If your pet is booked in for a procedure that will require a general anesthetic or sedation, these are the guidelines you need to follow:
1. NO food should be given to your pet after midnight (12am) the night before surgery. This includes removing food that your pet hasn’t eaten after this time. This also means your pet is NOT allowed breakfast the following morning unless you’ve been directed otherwise by a member of the veterinary team.
2. Water SHOULD be left overnight with your pet and removed early in the morning.
3. If your pet is a cat - please ensure you have a cat carrier or suitable secure container in which to transport them to hospital - this is for your safety and theirs. Cats can become stressed during travel and can potentially meet dogs in our waiting area upon your initial arrival. A cat carrier keeps them safe.
4. Please ensure you have your dog on a lead. This is for your dog's safety, your safety and other members of the public and pets you may meet upon visiting our hospital. Uncontrolled dogs are a real and potential hazard.
What to expect upon arrival?
1. You will have been given a time to arrive to the hospital with your pet, please arrive at this time to avoid potential delays.
2. Please ensure you leave an accessible contact number for the day of your pet’s procedure.
3. One of our vets or veterinary nurses will admit your pet upon your arrival and have a chat with you and ask you to sign our admittance form.
4. We will re-confirm with you an estimate of the expected cost of your pet's procedure during this chat.
During this chat we will discuss with you a few things, some of which are the options of pre-anaesthetic bloods. These blood tests do come at an extra charge, but they are very beneficial for your pet. See below for the benefits of the pre-anaesthetic bloods.
Why do we highlight these options?
We strongly recommend these blood tests to all patients OVER 7 years of age, patient with ongoing medical conditions and for large breed dogs of any age undergoing a general anaesthetic or surgical procedure.
Remember, your pet is undergoing sedation/general anaesthetic and this requires drugs. So, these blood tests help the vet to assess how good your pet’s kidney and liver function is. These organs are were most drugs are processed by the body.
Additionally, if your dog isn’t a large breed or is UNDER 7 years of age and is deemed otherwise healthy there is still a benefit to these blood tests.
If your pet is healthy and undergoing an elective procedure, these blood tests form a baseline for your pet’s normal health status for our vets to reference should your pet ever become ill in the future.