Examination

Preanesthesia

Anesthesia

Maintenance and monitoring

Surgery

Recovery

Home care

Possible complications

Canine neutering operation

Any operation involving general anesthesia follows the same pattern:  preanesthetic evaluation, anesthesia, surgery, and post surgical care.

examination

Naturally, we need to know if there are any health problems that might affect the surgery.  We perform a brief  physical examination, explain the operation, and answer any questions you might have.  If your dog is more than two or three years old, we may recommend a pre anesthetic lab panel.

preanesthesia

Before the operation, we administer a preanesathetic tranquilizer and sedative. The timing and dosage depend on how calm or upset your dog may be.  We also give a pain control injection at about the same time .  We want our patient starting into surgery relaxed and contented, but not heavily depressed.  The timing and dosage of these drugs should ensure that the patient will require a minimal amount of general anesthetic and be relaxed and comfortable during recovery.

anesthesia

We induce anesthesia with intravenous injection of a drug combination intended to create unconsciousness, muscle relaxation, and facilitate a smooth relaxed recovery.  After our patient is asleep, we put a breathing tube into the windpipe and switch over to isoflurane, an inhaled anesthetic. For our smallest patients, we use a breathing apparatus made for premature infants.

maintenance and monitoring

Conscientious veterinarians have used surgical monitoring devices for many years.   Traditional units monitor pulse or respiration, sometimes both.  With gas anesthesia this is not enough, because carbon dioxide levels can rise to life-threatening levels with little or no warning.  Today, progressive practices use a pulse oximeter, which  continuously  monitors the blood oxygen level.  The pulse oximeter sounds an alarm if there is even a small change from normal levels, allowing the veterinarian to respond before serious problems develop

surgery

We carefully clip and scrub, then move into the surgery room.  The surgeon makes a small incision, and after tying off the associated blood vessels, removes the testicles. The operation is usually called neutering.   The medical name for the procedure is orchidectomy or orchiectomy.  At our clinic the incision is closed with sutures underneath the skin that are absorbed by the body and do not need to be removed.

recovery

After surgery, we will check your dog's ears, clean them if needed, and trim his toenails.  There is no charge for this.  By the time we've finished the nail trim, he will already be starting to wake up.  Because we gave pain control drugs when we started, he will be comfortable, and because of the tranquilizer, unworried.   An hour or two later, he  may be getting a little uncomfortable and will receive another pain control injection.

home care

By the time your dog leaves the hospital, he will probably have already had some water and a light meal and  be feeling ok.. (Since we have started giving pain control injections routinely, dogs often bounce out the door as if nothing had happened.)  When you get home, offer only small amounts of food and water at first - give your dog some time to settle down. After that, he can do whatever he feels like doing.  Do not allow other pets or children to pester him if he doesn't feel like playing.  Do not bathe your dog or allow swimming for the first ten days after surgery. 

possible complications

Although general anesthesia and surgery always involve a certain amount of risk, it is extremely unlikely that your dog will have any serious trouble during the operation. Afterwards, infections are  possible but rare.  Much more frequent are problems from licking at the suture line.  Even though we can eliminate most incision chewing by careful trimming of the hair (to reduce clipper irritation), gentle scrubbing and thorough rinsing of the skin (to reduce soap irritation) and using buried sutures (so there is nothing to lick at) some dogs are going to lick the incision. If we see persistent licking before your dog goes home, we will put on a lampshade type collar to keep him from reaching the incision. A little licking is normal, but if your dog seems to be really after those stitches, bring him in:  we will check his incision and if necessary, fit him with a protective collar.