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Surgical Options

Pre-anaesthetic

Blood Testing

& Fluid Therapy

Due to our strong commitment to providing the best medicine that we can for your pet, we strongly believe that regular blood testing is important in helping your pet to achieve a long and happy life. Testing your pet's blood prior to anaesthesic helps us check that they don't have any underlying conditions which would make the surgery unsafe, while additional fluid therapy helps keep your pet hydrated and safer throughout their procedure. We offer 3 increasingly comprehensive levels of blood testing: bronze, silver and gold.

Bronze

This service involves a complete blood count. Particularly, we check:

  • Red blood cell count - these cells carry oxygen to tissues

  • White blood cell count - these cells are the body's primary defense against infection

  • Platelets - these are crucial in the dotting process especially during and after surgery


Identifying abnormalities helps detect: anaemia, inflammation, acute or chronic
infection, bleeding disorders, dehydration

Silver

This level of testing includes all of the Bronze level tests plus a 6-panel blood test. This means that we assess:

  • Red blood cell count

  • White blood cell count

  • Platelets (clotting cells)

  • 2 markers of kidney function

  • 2 markers of liver function

  • Blood glucose - abnormalities could indicate: diabetes, insulin tumour (pancreas)

  • Total protein - abnormalities can indicate: dehydration, protein loss, inflammation

Gold

This is our most comprehensive level of blood testing and it is recommended for pets of all ages pre-anaesthetia. It involves testing:

  • 3 markers of kidney function

  • 3 markers of liver function

  • Blood glucose - abnormalities could indicate diabetes or pancreatic tumours

  • Total protein — abnormalities can indicate: dehydration, protein loss, inflammation

  • Albumin — abnormalities can indicate: intestinal malabsorption or malnutrition, chronic liver disease, kidney disease, blood loss

  • Globulins — abnormalities can indicate tissue injury and inflammation

  • Amylase, lipase — abnormalities can indicate inflammation of the pancreas

  • Cholesterol — abnormalities can indicate: thyroid disease, liver disease, acute diabetes or pancreatitis

  • Calcium — abnormalities can indicate cancer, chronic kidney disease, hyperpa rathyroidism

  • Electrolytes — abnormalities can indicate endocrine diseases, kidney disease and dehydration (crucial in choosing the right IV fluids for your pet's surgery)

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All-day fluid therapy

Choosing additional fluid therapy for your pet can be an important part of their pre-surgery and recovery time. Fluid therapy is vital for ensuring your pet's blood pressure is kept at a suitable level during and after the procedure- this means blood supply isn't drawn away from vital organs like the brain! After fasting for a procedure, our pets can be dehydrated post-operatively so the additional fluids help is restoring their hydration levels. It also helps your pet flush out the anaesthetic drugs from their system quicker, meaning they go home brighter and happier. 

Fear not though, if you do not choose the additional fluids, your pet is placed on surgical fluids for the duration of the procedure only.

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