Last month, a woman in Glendale lost her dog following a routine spay procedure at a nearby veterinary hospital. Though we don’t know the dog’s full health history or what exactly caused her death, we’d like to remind you that pre-surgery blood work can detect health problems that, if not addressed, could lead to complications during or after anesthesia and surgery.
Even if your pet is young and has always appeared to be in perfect health, you shouldn’t skip pre-anesthetic blood work just to save a few extra dollars. This blood work can detect underlying health issues that can be worsened by anesthesia, like genetic and congenital organ problems. Based on the results of the blood work, we can adjust our anesthesia dose or the type we use, and we can further explain the safety or risks of the planned procedure and can recommend next steps. Typically, when we do detect a problem from blood work, we do not perform the procedure that day as originally planned. We first determine what is causing the issue, treat the issue and then reschedule the surgery for another date.
When we conduct blood work before we administer anesthesia to a patient, we ensure that surgeries at 43rd Avenue Animal Hospital are as safe as possible for each individual pet.
To learn more about surgical procedures at 43rd Avenue Animal Hospital, give us a call at 602-705-0534 or contact us online.