Surgery is an area of concentration for us here at Harpeth Valley. We daily perform a wide range of procedures from routine spays and mass removals, to complicated exploratory surgery and emergency procedures such as caesarian sections. We have excellent anesthetic and surgical equipment and our technical staff is well-trained in monitoring anesthesia and surgical assistance. Our surgical facilities are also first rate. In addition, we have access to Dr. Trey Calfee, a board-certified veterinary surgeon who is available to perform specialty procedures such as complicated fracture repairs. Below we will take you through a typical day in surgery and show some photos of surgical procedures.

When your pet comes in for surgery, several things have to be done to prepare for the actual procedure. Actually, you have already started the prep work by withholding food for 12 hours pre-op (water is OK since it has either passed through or been absorbed by the stomach in about 15 minutes). Most of our patients will have blood drawn and analyzed in the hospital to be sure that their internal organs can handle anesthesia. The patient will then be examined by a doctor and we will give a couple of pre-anesthetic medications for relaxation and pain control.

When a patient's turn comes to be anesthetized, most are give an intravenous injection for heavy sedation and relaxation. We then place an endotracheal tube into the windpipe. This allows us to control the airway and give oxygen and gas anesthesia in exact amounts.

However, some patients are a little resistant to handling and require a different delivery method:

After the patient is under anesthesia we have to prep the surgical site. Initially we have to shave the area. We will always shave a wide area around the site since hair in an incision can be a very bad thing:

After clipping the hair we will perform several cleaning scrubs and then apply a final iodine prep solution. The patient is then moved to the surgical table and positioned based on the procedure to be performed:

While patients are under we monitor several parameters closely to be sure the body is tolerating the anesthesia. Two of the most important parameters we moniter are pulse oximetry, which measures the oxygen saturation of the blood and ECG, which measures heart rate and rhythm:

ECG leads attach to various points Pulse oximeter lead attached to tongue