We believe that your pet is a very important part of your family and we value the trust you place in us when you leave them in our care. We take every possible step to ensure that your pet enjoys a safe and comfortable surgical experience.  

Prior to surgery, Dr Wolfer requires full bloodwork and urinalysis to ensure your pet's systemic health. This bloodwork tells us how the liver and kidneys are functioning. This is important to know as the anesthetic drugs are metabolized by these organs. If the bloodwork has not already been done, please make arrangements to have this done with your primary care veterinarian.  

The night before surgery, please do not feed your pet after 8pm. They also need to have any water taken away after midnight. Please make sure to bring your pet's insulin (if applicable) and multiple syringes with you to our clinic. Drop off on the morning of surgery is between 8:00am and 8:30am, unless directed otherwise.  

On the morning of surgery, your pet will be sedated to reduce anxiety and will receive injections of pain medication and sedatives. An IV catheter will be placed in their leg and they will be given IV fluids throughout the day. This helps to maintain normal blood pressure while under anesthetic. We use a variety of sedatives and anesthetic drugs in order to tailor to individual pets needs. Your pet is maintained under anesthetic with gas anesthetics similar to those in use in human hospitals.  

Once under anesthetic, your pet is monitored constantly using a variety of technology, including ECG, pulse oximetry, Doppler blood pressure monitoring, capnograph, ventilator, nerve stimulator, and blood glucometer. Their body temperature is maintained by a circulating warm water pad placed underneath them on the surgery table. Our Board Certified Anesthesiologist and Registered Veterinary Technicians are fully trained to perform all of these tasks.  

Asepsis, or sterile technique, is followed throughout surgery. This includes new sterile needles for every injection and sterile packs for every surgery. The surgeon wears a new sterile gown and gloves for every surgery. This is critical to avoid contamination and infection.  

When your pet's surgery is finished, as they wake, they receive more pain medication to ensure a quiet, stress-free recovery. Once they are awake, we will phone you to let you know that everything went well. Please make sure to leave us a phone number where you can be reached at all times. Sometimes we request for you to come and sit with your pet during recovery if they are quite agitated.  

We believe that your pet's surgery is a big step in their life and may also be a stressful time for you. We believe that by practicing the best preventative and surgical medicine possible we can improve this experience for the both of you.  

If you have any questions or concerns, please talk to any of our staff. We want to earn your trust and we look forward to maintaining our relationship with you throughout your pet's life.