Surgical

Why choose Fletcher Veterinary Practice?

Here at Fletcher Vets, we offer one of the most comprehensive surgical protocols, for the safety and wellbeing of your pet. We strive to ensure your pet's procedure is as comfortable and stress-free as possible. 

What we monitor:

General anaesthetics can often pose a risk to an animal's body, therefore it is extremely important to continuously monitor their vital organ's health during the procedure. Our trained veterinary nurses and extensive monitoring equipment tracks their:

• Heart rate
• Respiratory rate
• Temperature
• Amount of oxygen in their blood
• Amount of Carbon dioxide they are exhaling
• Their mucous membrane colour and recovery speed (indicative of circulation and body's oxygen)
• Blood pressure 
• Their level of anaesthetic depth

Desexing Procedures

Desexing is a common procedure performed in small animal veterinary practices. In males, the surgery is commonly referred to as castration and in females as spaying. In our professional opinion, the benefits of desexing are significant:

• Prevents unwanted litters
• Prevents cancers and diseases of the reproductive tract (Prostate and testicular cancer and diseases  in males, Ovarian, uterine and mammary cancer and diseases in females)
• Reduce behavioural problems
• Reduce roaming and escaping behaviours, especially in males during breeding season
• Reduce certain types of aggression towards humans and other animals
• Reduction of council registration fees

Frequently asked questions:

How much does it cost to desex your pet?

Desexing prices vary according to species, gender, age, size of your pet, and whether or not they are in season, pregnant, or have normal reproductive morphology. With that in mind, desexings can range from $60 up to $500. In order to provide you with an exact quote, we recommend contacting us directly so that we can ask a few questions pertaining to your pet. 

We also offer additional services at the time of desexing, such as pre-anaesthetic blood testing, to gather more information about your pet, and to ensure they are fit for an anaesthetic. This is an optional extra, and adds to the overall cost of the procedure.

We work hand-in-hand with Hunter Animal Watch to provide pension and concession card holders with a discount on the cost of desexing. Please contact us directly to enquire about this.

What can I do/expect before my pet’s surgical appointment?

• Make a booking for your animal with our staff on 49556670 for surgery between Monday to Friday
• If your pet is a dog, bathing them at least a day before surgery is recommended as they won’t be allowed to get wet 10-14 days afterwards.
• Your cat and dog can have dinner the night before surgery but nothing to eat after 8pm. So no breakfast in the morning. Water however is allowed overnight, but take it away in the morning.
• You and your pet will be expected between 8:30 and 9:30am for a preoperative check with one of our vets and administration paperwork with our nurses.

What can I expect after my pet’s surgery:

• Ensure your pet is kept as calm and quiet as possible for the next 10-14 days while the surgical wound is healing.
• Feed them half the normal amount at night and if they are coping well with eating and proceed with their full meal. Some animals feel a bit nauseous after anaesthetic and may vomit that night. If that happens, leave dinner for the night and try small amount of their normal food again in the morning.
• Check all post-operative medications are administered as per instructed by our veterinarians.
• Check your pet’s wound daily for any weeping, discharge or redness. Contact us immediately if these symptoms appear. Do not wait to see if they will spontaneously resolve.
• Make sure your pet does not lick their incision as it can cause wound breakdown and surgical site infections. It may cost extra to you to get it fixed if that happens.  If they are licking their surgical site, you need to get an Elizabeth collar or a wound bitterant spray from us immediately.
• Most of our surgeries will have disolving stitches under the skin and will not require suture removal. If we have put skin sutures in, you will need to come back for stitch removal 10-14 days after the surgery.
• Please give us a call if anything regarding your pet concerns you after surgery, we will try our best to help.

Soft Tissue Procedures

Our veterinarians’ high level of expertise and our practice’s fully equipped surgical suite allows us to perform the vast majority of soft tissue surgical procedures that your pet may require. Soft tissue surgery encompasses any surgery that is not related to bones. It includes procedures such as desexing, exploratory laparotomies, caesareans, lump removals, biopsies, wound stitch-ups, removal of intestinal foreign bodies etc.

A very common soft tissue surgery is the removal of lumps. Some lumps may require a biopsy prior to removal to help understand whether they are cancerous or not. This information assists us in planning the surgery accordingly to give your pet the best possible outcome. Once they have been removed we recommend sending them to our external laboratory for analysis.

Although most lumps are benign (not harmful), a minority are more serious (malignant). In the case of malignant (cancerous) tumours, early removal and an accurate diagnosis is extremely important to maximise the chances of a good outcome.

Dental Procedures

Just like humans, our pets are vulnerable to gum disease and problems with their teeth. Alarmingly, 80% of dogs and 70% of cats suffer from some form of dental disease by the age of three. Some dental disease can be maintained or eradicated with homecare products and tailored regime. Other times, when dental disease becomes too prominent, it is important to have a thorough clean and scale to remove the build up of tartar, plaque and possibly have problem teeth removed.

We have state-of-the-art dental equipment here at our clinic, complete with dental scaler, polisher and micro-drill. We also have the ability to take radiographs of your pet’s tooth roots if need be. All procedures are performed while your pet is under anaesthetic, to ensure the most thorough and detailed exam possible. Please let us know if you are concerned about your pet’s teeth, and we can recommend the best treatment plan suited to you and them.

Orthopaedic Procedures

Orthopaedic surgery encompasses any surgery that is related to bones or joints. It includes procedures such as fracture repairs, ligament repairs and spinal surgery to name a few.

Our veterinarians’ high level of expertise and our practice’s fully equipped surgical suite allows us to perform certain orthopaedic surgical procedures that your pet may require. These may include:

• Cranial cruciate ligament repair
• Fracture (broken bone) repair
• Amputations for severe injuries or bone cancer cases

Complicated orthopaedic cases, such as spinal surgery, will need to be referred to a specialist orthopaedic surgeon. Our veterinarians will assess each case individually and provide the best advice for you and your pet.