Make sure the vet takes special care for your pet before and during surgery especially if your fur friend is a senior pet and that means they do not get any pre-shot! They should only give gas and nothing else to put them to sleep for surgery. Many will refuse this request because they want the animal down fast so they can work in the room before getting started on the surgery.

Pre-shots are made up of a cocktail of hard drugs to put them to sleep fast so the vets and vet techs can get things ready in the surgery room among other things while you friend lays on a cold table waiting for their attention. Ask them to place a warm blanket on your friend! My vet does this for my cats.

Of course this means the vet has to take a bit more time for surgery but if this little extra care means your friend will come through surgery faster and have less chance of dying from a simple procedure like this then they should take that extra time; my vets did this for all my cats as they reached older ages. Moreover, now a days with the many risks of any kind of surgery, all ages should be cared for in this manner.

Your cat or dog will have less stress on their kidneys, liver and wake up faster; inside of 10 minutes your friend is awake and ready to go home.

Also, be VERY sure the vet does the cleaning and preparing and not a tech. I have had several customers lose her cats and dogs to a simple teeth cleaning that was performed by a vet tech and I know vet techs can make mistakes in the operating room. Ask questions! How long has the vet tech done cleaning and what is their success rate? Remember, vet techs are learning in the clinics even after they have been schooled to be a vet tech.

Also, ask the vet to give some sub Q fluids after surgery to flush the kidneys of any harmful waste from the gas. And again, please make sure the vet does this not the vet tech unless that vet tech has had many years of experience and they are not in a rush. You don’t want them in a hurry now do you?

If they have to give antibiotics ask them for clavomox; not the Baytril or flygle because they are very hard on their kidneys and tummy and some cats have been known to go blind from the Baytril if given too much. Always ask what antibiotic they want to use before surgery and do your research on any kind of medication for their side effects. If your friend is an especially older pet then all these precautions should be naturally taken for them.

Take a strong lead in your fur friends’ health care. Don’t be blindly accommodating to what a vet wants to give and do to your friend! We live in a day and age where a veterinarians client like ourselves are thought of more as an accounts receivable; not much thought is given to how to get your fur friend through a procedure fast and safely. It’s all about what drugs to sue for the kickbacks and how much they will get paid for their help now.

There are still many GOOD vet and vet techs out there so just be careful and always, always ask questions. I find if the vet keeps your pet with you in the room while taking the blood and checking on them you have a fairly good chance they are a vet that cares how you and your pet feels. I don’t accept any vet to take my cats to another room unless it’s an x-ray or ultrasound and I was actually allowed in for ultrasounds with my cats when they needed one. My cats felt safer with me there.

Felice F Arata