1134. A Husky has an eyelid tumour irritating her

REPLY TO EMAIL FOR SURGERY APPOINTMENT

Sep 16, 2013

Hi

Thank you for your email. Pl bring the Husky  in at around 11am on Friday Sep 20, 2013.
Surgery and anaesthesia will be done using electro-surgery in the afternoon. She goes home at around 6 pm after recovery from anaesthesia. No food and water after 10 pm the night before.

Please note that old dogs undergoing anaesthesia are at risk of death from anaesthesia. In most cases, there are no deaths if the dog is healthy and the surgery is short duration as in this case. The dog will be examined before surgery as there is inflammation and infection in the eye.  Pl give antibiotic eye drops for at least 3 days before surgery as I don't advise operating on an infected area.


EMAIL REPLY TO OWNER DATED SEP 16, 2013

Thank you for your energetic response. I am sorry that I do not permit all clients to be present at the surgery as I need to focus 100% on the anaesthesia of old dogs and thereby not getting anaesthetic deaths due to distractions or conversations.

In addition, the surgery room is small and you are welcome to inspect it.

The whole process takes around 30 minutes including pre-op preparation. It may take longer if there are complications like cardiac emergencies in which I have to revive the patient. With the owner present, there will be much emotional distress when such emergencies occur and distract me from my resuscitation of the patient. No vet can assume that the old dog will not have any cardiac or respiratory emergencies during anaesthesia and surgery and so it is best that the owner not be present.

In my younger days, I permited one lady to watch her hamster being operated for a small tumour as she requested. She fainted at the sight of blood when I excised the tumour. From that experience, I do not permit any owner to be present at surgery. Pl accept my apologies.

The dog needs to recover fully from anaesthesia and this takes around 2-4 hours for old dogs. That is why you pick the dog at around 6 pm.