Surgical Care Guide

• Do not feed your pet after midnight. The purpose of this is to prevent vomiting or diarrhea during and after surgery.
• Provide water only for your pet to keep them hydrated for surgery.
• To minimize stress prior to surgery consider keeping your pet in a calm and quiet room.
• When attempting to trap feral cats, only put a small amount of food in the trap the night before surgery with a small bowl of water. You only need a small amount of food (before midnight) for them to smell and approach the trap. Once you have them secured in the trap, cover them with a light sheet or towel to keep them calm and quiet.

Surgery check-in time is on your scheduled day (Monday – Thursday) between 7:30am and 8:30am.

You will need to complete the appropriate authorization forms before we can begin. You can download the forms here.

Check-out time is the same day of surgery between 3:00pm and 5:00pm.

We will provide you with printed after-care instructions so that you are comfortable caring for your pet after surgery. Please read and carefully follow these instructions:

• You may give a small amount of water after picking up your pet or animal from surgery; if there is no vomiting after 30-45 minutes of drinking the water, you may give a small amount of food to your pet or animal. Resume normal feeding the following day.
• PREVENT LICKING OF THE SURGICAL AREA! It is very important to prevent licking at the incision site.
• If your pet was sent home with a cone, please keep it on for the 7-10 days after surgery to prevent licking.
• Keep an eye on the incision site by checking it once or twice a day for swelling, discharge or redness around the surgical area.
• There are no sutures to be removed; all sutures are buried under the incision. The skin is also closed with surgical glue. A small bump is normal at the incision site.
• It is very important to keep your pet or animal confined and quiet for 3 days to prevent incision from opening up and swelling of surgical area. Reduced activity is recommended for 7-10 days.
• Do not apply a topical medication to incision site. This may promote licking.
• NO BATHS FOR 10 DAYS.
• DO NOT GIVE ASPIRIN, TYLENOL OR IBUPROFEN to dogs or cats. They can be deadly. No other medication should be given to your pet unless instructed by the Vet on duty. Pain medication has already been administered to your pet or animal.
• If your dog is female and the vet has determined that the dog is in heat, you must keep her separated from male dogs for 10 to 14 days following surgery to prevent attempted or active mating which can adversely interfere with healing and possible injury to the female dog.
• For male cats, we recommend using shredded newspaper or paper based litter for 48 hours.

Try to keep feral cats in trap for at least 24 hours since it takes time for sedation to be metabolized by their system. If the cat will not settle, release early to prevent the cat from injury. Put trap in bathtub or raise trap to prevent cat from sitting in their own excreta. You may feed a small amount of food and water the evening of the surgery being cautious not to accidentally release cat. Keeping female cats for 3 days is encouraged, if possible, but use your own discretion.