At Grand Montecito Animal Hospital, surgical procedures are performed Monday-Saturday. An appointment is advised, as there are pre-surgical instructions that play a vital role in your pet’s procedure. We want to ensure that we provide our pet patients with comparable medical treatment as their human counterpart. Whether your pet needs a routine or complex surgical procedure, our doctors and support staff are here to provide you and your pet family with the highest quality medical care before, during and post procedure.
Just like humans, pets are advised to have pre-operative lab work to test kidney and liver functions (the main organs that metabolize anesthesia), complete blood counts (CBC), and blood glucose levels. We ask that all patients check in between 6am and 8am on the morning of the scheduled surgery.
What to expect?
Your pet’s doctor or support staff will call you the evening before with fasting instructions and to confirm your drop off time. It is important that no food be given after midnight the night before surgery. As a reminder, unless cleared by your pet’s doctor, vaccinations and fecal test are required to be current for all patients having surgery.
When dropping off your pet in the morning, please allow at least 20-30 minutes to meet with doctor. Just like human medicine, we want to make sure we go over any additional questions, confirm contact information, and go over the estimate. The owner or authorized person dropping off, and picking the pet from surgery, must be at least 18 years of age. Please understand that there may be some vital information explained pre and post-surgery.
During your pet’s procedure, they are closely monitored throughout surgery using EKG/pulse oximeters. IV fluids and pain management medications are administered through an IV catheter. Once the surgery is complete, your doctor or surgery technician will call you to discuss how the procedure went, answer additional questions, and set up a discharge time.
Please allow yourself sometime to go over discharge instructions with your doctor or surgery technician. At discharge, they will go over your pet’s home care instructions including care of the surgical site, when and how to administer medications, and schedule a follow up appointment, if needed.
