Surgery

Desexing:

McDowall veterinary practice recommends desexing small breed ( < 20kg) male and female dogs at 6 months of age before females have their first season. For larger breed dogs (>20kgs) we often recommend delaying desexing to between 12 and 15 months of age. The following blog explains the current scientific guidelines for several breeds : When to Desex Dogs and Cats.

Desexing also helps to prevent serious diseases such as pyometra, prostatic disease and testicular tumours.

Owners are often concerned about their pets possibly gaining weight after desexing. This can easily be avoided by adjusting the amount of food offered to pets after they are neutered. Please discuss this in more depth with our understanding vets or nurses if you would like more information.

All our desexing surgeries are performed using the latest and safest (human) anaesthetics. Our patients are all placed on intravenous fluids throughout the procedure to help support their blood pressure during the surgery. They are monitored by sophisticated anaesthetic monitoring equipment and a qualified nurse at all times, and are all given strong pre-operative, inter-operative and post-operative pain relief.

Anaesthesia :

We are fully aware of the risk to animals of anaesthetics. Although the risk is extremely slight (less than 0.3%), it increases as our pets age and develop other health problems. For this reason, we are careful to examine each patient prior to surgery and to tailor the anaesthetic, drug and intravenous fluid regime to suit their individual need. We use the safest anaesthetic agents available in veterinary medicine, which are the same as you would have when anaesthetised in hospital. For additional safety every patient is monitored throughout anaesthesia. We have equipment to continually monitor our patients’ heart rate, blood oxygenation, respiratory rate, end-tidal CO2, blood pressure and temperature, allowing us to spot changes early and act to keep your pet safe and well. A qualified nurse monitors each anaesthetic and records an anaesthetic chart  for each patient.

We offer and recommend pre-anaesthetic blood-profile testing to all our patients, which enables us to examine the animal’s body for internal problems before surgery commences. Such problems may be hidden and not obvious externally, despite a physical examination. This further ensures safety with anaesthesia.

We consider analgesia (pain relief) a vital part of any surgery that we perform. For this reason, we routinely administer pre-operative, intra-operative and post-operative pain relief to ensure that your pet has no discomfort. This also reduces their stress levels and the doses of anaesthetic required, making the whole process safer.

Orthopaedic Surgery :

We are well equipped to perform orthopaedic surgery in house. We have hospital grade advanced orthopaedic equipment and advanced electrocautery facilities allowing us to handle the most common orthopaedic surgeries in house. Particularly complicated surgeries can be referred to orthopaedic specialists at Queensland Veterinary Specialists nearby.

Soft Tissue Surgery :

We routinely perform a vast range of soft tissue surgery such as exploratory laparotomies, brachycephalic airway surgery, tumour and lump removals, biopsies, wound stitch-ups, removal of intestinal foreign bodies, bladder stone removal etc. The list is endless and our talented surgeons can tackle most things … you’d be amazed at some of the predicaments our pets find themselves in!

As with human surgery our vets scrub up, wear surgical gowns, gloves and hats and use autoclaved (sterilised) instruments throughout all procedures. The surgical bed is heated for the comfort and wellness of our patients who are continually monitored. A fully-trained veterinary nurse assists the vet throughout the procedure and monitors the patients right through to the recovery period.