You want to know what's safe for them and what's not safe. Do they have any restrictions? If they've had an incision or surgery, how do you pick them up if you need to? You need to consider what to feed the dog, whether they're going to need help going up and down steps, and activity level—you want to keep them on a leash almost always.

That would depend on the type of surgery done. Most patients here at the Animal Hospital of Statesville go home the same day because we are not open 24 hours, and we are not here overnight. So most of the time we want them to go back home in the afternoon. So we'll monitor them after surgery for a few hours and then send them home later in the afternoon.

Yes, we generally require fasting for surgery. Usually, that's after midnight. We recommend that you don't feed them if they're having surgery the next morning. Water's fine.

At home, you can go ahead and prepare a place where they're going to recover. You can go ahead and get that ready. You can also work on the type of food that they may need to eat after surgery if it's special food. So you want to get all of that stuff done ahead of time so that when you bring your pet home, you're able to spend time and monitor your pet.

When you should bring your dog in for grooming depends on the breed. So if you want your dog's hair trimmed, of course, we need them to see the groomer who can do a full-body clip or even just a more thorough brushing for them. And again, some dogs never need to go to the groomer. You can do it yourself, or we can help you with the bathing, but if they need their hair trimmed, then they need to go to the groomer.