Surgical Care

It is always scary to face the idea of your fur-friend needing to go under anaesthesia for a procedure.

But sometimes, that is the only or best option to ensure the health and long life of your friend.

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So what do we at King’s Ridge Vet Clinic do to ensure the procedure is as safe and comfortable as possible?

Pain management:

  • Local anaesthesia (“freezing”) is helpful even when a patient is under anaesthesia. Even if the brain is not perceiving pain, the body still does – the pain nerves fire up in the presence of a painful stimulus, and start sending their signals. These geared up nerves are ready and waiting when a patient wakes up. If we use local anaesthesia, we avoid the “ramp up” of the pain nerves.
  • Balanced use of pain medications, before, during and after the procedure.

IV fluids:

  • To prevent a drop in blood pressure, keeping the heart stable and maintaining the filter units of the kidneys.
  • To provide emergency access to a vein if rescue drugs are needed for any reason.
  • To help “wash out” the anaesthetic drugs from the body more quickly.
  • To ensure the patient wakes up well-hydrated, and thus feeling well.

Warming – We use a circulating warm air device (Bair) and warming discs to prevent a drop in body temperature, and monitor body temperature with a real-time probe. Keeping the body warm:

  • Keeps body parameters such as heartbeat, blood pressure and breathing more stable under anaesthesia
  • Helps the body metabolize and clear the anaesthetic drugs more quickly
  • Experiments have also demonstrated that pain perception is worsened if the body temperature is cool

Multi-parameter monitoring – our Surgivet Monitoring device gives us a read-out of:

  • ECG – the electrical rhythm of the heart
  • Pulse oximetry – the level of oxygen in the blood
  • Capnography – how much carbon dioxide is in the air that is breathed out
  • Blood pressure
  • Core (rectal) temperature

Your pet’s safety, comfort and health are priority!