If the surgery is performed correctly, your cat shouldn't be in severe pain. We provide multimodal pain control to manage discomfort post-surgery. They are given pre-surgery medications, medications during surgery, post-op pain medications, and medications to go home. In certain cases, we can use laser therapy to help alleviate pain as well.

We communicate a lot with our clients through text messages and phone calls. We generally don't use email as it's not a fast enough mode of communication.

Yes, ideally, all our patients are intubated for surgery. Intubation means that we place a breathing tube down their trachea and inflate a cuff to make sure that we protect their airway and if they do regurgitate or vomit, nothing gets down into their lungs. We're protecting those lungs. If something does happen,we want to ensure we have control of the pet’s airway. If there is an intubation tube and we need to administer CPR, we know we are getting oxygen directly into the lungs.

Yes, your cat will be under anesthesia during the surgery. Unfortunately, we can't use local anesthetics on pets as we can't ask them to hold still.

You should ask about the length and date of the surgery, the drop-off time, how to decide the pick-up time, and the cost. It's also important to ask for a treatment plan to avoid surprises later on. If there's anything additional that you want done while your cat is under anesthesia, please make sure to communicate that to the technician checking you in in the morning. Keep your phone with you. You'll receive updates about when the patient has been given their pre-meds, when they're in prep, when they're moving into surgery, and when they're in recovery. If anything unexpected happens during the procedure, we need to be able to contact you quickly.

You can get them from your veterinarian clinic's office. We can also write you a prescription for an outside pharmacy, but once that prescription has left our building, we have no involvement. We also have our own online pharmacy store where we can guarantee that things are stored appropriately. It's always best to go through your veterinarian and it's also good to support local businesses.

The best way is always with food, if labeled to be given with food. You can also use a pill wrap, marshmallows, American cheese, peanut butter, cream cheese, a piece of bread or even canned food.

Anti-inflammatories, pain blockers, certain narcotics and some holistic alternatives can be prescribed depending on the injury.

Doses are calculated by weight for your dog and should be discussed with a veterinarian. One medication that can be shared is Benadryl. It's a milligram per pound every eight to 12 hours for bee stings or wasp stings. It will not help with snake bites though.

Several medications commonly used in dogs are also applicable for humans. Gabapentin and trazodone are two examples. Most antibiotics used in veterinary medicine for dogs are also suitable for human use and vice versa. However, the dosing differs significantly between the two. In veterinary medicine, dosing for dogs is primarily based on weight. In human medicine, the approach is less weight-focused and more generalized, often determined by age and other factors rather than weight alone.

As a veterinarian, it's important to emphasize that I cannot provide specific dosing instructions over a video. Medication dosing is a critical discussion that should occur in an exam room, tailored to the individual needs of each pet. This ensures that the prescribed dosage is appropriate and safe for your specific pet.