Congratulations on making the excellent decision to desex your pet. This is a great way to reduce unwanted pregnancies, stop roaming and prevent hormone-related tumours in the future. Desexing a pet requires a full general anaesthetic but with our experienced staff, excellent standards of care and modern monitoring equipment the risk of death or serious illness is very very low. The following outlines our approach to desexing and what’s included in the cost.

Pre-anaesthetic blood screening

We recommend all animals undergoing anaesthetic have a small blood sample taken prior to their anaesthetic to check their red blood cells, white blood cell, liver and kidney function. Occasionally this blood test picks up an underlying genetic issue that warrants further investigation and thus prevents us from performing the procedure. Performing this test also provides us with a baseline “normal” range for your pet that we can use to compare to blood tests in the future. This is the only optional extra for our desexing surgeries and does incur an additional fee.

Intravenous fluid

All of our patients receive an intravenous port so we have rapid access to their veins for drug administration and fluid therapy. We provide intravenous fluid support for all of our dog castrates, dog speys and cat speys. We feel this is essential in supporting the patient’s blood pressure and thus preserving their kidney function.

Pain relief

Pain relief is essentials for any surgery. Thornleigh Vet provides pre-operative pain relief, intra-operative pain relief and post-operative pain relief. We will often provide additional pain relief where we feel it’s warranted for example local anaesthetic.

Anaesthetic

All of our desexing patients undergo a general anaesthetic. This is achieved through a combination of injectable and gaseous drugs. Airway control is maintained via a tube down their windpipe and oxygen administration.

Intradermal sutures

Most of our patients receive skin sutures as their outer layer of stitching. However some patients may benefit from these stitches being buried e.g. boisterous dogs or patients that will not tolerate suture removal conscious. If buried these stitches dissolve overtime. Please let us know if you think your pet would benefit from intradermal sutures. Please note we still recommend they wear an Elizabethan collar to ensure the wound heals well.

Recovery

All of our patients are closely monitored and recovered in separate dog and cat wards to ensure their visit and recovery is as stress free as possible. Lights are kept low and pheromone therapy is used for reassurance.

Elizabethan collars

All of our desexed patients are provided with an Elizabethan collar at the time of discharge. This is a cone that goes around their head to ensure they cannot lick or chew at their wound. We loan out E-collars as part of the desexing fee so would appreciate the return of them at the time of final recheck or stitch removal. HINT – If you have a dog it’s a good idea to bath them prior to their surgery as they can’t have a bath until their wound is healed which takes at least 2 weeks.

Nail clips

All of our desexes will receive a complimentary nail clip whilst under anaesthetic unless you indicate otherwise. Please let us know if you would like us to perform any other minor procedures whilst the pet is anaesthetised e.g. anal gland checks.

Frequently asked questions

What’s included in the cost?

Most vet hospitals offer desexing at a discounted rate compared to other surgeries to encourage pet owners to desex their pet. When cost comparing be sure to check optional extras. To provide your pet with the absolute best care possible and to ensure there are no hidden extras we have included all of these in our desex fee. The only additional costs are pre-anaesthetic blood screening or costs associated with unforeseen complications (e.g. wound breakdown).

Will my pet be different afterwards?

The vast majority of pets are back to their usual self the day after surgery and you will see no discernible difference in their behaviour. In males you may see a reduction in testosterone-related behaviours such as mounting, aggression or marking.