Surgery & Spay/Neuter

The difference between Janssen Veterinary Clinic and many other hospitals is that we emphasize the safety and comfort of your pet above all else. We follow higher level care standards, with specific requirements on our staff training and facility resources. Your pet will be given a thorough pre-anesthetic exam by a veterinarian, who will review your pet’s medical history and discuss any risk factors. Your veterinarian may also perform blood tests to check for any indications of a developing medical problem or anesthetic risk.

Your pet is cared for by doctors and well-trained staff throughout their stay with us. 

Prior to Surgery. Even though anesthesia is relatively safe, some risks still exist. We recommend a pre-anesthetic blood panel. If at all possible, we would prefer to send the blood sample out two full days prior to the surgery, ensuring a more in-depth profile from our outside laboratory. We also have a simpler panel to run in-house on the day of surgery if that is more convenient. A surgical anesthesia protocol will be customized for your individual pet. Prior to anesthesia, your pet will be given a pre-anesthetic sedative to reduce stress and ease the process.

While under anesthesia, your pet will be monitored by a Registered Veterinary Technician and Veterinarian—comparable to what you’d receive in a human hospital. This may include intravenous fluids and/or medications to support your pet’s circulation and blood pressure; a mask to provide oxygen to your pet’s lungs; intubation (depending on the surgery) to maintain oxygen and anesthesia levels; pulse oximetry to measure the oxygenation of your pet’s blood; blood pressure monitoring; temperature monitoring with warming blankets to prevent hypothermia, and electrocardiography (ECG) to monitor your pet’s heart.

Once the procedure is complete, it’s time for your pet to wake up from the anesthesia.  Your pet will be closely monitored during this time to make sure they are recovering normally and that care is administered if there are any challenges. 

Pain management is extremely important for the surgical patient.  Pain is much easier to prevent than to eliminate, so giving pain meds postoperatively is ideal for the surgical patient.  Identifying that your pet is painful can be challenging, as animals don’t always cry out when they are in pain.  Pain can be noticed subtly, such as loss of normal behavior (lethargy, not eating/drinking, etc.).  Pain can also be identified by presence of abnormal behavior, such as aggression, whining or inappropriate accidents.  The animal may also be more sensitive to touch than normal.  Pain management after a surgical procedure is very important to the healing and well-being of your pet.