Veterinary Medical Practices: Surgical Procedures

Preparation of Surgical Instruments

1.    All instruments and other equipment must be sterilized prior to surgical use.

2.    Following a surgical procedure, each instrument is scrubbed clean, rinsed and soaked in instrument lubricant for a minimum of 30 seconds.

3.    The lubricant helps prevent rust and corrosion of the instruments.

4.    The packs are then placed in an autoclave for steamed sterilization.

Pre-Surgical Care

1.    The first thing we do for pre-surgical care would be to give the animal premedications before we start the process.

2.    We place an appropriately sized IV catheter and we tape it in securely.

3.    To verify proper placement of the trachea tube we check first a cough reflex, then we feel air passing through the tube when the animal breathes and lastly we can visualize the reservoir bag.

4.    Then we restrain the animal using tie downs according to the procedure being performed.

5.    Finally, we do our surgical scrub, to do that you wear gloves and scrub the shaved area in a circular motion starting from the incision and working your way out towards the edge of the shaved area.

6.    Any time we do an abdominal surgery, we have our technicians palpate the urinary bladder to make sure that it’s not large enough that it needs expressing.

Post-Surgical Care

1.    The first thing that we do is, once a surgical procedure is complete, we turn off any gassing anesthetic that you are using.

2.    Finally we will disconnect the oxygen after this finite amount of time and completely turn off the anesthetic machine.

3.    Then, we will begin to stimulate our patient until they’re able to completely swallow.

4.    The patient is then transferred to a recovery cage.

5.    If they are hypothermic, so low temperature, you can add blankets and heating pads.

6.    The IV catheter should not be removed prior to this time in the event that emergency drugs should be administered by IV.

Surgical Skills Demonstration

1.    Common surgical procedures in veterinary clinics include spays, neuters and castrations.

2.    Castration is the male specific term for the removal of reproductive organs for all species and is most commonly used in large animal clinics.

3.    Spay refers to the removal of a females animal’s reproductive organs.

4.    What we do is a ventral midline approach, so the animal will be in dorsal recumbency or laying in its back.

5.    I close the animal by abdominal wall closure, then subcutaneous tissue closure and then I close the skin.

6.    Next we are going to talk about a canine neuter, this is also referred to as a orchiectomy or castration and it includes the removal of both testicles.

7.    First, instead of shaving the pre-scrotal area, hair is usually plucked from the surgical site, which in this case is going to be on the scrotum.

8.    Another method of castration is the band method.