Surgery

At St. Francis Animal Hospital, we perform a full range of surgeries, including spay, neuter, and other soft tissue surgeries, cryosurgery, and laser surgery. Regardless of the surgery required, your pet’s wellbeing is our top priority.

Soft Tissue Surgery

Soft tissue surgeries include spay, neuter, lump removal, bladder surgery, eye surgery, foreign body removal, and exploratory surgery.

Cryosurgery

Cryosurgery is often used in the treatment of skin tumors, warts, and oral tumors.

Laser Surgery

Our veterinarians use laser surgery for performing many kinds of soft tissue surgeries. It offers superior incision healing over traditional scalpel-made incisions and can be used for spay and neuter procedures, ophthalmic (eye) procedures, the removal of tumors, the treatment of abscesses, and in dental surgery.

Cesarean Delivery

As part of our surgical services, we provide cesarean delivery for our patients experiencing difficulties with birthing puppies or kittens. When a dog or cat is in labor for an extended period and is in distress, emergency cesarean delivery is crucial for the best possible outcome. Our team at St. Francis Animal Hospital is experienced in performing cesarean deliveries quickly.

For more complex surgeries, where specialized equipment or training would be beneficial, we will refer your pet to a board-certified veterinary surgical specialist.

Anesthesia and Sedation

Sometimes during examinations (e.g. testing of joints for injuries), diagnostic testing (e.g. X-rays, ultrasound, or urine sampling), and minor procedures (e.g. biopsies or skin scrapings), sedation is required to help keep your pet comfortable and relaxed. If sedation is required, our technicians will monitor your pet during the process while our veterinarians perform the necessary procedures. Most often, these are outpatient procedures and can be completed while you wait comfortably in our exam room or lobby.

Some of these procedures will require the use of local anesthesia, much like the “freezing” used in human medicine for biopsy procedures.

During surgical procedures requiring general anesthesia, a sedative is administered first to calm your pet, followed by intravenous injection to start the anesthesia. Pre-anesthetic sedatives reduce the amount of anesthesia required and reduce the possibility of your pet developing an irregular heart rhythm.

Pain management is crucial for optimal recovery. We will administer pain medication throughout the procedure so that your pet is less likely to feel pain when the surgery is complete. Depending on the type of surgery being performed, a nerve block may be administered (e.g. dental surgery). Nerve blocks reduce the amount of anesthetic required and help with post-operative pain management.

During surgical procedures, your pet will be closely monitored by the members of our veterinary healthcare team. Modern monitoring equipment is used to monitor your pet’s vital signs, including blood oxygen levels, blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, and body temperature. Monitoring allows our highly trained healthcare team to fine-tune the anesthesia, keeping your pet’s functions steady and stable. Your pet will be kept warm throughout the surgical procedure and during the recovery period with the help of a warm air circulator.

Following surgery, your pet will be monitored until he or she has fully recovered from the anesthesia, and then placed into the ward where monitoring will continue.

In many cases, post-operative pain medication will be prescribed to help your pet heal and recover more quickly.