Brookpark Veterinary Hospital, Dunmanway, Co. Cork. A Clinic for pets, farm animals and horses.

What time do I have to be there to admit my pet for surgery?
The normal time is 8:15am.  This is because David and Denis go on to do calls after the in house procedures have been done.  We can, however, work around this if you are unable to be at the surgery for this time.  For example, you can alternatively drop your pet off by 5:30pm the night before at no extra cost, and we will fast them over night for you.

What time will my pet be able to go home?
Usually, surgical patients are discharged at around 3pm, depending on the time they had their procedure.  Owners are contacted in the morning to let them know how the procedure went, and they are given an appointment for discharge at that time.

What does a General Anaesthetic Involve?
In most cases, we use Vetuflurane to maintain anaesthesia.  This is a form of gaseous anaesthesia, and is one of the safest around.  In order to use this, we have to give the animal an injection into their vein the make them sleepy enough to be able to put a tube into their trachea, the opening to the lungs.  The animal is then connected to the aneasthetic machine via this tube.  The anaesthetic is carefully controlled by a mixture of oxygen and the isoflurane gas.  It means that they wake up smoothly and and quickly.  However, all anaesthetics do carry a risk, and this is re-itterated to you at the time of admission.

What does a cat or bitch spay involve?
A spay involves complete removal of the female's reproductive organs.  This is known as an Ovariohysterectomy.  For bitches, an incision will be made along the midline, the line along the centre of the abdomen.  

For cats there will be an incision on the left side, known as the flank.  An ovariohysterectomy is also performed.

In both instances, she will have stitches under the skin (subcutaneous sutures) and skin sutures.  The internal ones are a mixture of permanent and dissolvable, where as the skin ones will have to be removed 10 days after the surgery has been done.