Surgery and a stay in the hospital could potentially be quite frightening and stressful for a pampered little princess like Millie but it’s very important for her overall health so we make sure the visit is as fear free, stress free and pain free as possible.
At Sault Ste. Marie Animal Clinic, all patients undergoing anesthesia and surgery are ‘pre-medicated’ with a combination of a sedative and analgesic (pain killer) beforehand. The sedative helps them to stay calm and relaxed while the analgesics help them to need less anesthetic during surgery and to wake up feeling comfortable. Studies have shown that pain control tends to be most effective if given pre-emptively rather than waiting for signs of pain and then giving the medication.
During surgery, we use tools such as a surgical laser and techniques such as ‘lap spays’ when appropriate to reduce the potential for pain. For surgeries that might be more painful, such as bone surgery or major abdominal surgery, we will use techniques like epidurals and nerve blocks.
Animals can’t or won’t always tell us how much pain they are experiencing so we always treat them with pain killers after the surgery as well – usually sending them home with a few days worth of medication just to make sure they stay comfortable.
As for Millie, she was up rubbing against and reaching through the bars of her kennel looking for pets within a couple of hours of having her surgery