Surgery/Anesthesia

Our Surgery Services for Pets in North Pole, AK

North Pole Veterinary Hospital is equipped with a sterile surgical suite and we have a licensed technician monitoring all surgeries. We use current anesthetics and will choose the right anesthetic protocol for your pet. During surgeries, we monitor your pet’s blood pressure, heart rate and rhythm, respirations, oxygen saturation of the blood and capnography.

We are very proactive in pain management. We feel that pets recover more rapidly and more comfortably with proper pain control. We use pre and post operative pain control and send home oral pain packs for most routine surgeries. For more extensive surgeries we provide constant rate IV infusions for constant pain control. Please ask us if you have any questions about your pet’s anesthetic or pain control protocol.

Day Of Surgery
The following information is a more in-depth look at our surgical procedures and the care we provide during your pet’s day with us. We do everything we can to make surgery as safe and comfortable as possible for our patients.

The morning of surgery please allow yourself 15 minutes for when you drop off your pet. During this time the front office staff or technician will go over some paperwork with you, give you an estimate and answer any questions that you may have. Each patient is given a full exam by the doctor to be sure there are no obvious clinical abnormalities that would postpone the procedure. A pre-anesthetic blood screen is recommended before the surgical procedure to make sure there are no liver, kidney or blood disorders.

The patient is given a pre-medication to lessen their anxieties and provide pain control. The patient is then given an IV anesthetic so that we are able to intubate them (place a breathing tube down the trachea) and place the patient on gas anesthetic for the procedure. Gas anesthetic is what is used for humans and we use isoflurane which allows us to modify the level of anesthesia quickly if needed.

The patient is then prepped for surgery (the area shaved and scrubbed) and then moved to the surgery suite. Once in surgery their temperature is maintained with warm water blankets and the patient is placed on a heart rate, respiratory rate, ECG, blood pressure and capnography (measures how well your lungs are exchanging oxygen).

Once the procedure is completed the patient is taken to recovery where their temperature is taken and they are kept warm. Most post surgical patients receive an additional injectable pain medication to ensure they are resting comfortably and they are sent home with oral pain medications.

Surgical patients are typically ready to go home after 4:00 pm the day of surgery. However, there are specific procedures that do require overnight post surgical care. If this is the case we do have in-house overnight emergency accommodations available Monday through Thursday. For procedures requiring overnight monitoring Friday or Saturday, we will refer you to the After Hours Veterinary Emergency Clinic in Fairbanks. Upon discharge, the technician or doctor will review the medications to go home and review incision and post op care.

Pet Surgery Services Near Your

To consult with a veterinarian about our pet surgery services, contact us today at (907) 488-2335 or Request an Appointment online.