How is my pet monitored during anesthesia?

 We feel strongly that anesthetic monitoring is critical and therefore several vital parameters are checked constantly throughout the procedure and through recovery.  Your pet is not left alone in a cage.  We are with them through the entire anesthetic process.  With thorough monitoring of your pet, we are quickly alerted of any problems or changes and can make adjustments accordingly.  Our clinic is fully equipped with modern machines to measure blood pressure, ECG, heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen content of tissues, and body temperature.  For every surgery there is at least one trained staff member present with your pet and monitoring these parameters constantly from the beginning of anesthesia until after your pet is recovered and breathing well following the procedure.  We keep an anesthetic record with all the vital parameters recorded every 5 minutes and drug amounts and fluid rates tracked for each patient.

What types of surgical care standards are offered?

Every surgery and dental procedure at Ashland Veterinary Clinic is performed by a licensed veterinarian.  We value continuing education and take advanced training several times a year to sharpen our skills and knowledge.  We do not consider any surgery "routine."  Even though we perform several surgeries each week we know that each pet may only have one surgery in a lifetime and we take each one seriously.  We keep a variety of surgical equipment and also offer a CO2 surgical laser which is especially helpful for surgeries in small, delicate areas and to decrease bleeding.  We also use a cold laser after the surgery on the incision area to promote healing.  

What about pain management?

In our clinic we are serious about pain management for every surgical patient.  We use pain medications before and after surgery and we have access to a variety of pain management tools.  We offer CRI (constant rate infusion) pain management for particularly painful surgeries;  this involves an IV drip of pain management (similar to Morphine drip) throughout surgery and recovery.  We also have a variety of oral and injectable antibiotics to use when indicated.

What about after surgery care?

We have a veterinarian on call at all times to address any problems or concerns after your pet returns home after surgery.  Our on-call/ emergency services are available for our current clients only.  A post-surgery recheck and suture removal are included free of charge for surgery patients.  We also trim the nails of every pet under anesthesia.  

When choosing a veterinarian for your pet's surgery, no matter how "routine" you feel the surgery to be, we encourage you to ask these questions.  At Ashland Veterinary Clinic our team strives to provide a high standard of care with surgery and anesthesia.  If you have questions or concerns about your pet and surgery/anesthesia, please address those with your veterinarian.