Bloorcourt Veterinary Clinic is equipped to provide a wide range of surgical services and procedures for your cats and dogs. Sometimes, it’s preventive surgery – such as a spay or neuter to prevent pregnancy and reduce the risk of mammary cancer. Other times, surgery is required to alleviate a problem such as an intestinal blockage (usually caused by pets swallowing a foreign object) or to remove bladder stones or tumours.
Virtually all surgical procedures require your pet to be given a general anaesthetic which renders them unconscious while we perform the surgery. Our veterinarians and veterinary nurses are experts in safe anaesthetic practices and procedure, tailored to your pet’s age, health status, weight, and previous health history. To ensure your pet’s comfort and safety, a small blood sample is taken before surgery to ensure your pet is healthy and strong enough to receive anaesthesia.
We take great pride in the way we ensure your pet’s complete comfort and safety before, during and after surgery.
All pets are given an IV (intravenous) catheter and receive IV fluids during their procedure, allowing us to quickly and easily administer medication if needed. Your pet will be cared for by our expert team and monitored for blood pressure, heart, respiratory rate, depth of anaesthesia and the amount of oxygen in their bloodstream. We also care deeply about pain management, and ensure your pet is comfortable and stress free during the entire procedure. We send your pet home with adequate pain medication to keep them pain free during recovery.
Check out our hospital tour to see some photos of our surgical suite… and keep reading below for descriptions of some of the most common surgical procedures we offer.
Spays
It is important that all female pets be spayed. Performed on female cat or dog, a spay involves removing both ovaries and the uterus, or we can refer canine patients to our sister clinic Roncy Village Veterinary Clinic for a laparoscopic spay that removes only the ovaries. When performed early in life (usually around 6 months of age), spaying decreases the risk of mammary cancer and uterine infections later on; it also prevents pets from having unwanted litters, therefore helping to control the pet population. We recommend that all female pets are spayed early in life.
Neuter
It is important that all male pets be neutered early in life, typically around 6 months of age. A neuter, performed on male cats or dogs, involves the removal of the testicles. This prevents them from impregnating a female, and decreases the risk of prostate infection and prostate cancer later in life. Neutering also eliminates the possibility of testicular cancer.
For dogs, an incision is made just in front of the scrotum, and sutures are placed under the skin to close the incision. The procedure itself takes slightly longer with dogs than cats, where the incision is made in the scrotum itself. The incisions heal very quickly.
Lump Removal
At Bloorcourt Veterinary Clinic, the removal of uncomfortable, unsightly or cancerous lumps is a common surgery. In our experience, most lumps are small and are often removed for comfort or cosmetic purposes. However, even more important are the many cases where the lumps are large or cancerous, and pose a serious threat to a pet’s health, comfort and wellbeing. Our vets are trained to remove all types and sizes of lumps in a manner that promotes quick healing and minimal recovery time.
Soft Tissue Surgery
There are different types of soft tissue surgical procedures, with many involving the abdominal organs. Some of the most common abdominal procedures that our vets perform are cystotomy (removal of bladder stones), splenectomy (removal of the spleen), gastrotomy or enterotomy (removal of foreign objects from the stomach or intestines), gastropexy (tacking the stomach to the body wall in dogs that are at risk for bloat, which is done laparoscopically at our sister clinic Roncy Village), and organ biopsies. Eye-related surgeries include entropion correction (when the eyelashes roll inward and rub against the eyeball), cherry eye repair, and enucleation. All of these surgeries are delicate and require special care and a thorough knowledge of the internal anatomy of both dogs and cats. Our vets are well-trained and experienced in all of them, and our skilled team ensures your pet recovers well, with as little pain and discomfort as possible.
Orthopedic Surgery
Involving bones and ligaments, the most common orthopaedic surgeries are replacing a torn cruciate (ACL) ligament in dogs or repairing fractures and broken limbs in both dogs and cats. These orthopaedic surgeries are performed by a Board certified surgeon who is usually booked to perform the surgery at our sister clinic Roncy Village. When a limb cannot be saved, our own veterinarians also perform amputation surgeries.
