and Creatinine (Kidney), ALKP and ALT (Liver), Glucose (Sugar), Total Protein (Dehydration), and Electrolytes (Imbalance). Also included in our panels is a test called SDMA, this is a precursor test for kidney disease.

These tests are like those your own doctor would run if you were to undergo anesthesia.

We do not offer this in the base price for Feline Neuters becasue we do not use general anesthesia but a heavy injectable sedative. It could always be added on for an additional fee. This is an amazing wellness parctice.

General anesthesia, IV Catheter and Surgical Fluid Therapy

General anesthesia includes a combination of pre-medications, induction agents and inhalant gas, which are used to achieve the optimum level of anesthesia that is safe for your pet. An intravenous catheter will be placed in your pet leg. This will allow us to have quick venous available access to the circulatory system in case of an unforeseen emergency and to administer anesthesia medications, and fluid therapy continuously through out the procedure. Once your pet is anesthetized they will be intubated which is the placement of a tube into the trachea or windpipe. This will ensure that your pet is able to always receive oxygen and prevents aspiration of any fluids into the lungs.

Anesthesia is then maintained with a gas anesthetic which allows the veterinary professionals to have more control over anesthetic depth and less irritation to the airways.

We do not offer this for our Feline Neuters becasue we do not use general anesthesia but a heavy injectable sedative.

Surgical Monitoring

Creature comforts is equipped with registered veterinary technologists and computerized monitoring devises for safe and up to date surgical monitoring. The vet tech is an animal nurse who is trained in many different aspects of the veterinary field including manually monitoring heartrate, pulse, respiration etc through out surgical procedures and has the knowledge to intervene when necessary. Our computerized monitoring devices are secondary systems used to assist the technologist and records heartrate, pulse rate, blood pressure, oxygen levels, respiration rate, temperature levels and has an ECG (electrocardiogram). These allow us to trend the values recorded and adjust the anesthetic agents when necessary.

Anesthesia monitoring is preformed on every patient that under goes any type of anesthetic procedure, whether that be full general anesthesia, light IV sedation or heavy IV sedation.

Pain Management

We provide intraoperative (during the procedure) pain supports, along with post operative (after the procedure) injectable medications and oral medications to go home with. After the procedure we use an injectable medication that lasts for 24 hours so that once the general anesthesia has worn off the injectable meds are still on board. The next morning you will start an oral pain and anti-inflammatory medication and continue for few days to help you pet be as comfortable and as pain free as possible.

This is given to all our surgery patients.

Post Operative Incision Protection

Once the surgery is complete we always recommend a Elizabethian Collar (aka Cone), ZenSoft collar, inflatable donut or a medical pet shirt (MPS). Not every procedure qualifies for each option specifically but our staff here can fit your pet for the correct product on day of your procedure for ease and convience

Medical Pet Shirts come in a variety of sizes for a variety of different breeds and species. Below is a video if you would like to learn more about MPS.

Learn More

The ZenCone is a premium soft recovery collar that is a true hybrid design. It provides a soothing & comforting environment vs the standard "Cone of Shame". Windows allow the pet to keep their peripheral vision and provide just the right amount of rigidity. The soft canvas offers comfort, absorbs noise and doesn't scrape walls! Collar rings allow the pet's collar to be threaded through for a secure fit. Each size has 3 adjustable straps to provide a custom fit.

These collars can go by many different names. Buster collars, Elizabethan collars, cones, etc, but all serve the same purpose. These also come in a variety of different sizes.

Known for its comfortable characteristics, ZenCollar is a preferred choice when pet owners looking for alternative recovery collars. These can protects pets from reaching injuries, rashes or post surgery incisions.

ZenCollar is stronger and ever before with a new fusion seam, adding surface area on the inner air bladder to maintain a powerful seal. They have super strong collar rings that fasten to your pets collar and ensure the ZenCollar stays on your pets neck at all times. Providing piece of mind for you and your pet!

5 Day Post Surgery Recheck

At this complementary visit with one of our technologist we access the surgery site. We make sure there is no signs of infection and that the site is healing properly. We can also answer any questions you may have regarding your pet.

This service is provided to all our surgical patients.