Pet Surgery and Operations

We carry out pet surgery and operations every day at our Dundee, Barnhill and Arbroath surgeries.

Our vet practices provide a comprehensive range of pet surgery facilities including digital X-ray, ultrasound and an on-site laboratory. More advanced services are available at our Dundee surgery. These include orthopaedic and soft tissue surgery as well as minimally invasive procedures via endoscopy, arthroscopy and laparoscopy.

 

BEFORE THE OPERATION

Dogs and cats must have no food after bed-time on the night prior to surgery, but they should have access to water until breakfast time on the day of the procedure.

‘Small furries’, including rabbits, should NOT be starved and they should come to the surgery with access to food and water.

Please take your dog for a walk for toilet purposes before they come to the surgery.

 

ON THE DAY

Once you have checked in at reception, a member of our clinical team will greet you and discuss the plan for the day. They can answer any questions you may have and guide you through the admission sheet and consent form. Your pet will then be weighed, have any necessary blood samples taken and, if undergoing general anaesthesia, a pre-med injection will be given. This will help them relax and provides them with pain-relief, preparing them for anaesthesia and pet surgery.

Each anaesthetic is tailored to the needs of the individual patient and through our highly trained theatre staff and state of the art monitoring equipment we ensure the process is as safe as possible. In most cases, further pain relief is administered during or just before surgery and we send pets home with pain relief medication as appropriate for the case. This is the gold standard of anaesthesia which all pets receive at Parkside.

Where sedation rather than anaesthesia is sufficient, this is typically provided by an injectable drug which has a rapid onset and can be reversed by injection of an antidote. Sedation causes animals to become very sleepy, however as they maintain a degree of awareness, this is only suitable for specific cases. There may be increased risks associated with sedation in older or severely ill animals and we will always advise you of the most appropriate course of action for your pet.

 

AFTER THE OPERATION

It is important to follow the post-op instructions you are given when you collect your pet. Please see the links on the right of this page for the most common procedures.

If it has been recommended that your pet should stay with us overnight, they will be hospitalised at the Dundee surgery.

Download post-operative PDF guides for pet owners

Click the links below to download the appropriate pet surgery guides:  

 

Cat recovery at home

(Useful tips from International Cat Care)