At some point in your pet’s life it is likely that they will require a surgical procedure. This can be a very worrying time for owners, we feel that this is an area that we excel in. You can be confident that we will ensure the safest outcome with excellent surgical results.

Dr Kay has had extensive surgical training both in Australia and overseas. The staff have all been trained to assist with the anaesthetics and to assist her during surgery.

We have a space lab monitoring system that is the same as humans have to monitor them. Our anaesthetic machine monitors oxygen, carbon dioxide output, heart, breathing and blood pressure. All patients are given pre-anaesthetic blood test before surgery to allow us to assess their blood clotting and internal health before we put them under. When they are anesthetised, we have specialised heating equipment (such as bear huggers) to ensure your pet’s temperature remains optimal throughout and after surgery. If we feel it necessary, we will put your pet on IV Fluids for their safety during anaesthetics. At recovery your pet has a dedicated nurse by their side for all of the recovery.

We have a purpose built operating theatre for major surgery, this enables us to work smoothly at all times. We use the best instruments and top quality suture material. All of our instruments are autoclaved and no instrument is ever reused without being sterilised in an autoclave.

Every patient is given pain relief, we don’t believe that any pet should be in pain. When your pet is in hospital after surgery we treat your pet as we would our own.

Emergency Surgery

We always try to accommodate every emergency, even if they are not always our patient. If you call our number: 02 9541 1455 and leave a message, if you don’t hear back from us in 10 minutes then head to one of the emergency Vets that we have put on the answer machine.

Types of surgery we do:

Desexing

What desexing refers to in female patients is the removal of the ovaries and uterus, and in males the removal of the testicles. These procedures are also sometimes called speying in female sand castration in males. This is day surgery; you drop them off to us between 8am and 10am, and pick them up after 3:00pm. When we get them into hospital we give them a health check and take some blood for testing. If they seem anxious we will give them a pre-med earlier, if not they will have the pre-med just before surgery. This makes them relaxed and also has pain relief on board so that it will be working well before surgery ends. Dr Kay is brilliant with desexing and uses keyhole surgery for a quicker recovery and the sutures are under the skin, done with secret sewing so that you don’t have to come back to have sutures removed and there is nothing for your pet to pull out or lick at.

Lump Removals

All lumps should be checked by your vet. If there are problem lumps, then they are best removed. We have the options to use lasers for cutting and removing lumps, this is particularly useful in some cancers. We can also remove lumps by cutting them out, and we always offer you the choice of sending the lump away for histopathology. We use dissolving sutures where possible.

Caesarean Sections

We do both elective and emergency caesareans and have specialised equipment to aid in resuscitating to get healthy puppies. We have a humidity crib that allows us to provide newborns with heat, humidity and oxygen if needed. We have equipment to revive puppies if needed and we have an outstanding live puppy survival rate, running at around 99%. We make sure that puppies have a feed of mum before they go home, or if that’s not possible, we bottle feed them. All mothers go home with antibiotics and pain relief. Our staff are available to help you to be as successful as you can in raising your new family.

Dental Surgery

We are able to perform regular dental health checks including polish, scale, fluoride treat and extractions with a minimum of fuss. We also perform surgical extractions, root canal therapy and filling. All pets need to be anaesthetised for dental treatments. Please note we do perform dental surgeries on rabbits as well as dogs and cats.

Eye surgery

Dr Kay is passionate about eye health and has post graduate training in ophthalmology. Dr Kay is confident with all types of eye surgery, some of the more common surgeries include; third eyelid flaps, entropion, ectropion, extra eyelash removal, corneal ulcer treatment and cherry eye repair.

Ear surgery

We routinely perform ear surgery including aural haematomas, ear canal surgery, foreign body removal and tumour removal.

Anal Gland surgery

We can operate and treat abscessed anal glands, or for those persistent problems, we can remove the glands very safely without causing incontinence problems. This can be a very effective way to keep your pet comfortable and anal gland problem free.

Broken bones: we have a number of different procedures depending on the severity of the break, we can use plates and screws, or pins to place the bones back together.

Cruciate ligament surgery: We have several different methods available depending on the pet. We perform cruciate ligament surgery regularly and we have a great success rate; with our patients returning to running in 8 -10 weeks with minimal restrictions on exercise. We always perform Cruciate surgery in conjunction with deep tissue laser and a course of rehabilitation.

Patella Surgery: We offer different types of Patella surgeries, once again to suit the needs of the individual patient. We will also get them to comeback for rehab after a few weeks at home resting.

Wound repairs
We treat all sorts of injuries from cuts to abscesses, to major repairs after dog fights or car accidents.

Gastropexy
This is surgery performed on dogs at risk of bloat where the stomach is sutured to the wall inside the ribs to stop it from twisting.

Foreign Body Removal
For those pets who eat things that they shouldn’t. Not everything will pass through. Some of the common foreign bodies that we have removed include corn cobs, coco palm nuts, underpants, socks, feminine hygiene products, lego, parts of dog toys and squeakers.

Cryosurgery
Cryosurgery is liquid nitrogen just like your doctor uses to freeze off skin cancers and skin tags. We can use this to treat skin cancers and skin tags for your pets as well. We use this a lot for those nasty cancers on cat’s noses and ears.

Breathing related surgery
We can help your pet have a better quality of life by performing surgery that will give them better air flow. We can shorten elongated soft palates, widen nostrils (stenotic noses) and we can operate on everted laryngeal saccules to give your pet more space in the throat so that they have better quality air flow, so more oxygen. We have a lot of experience in these surgeries and use very safe anaesthetic techniques for a smooth recovery for these pets.

Surgical inseminations

We perform surgical inseminations using chilled or frozen semen. This is a day surgery and very non-invasive. Bitches recover very quickly after surgery. We also have the option of transcervical insemination using an endoscope.