Spays and neuters are common procedures done in veterinary medicine, but they are still major surgeries that should not be taken lightly.  During these tough economic times, many people look at low cost spay and neuter programs as alternatives for their pets, or put off the surgeries all together until a later date.  We want to let you know about our protocols for spays and neuters here at CCPH and how we take care of your pets during their stay at our hospital.  Because we know all too well the hardships of the economy right now, we are also lowering our costs for routine spays and neuters.  We want to assure you that this in no way will lower the quality of our surgeries, which we feel is vital to the health of your pets.  We are hoping this will allow you to provide high quality medical care for your pets. 
Bloodwork
Before your pet undergoes a surgery at CCPH, bloodwork is performed to evaluate him or her for infection, anemia, and to check that the vital organs are working properly.  This is a key step left out in many low cost surgery places.  We can often catch minor problems prior to surgery that, if left untreated (such as an infection), could cause serious problems for your pet following surgery.  Because these are elective procedures, we can always reschedule them if we need to treat an underlying issue  first.

Multimodal anesthesia
We believe in a well balanced, individualized anesthesia protocol.  This means that the medications chosen for surgery (pain control, sedatives, and gas anesthesia) are chosen based on the needs of your pet.  A young, healthy puppy would need a different anesthetic regimen, perhaps, than a senior cat with kidney disease.  In this manner, we ensure that the medications chosen are safe and effective for your pet. 

Fluid Therapy
Fluid support is critical for safe anesthesia.  During anesthesia, any animal (or person) will have a drop in blood pressure and decreased overall blood circulation.  At CCPH, we place an intravenous catheter in each patient undergoing surgery and run IV fluids during the procedure, not only to maintain blood pressure, but also to have a direct line to give additional medication, if necessary. 

Anesthesia Monitoring
One of our technicians is present during the surgery to monitor anesthesia.  Just like a human anesthesiologist, the technician will make sure that the fluids are running, necessary medication is being given, and that your pet is stable under anesthesia.  We monitor heart rate with an ECG, respiratory rate, blood oxygen levels, blood pressure, end-tidal CO2 (a measure of how well your pet is breathing on their own) and temperature the entire time your pet is in surgery.

Post-operative Medications
All of our pets that come to CCPH for spays or neuters will leave the hospital with a few days of pain medication.  Controlling pain is key to decreasing the incidence of secondary infections from licking at the incision site, and it makes your pet feel much better.  Some pets need antibiotics or other additional medication depending on the type and extensiveness of their surgery.  When getting quotes from different places, be sure to ask them if pain medications or antibiotics are included in their quote.  Many places do not include these vital medications in their cost quotes, as we do.

So with CCPH, your pet will get the following with a routine spay or neuter:  pre-anesthetic bloodwork, multimodal, personalized anesthesia, fluid therapy, thorough anesthesia monitoring, and pain medications and antibiotics (if necessary) to go home with.  You can call anytime to get an estimate for a spay or neuter for your pet.  I encourage you to speak with one of our technicians or doctors if you have any questions or hesitations about having surgery done on your pet.