Pre Surgical Considerations

Here are some guidelines regarding your pet’s surgical booking.

• They can be fed the night before surgery however all food should be withheld overnight (i.e remove access to food from 10:00 pm the night before surgery).
• Water is fine to leave out overnight, but please remove access to the water bowl when you “get up” in the morning.
• Unless otherwise advised, please bring your pet to the clinic for their hospital admission on the morning of their surgery between 7:30 am and 9:00 am.
• Please allow up to 15 minutes for the admission process.
• When bringing your pet in for surgery, depending on your pet’s age and general health, our nurses may offer pre-anaesthetic blood tests.
  Whilst, this is an additional cost, we offer this test so we can determine the health of your pet’s liver and kidneys. These organs help process anaesthetic drugs from the blood and any abnormal levels can impact the metabolism of the anaesthetic.
  We would recommend this to any senior aged pet 6 and over. Chat with us about whether pre-anaesthetic blood tests are a good option.
• Please advise us of any current medication.
• If your pet is on a ‘prescription veterinary diet’ if possible please bring one meal with you.
• Indicate whether you wish to be contacted by text or phone. It is important that we can contact you whilst your pet is in our care – please ensure your contact details are correct and that you are able to reply to us promptly.
• For your pet’s safety, we require ALL Dogs to be on a lead and ALL cats to be securely contained in a cage.
• It is important if your dog is having a surgical procedure that they present to the clinic clean and dry.
• A reminder dogs can not be bathed or swim for 10 – 14 days post-surgery if they have sutures.
• Discharge time is generally from 4:00 pm until 6:00 pm – due to emergencies, there may be delays in the treatment of “non-urgent” cases therefore, please contact us to ensure that your pet is ready to go home. Exceptions are major surgeries where we routinely overnight our patients post-surgery. You will be advised at admission time whether your pet will need to stay overnight.
• If you choose to leave leads and blankets, please be aware that if they are soiled, they will be laundered and therefore, may be hard to locate amongst all other bedding / leads.

We look forward to seeing you and your pet soon, and if you have any further questions or need to discuss in-depth, please contact the clinic on 067584006.

Thanks, the team at New Plymouth Vet Group.