|  Processing ....
|
Cordova Animal Medical Center offers the following elective surgery services:
Ovariohysterectomy (spay), Castration (neuter), Feline Declaws, and Ear Crops
Dr. Ashley has over 15 years experience in small animal surgery. Cordova Animal Medical Center believes that all surgeries, elective or not, deserve to be performed under modern, safe, monitored anesthesia in a sterile environment with supportive care and pain control.
This means every patient receives an IV catheter and fluids during the surgery. This ensures that we have an IV access point if there is an emergency while fluid therapy maintains blood pressure. All patients are induced using balanced drug protocols (pre medications for pain and to relax, propofol to induce, and isoflurane gas to maintain anesthesia. We intubate every patient, and monitor anesthesia using pulse oximetry (measures oxygen saturation), blood pressure, heart and respiratory monitors, ECG monitors, and body temperature. Each patient has a dedicated veterinary technician who is with your pet from premedicaiton to recovery. A convection heat warmer and a reciruclating water blanket are used to maintain body temperature during procedures. We utilize a anesthesia flow sheet and record all parameters every 5 minutes while the patient is anesthetized.
This protocol is standard for all surgeries and is included in the fee schedule. All surgery patients receive an antibiotic injection, an antiinflammatory injection, and a pain injection with pain medication to go home. This is also included in the fee schedule. Declaws and ear crops also revieve antibiotics to go home (included). Elizabethan collars are sent home with most surgeries to discourage licking/scratching at the incision.
We are not a low cost provider. While our elective surgery fees are comparable with hospitals in the area (and we accomplish this by heavily discounting these procedures to help with pet overpopulation), certainly there are lower cost alternatives that offer just the basic anesthesia/surgery w/o catheters, fluids, monitors, or pain conrol. While we do accept vouchers from the Humane Society of Pensacola (Low Cost Spay & Neuter), we do not compromise our services on those pets or make needed services optional. All pets receive the same treatment- the same as Dr. Ashley or any of our staff would give to our own pets. When obtaining estimates from other hospitals, it is important to ask what services are included in the quoted fee and realize that you often get what you pay for...
Optional Services:
All surgery patients 7 years and older are required to have preanesthetic bloodwork (checks a blood count, kidney, liver function) performed prior to surgery. Patients younger than 7 are encouraged (but not required) to have this performed also as it does decrease the potential for complications due to unknown disease processes. Preanesthetic bloodwork is not included in the surgery package, but is available for an additional fee.
All patients who have had a history of heartworm disease, a heart murmur, or are a breed risk for heart problems are required to have a preanesthetic ECG performed prior to surgery. This ECG is performed at our hospital and read by a Veterinary Cardiologist at VHI. This allows us to screen for heart arrthymias prior to surgery that may indicate an anesthetic risk. All patients are encouraged ( but not required) to have a preanesthetic ECG prior to any anesthetic procedure. The preanesthetic ECG is not included in the surgery package, but is available for an additional fee.
Special Considerations:
Declaws: We believe in aggressive pain management for our declaw patients. We prefer to perform our declaws using radiosurgery which seals the nerve endings and blood vessels as the claw is removed. This allows a cleaner surgery, assures removal of the entire claw, and results in less pain and a quicker healing period for the kitty. We suture the toes and wrap the paws for the first 12 hours. Each cat receives not only a pain injection prior to surgery, but also a local ring block on each paw. Post op patients receive oral antibiotics and pain medication to go home. Remember, the decision to declaw should not be made lightly. Alternatives are available and we are happy to discuss other options. Declawing is forever and declawed cats must remain indoors.
Ear Crops:
It is important to understand that ear cropping is a controversial topic and is increasingly frowned upon by the veterinary community. Ear cropping is illegal in much of Europe and is discouraged by the American Veterinary Medical Association. It is however, a local and community based attitude and is still desirable and common in the South/Pensacola area. Dr. Ashley has many years experience performing ear crops and is willing to offer this service to the Pensacola area. We believe that if ear cropping is to be performed, that it should be done properly with appropriate pain control under general anesthesia. Although we perform ear crop surgery, it is the individual owners decision whether or not to crop their dog's ears ie We DO NOT encourage ear cropping- Ear crops are available for the following breeds: Pitt Bull, Doberman, Great Dane, Boxer, Min Pin, Schaunzer. Because this is a cosmetic procedure, we do not make any guarantee regarding the outcome, whether they will stand, or the how the pet will show. An ear crop handout and portfolio are available in the office for review.
|
|
|
|
