Surgery
Surgical care, with the vitals watched the whole way through.
Spay and neuter timed to your pet's size, mass removal, wound and eyelid repair. Pre-anaesthetic testing before, pain control the whole way through, and a referral out for anything past our own bench.
Chapter 01
Before anaesthesia
Every surgery here starts before your pet is ever sedated. Pre-anaesthetic testing and a full physical exam happen first, so we go into the procedure knowing what we're working with rather than assuming a young, otherwise healthy-looking pet is automatically a low-risk one.
Once anaesthesia begins, vital signs are monitored throughout the procedure, not just at the start and end of it. That monitoring is what lets us catch a problem while it's still small, in the minutes it matters.
A black standard poodle standing calmly in the clinic hallway at Best Friends Veterinary Care
General or local, and which your pet gets
General anaesthesia is a sequence, not a single step: a sedative first, then induction through an IV line, then a breathing tube placed, then gas anaesthetic delivered with oxygen for the length of the procedure. That's what most surgeries here require, and it's what lets your pet feel nothing and remember nothing.
Smaller procedures don't always need that full sequence. A biopsy, removing a torn toenail, minor wound repair, or an eye exam can be done under local anaesthesia, sometimes as simple as a topical drop, which keeps recovery shorter for the procedures that don't call for more.
Chapter 03
Spay and neuter timing, by size
Spaying is recommended at 6 months for small breeds and cats, and 4 to 5 months for medium and large breed dogs. We don't recommend spaying a dog while she's in heat, though cats can be spayed safely during heat if that's when the appointment falls. The procedure itself, an ovariohysterectomy, removes the ovaries and uterus under general anaesthesia, and it prevents pyometra, reproductive tract disease, mammary tumors and other cancers down the line.
Neutering is recommended at 6 months for small and medium breeds, and 5 to 6 months for large breeds. Beyond preventing a litter, it lowers the risk of prostate and testicular cancer and of sexually transmitted disease, and it tends to reduce roaming, fighting, humping and spraying, the behaviors that come with an unneutered male more than any breed trait does.
Soft tissue, and the lump
Mass or lump removal is the most common soft tissue surgery we do, and the majority of what we remove comes back benign on pathology. That's worth saying plainly, because a lump that shows up on your pet is often the reason for the visit in the first place, and most of the time it isn't the worst-case answer.
Beyond that, we do wound repair, eyelid surgery, cherry eye repair in dogs, and removal of excess gingival tissue. All of it is soft tissue work that stays within what we handle on our own bench.
Pain control before, during and after, and what goes home with you
Pain medication is given before, during and after surgery, not just as an afterthought once your pet is awake. That's the standard for every procedure, not something reserved for the larger ones.
Take-home medication follows most procedures, so pain control continues once your pet is back with you and settling in at home. Therapeutic laser is also applied as standard to every surgical site, part of how the procedure ends here rather than something offered separately.
What we refer to a board certified surgeon
Dr. Vercande performs routine and several advanced soft tissue procedures herself. Orthopedic and other complex operations go to a board-certified veterinary surgeon, because that's a level of specialty best handled by someone who does that surgery and nothing else.
When a referral is the right call, we send to Iowa State University's Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center, Frey Pet Hospital, or Blue Pearl Pet Hospital, depending on what your pet needs. You're never left to find a specialist on your own.
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