Surgical Services
ACRS has a complete surgical suite for procedures requiring general anesthesia. We perform procedures such as spays (Ovariohysterectomy), neuters (Orchiectomy), feline declaw (Onychectomy), abdominal exploratory, tumor removal, C-Sections, and some reconstructive procedures. Orthopedic procedures are referred to excellent local board certified orthopedic surgeons.
Our belief is that no surgery is "routine" and therefore without some risk. As a result we require a recent physical examination and current vaccination status for all of our surgical candidates. We use state of the art anesthetics in our procedures and use the safest inhalant anesthetic on the market today, Sevoflurane. While anesthetics like Sevoflurane have made anesthesia much safer, any anesthetic carries with it some risk, so we take special precautions to improve the level of safety even further.
We insist on full blood chemistry and CBC profiles on all patients going under the effects of anesthesia. This is especially important for our elderly patients as they may have underlying kidney or liver problems that have yet to surface. This pre-anesthetic blood work allows us to make changes to anesthetic protocols to improve safety for these special pets.
Every patient undergoing general anesthesia is given an IV catheter with fluid therapy, and all patients are connected to our state of the art VetSpecs Surgical monitor. Our monitor allows us to continually monitor heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, pulse oximetry (a method to measure blood oxygen levels), blood CO2 levels and core body temperature constantly throughout the procedure. Close monitoring allows for reduced anesthetic incidents during our surgical procedures.
More routine procedures are done on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Food should be withheld after 8:00pm the night prior to surgery, and water should be pulled up first thing in the morning the day of the surgery. We admit our surgical patients between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m.
Most surgeries such as spays, neuters and dental cleanings, tumor removals are usually discharged the same day as the procedure. Cats that have been declawed are kept overnight, so bandages can be removed prior to discharge the next morning.
Written estimates of all surgical procedures are available upon request.