Desexing: What Happens on the Day?

Everyone knows that when our pets are desexed they are admitted into the clinic and at the end of the day they go home with their testicles or uterus removed.

Everyone knows that when our pets are desexed they are admitted into the clinic and at the end of the day they go home with their testicles or uterus removed. But what happens in between? Let me give you the inside scoop about what we at HPVH do to look after your pet on the day of their surgery.

Before the Surgery

We feel it is important for your pet to have a blood test prior to surgery. We perform this test here at the clinic, and have the results within 15 minutes. This test allows us to check that your pet does not have any problems with their organs or immune system that we need to know about in order to make your pet’s anaesthetic as safe as possible. If the blood test comes back normal, then this is also useful, as it means we now know what your pet’s individual profile looks like when they are healthy. If they are ever sick in the future and need to have a blood test performed, this allows us to more accurately diagnose problems in your pet.

We also perform a full physical examination to ensure the health of your pet. This is the time that we occasionally discover retained baby teeth that need removing or hernias in the abdominal wall that require repairing. If we find anything that we weren’t expecting, we will give you a call straight away to discuss it and explain what can be done.

Once we have examined your pet and checked the blood test results, we give your pet an injection that helps relax them and provides pain relief for during and after the surgery. Once this medication has taken effect we put them on an intravenous fluid drip. This maintains their hydration while they are under anaesthetic and maintains their blood pressure at a normal level, ensuring that they are getting the blood supply to their organs that they need while they are asleep.

During the Surgery

Once the anaesthetic medication has been given and your pet has fallen asleep, we secure their airway so that we know that they are getting adequate oxygen and that they are breathing properly. At all times during the anaesthetic there is a highly trained nurse at their side under the supervision of a vet, monitoring their breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and temperature, ensuring that your pet is safe while they are asleep. The surgery is performed by our vets.

After the Surgery

We sit with your pet and continue to monitor them closely while they wake up after their procedure. Once they are awake, we give you a call to let you know how they are doing, and to organise a time for you to pick them up. Depending on what species your pet is, we will either give them a pain relief injection that lasts for 3 days, or we will give you take home pain relief for them. When you arrive we will explain how to look after them while their body heals, particularly in the next few days after the surgery. We will ask you to bring them back to see us a few days later so that we can ensure that they are healing well, and answer any more questions you may have. Your pet will have another appointment 10-14 days after the surgery to ensure that they have finished healing as they should, and so that patients that have skin sutures in place can get the sutures removed.