Surgery and Pain Management
Surgery is performed routinely Monday through Fridays. When there is an emergency surgery can be performed on Saturdays as well. The doctors and staff at Anchor Animal Hospital make every effort to ensure that surgical procedures are as safe as possible.

Anchor Animal Hospital has a dedicated surgery suite to provide a quiet, clean, and dedicated area to perform surgery. This area includes dedicated storage for surgical equipment and instruments so that they can be quickly accessed when needed during a surgical procedure. All of the surgical equipment is sterilized before every use and infrequently used equipment is re-sterilized monthly to make sure that no contamination occurs.

We use isoflurane gas anesthesia for most of our surgical procedures. The anesthetic gas vaporizers are routinely maintained to make sure that they are functioning in peak condition. Isoflurane is a safe and effective anesthetic agent that allows us to closely regulate the level of anesthesia during surgery. Our technicians are trained to closely monitor patients under anesthesia using heart rate, pulse oximetry, and blood pressure. Anesthesia can be finely regulated to make sure that these parameters all stay normal during the procedure.

Each patient and surgical procedure is unique and our doctors evaluate each patient individually. All of our patients receive pre-operative exams the morning of their surgery. Prior to surgery each patient receives pre-operative medications to provide sedation and pain control. Pre-operative medications also help ease the induction of anesthesia and decrease the amount of anesthesia that need to be given during a procedure.

The doctors at Anchor Animal Hospital are experienced surgeons. Surgery is performed daily throughout the week with each doctor having an assigned surgery day. Spays an neuters are routine at Anchor Animal Hospital but they still get the same attention to detail that more advanced surgical cases receive. In addition to spays and neuters our doctors perform a variety of surgery including (but not limited to) gastrointestinal surgery, bladder surgery, tumor removal and biopsy, eyelid surgery, and wound repairs, and oral surgery and dentistry.

When there is a difficult case the doctors at Anchor Animal Hospital often consult with each other and in some cases assist each other in surgery. We try to provide as many surgical services as possible to our patients. When there are cases which require special equipment or expertise we may refer to boarded surgical specialists that we have close relationships with.

Regardless of the surgery performed, the entire staff of Anchor Animal Hospital is dedicated to pain management. We make every effort to minimize and manage pain. Our pain management protocol begins with evaluating the patient’s physical condition and the expected pain of the procedure. Anchor has a variety of pain medications available ranging from opioids to non-steroidal anti-inflamatories to local anesthetics. The doctor develops a pain management plan that includes pain medications for both before and after the procedure. Our technicians are trained to monitor for signs of pain so that we can adjust pain medication doses if needed. Most of our surgical cases are sent home with pain medication to continue at home while the patient recovers. In some cases, such as animals with chronic arthritis pain, long term pain management protocols are established.