Pre Operative Care At Home

This page is designed to help you to prepare for your pet’s scheduled visit that requires a sedation or general anaesthetic. Hopefully, it will answer some of the questions you may have about what to expect. If you are unsure about anything or wish to discuss any aspect of the procedure with us, please contact the practice.

Fasting your pet

It is essential if your pet is receiving an anaesthetic agent that they are starved for a suitable period of time before the procedure. We recommend the following times for these species groups:

Birds
- Small, such as finches and songbirds: please do not withhold food at all
- Medium-sized parrots: 4-8 hours – remove food between 7-8am on the day
- Large parrots, poultry and waterfowl: 6-10 hours – remove food at midnight the night before or by 7am on the day
- Birds of prey: >24 hours – birds must have cast before surgery, so we suggest removing food at least 24 hours before surgery
Cats: 6-12 hours – remove food at midnight the night before, or by 7am on the day
Dogs: 6-12 hours – remove food at midnight the night before, or by 7am on the day
Ferrets: 6-12 hours – remove food at midnight the night before, or by 7am on the day
Rabbits: please do not withhold food at all
Reptiles
- Chelonia (tortoises., terrapins and turtles): 18-24 hours – remove food after breakfast the day before surgery
- Iguanas and other large lizards: 18-24 hours – remove food after breakfast the day before surgery
- Lizards: 12-24 hours – remove food after 4pm the day before surgery
- Snakes: >48 hours – snakes must have passed stools after their last meal, so food should be withheld for 2-6 days prior to surgery in most cases
Rodents
- Guinea-pigs, degus, chinchillas, hamsters, mice, gerbils: please do not withhold food at all
- Rats: 4-8 hours – remove food between 7-8am

Please keep cats in for the night preceding the appointment to ensure they do not hunt or seek food elsewhere, and to make sure they have returned!

Hydration

It is of vital importance that your pet is adequately hydrated. Please do not withhold water at any time prior to your pet’s procedure.

Please give reptiles a warm bath the night before and the morning of their procedure.

If your pet is elderly or is not sufficiently hydrated for the procedure, we may recommend additional fluid therapy on the day or delaying the procedure.

Travel

Please ensure that your pet is secure and cannot escape at any time during transport to, or once at the clinic! All small patients, cats and birds should be transported in a carrier, both to prevent them from escaping and to prevent other patients at the clinic from seeing them as a meal.

For home visits, windows and doors should remain closed, pets should be contained in appropriate carriers or small volume spaces (a single room is fine for a cat, but birds should be caged) and dogs should have a securely fastened collar and lead in place. Skylark Vets admits no liability for animals that escape.

Please ensure that reptiles travel and are kept in a warm environment: surrounding them with hot water bottles or wheat bags can help to maintain their body temperature during journeys. Please ensure that your pet is not squashed underneath the bottles or bags, and that there is a layer of material between your pet and the heated item to prevent burns. Placing carriers in a heated foot well of the car may also ensure circulating warm air for your pet’s comfort.

Medications

Please bring with you any medications or supplements that your pet is taking. If your pet is due to have a morning dose of a medication that must be given with food, please inform us so that advice can be given on whether to administer the medication or not. If your pet has a medication that can be taken without food, the morning dose may be administered. Diabetic patients may have special instructions, so please discuss your pet’s regime and dose with the vet prior to the day of the procedure.

Pre-anaesthetic checks

Before the day of the procedure, please think about whether you might like your pet to have a pre-anaesthetic blood test. We strongly recommend this test if your pet is middle aged or older because these groups of animals are more likely to have underlying problems. If you have a young pet, this test may help us to discover any inherited conditions of the kidneys or liver.

If any abnormalities are discovered, your pet may need a different anaesthetic protocol to allow us to keep your pet as safe as possible, or the procedure may need to be delayed until your pet is in better health.

A pre-anaesthetic blood test is ideally run 1-5 days before the procedure, although in some cases it may be performed on the day (results may not be available that same day but will be reported once available). Please note that avian patients and some small mammals and reptiles require anaesthesia in order to take a blood sample, so blood will always be taken on the day for these species.

If you would like a blood test for your pet, please contact us to arrange a convenient appointment time for this.

We are also able to provide a lungworm test if desired. This test cannot be run on the day and must be performed at least 72 working hours prior to your pet’s appointment. For this test, we will require a faecal sample for cats and/or a blood sample for dogs. Lungworm can cause significant bleeding during surgical procedures and may be life-threatening. If your pet is treated every month with a suitable agent against lungworm, this test may not be necessary.

Health checks on the day

We will always give your pet a full check-over on the scheduled day to check for any obvious health problems that could affect the anaesthetic. Please inform us if your pet has had any abnormal behaviour, vomiting, diarrhoea, coughing, sneezing, collapse or seizure episodes leading up to the appointment. Please allow some time for the team to assess your pet on the day of the procedure!

Please ensure that your pet has passed urine and faeces prior to any anaesthetic or sedation. It can be very uncomfortable to be asleep for a long time with a full bladder, and this can make anaesthesia more challenging! Please inform us if you notice any abnormalities with the urine or faeces produced.