Welcome to the Surgery Department of the VCA Canada Alta Vista Animal Hospital. We have been providing surgical referral services to the region for over 20 years. Our staff consists of 2 board certified small animal surgeons and our highly trained support staff consisting of receptionists, patient care coordinators, veterinary technicians and surgical assistants. We believe that a “successful” surgical case requires attention to detail at every phase of case management and all of our staff contributes to that success.
These phases include the following:
• Initial consultation with the surgeon and in depth discussion of the surgical technique, including any potential complications and anticipated outcomes and costs.
• Accurate diagnosis using appropriate tests such as onsite blood tests, x-ray, computerized tomography (CT), arthroscopy, biopsy, etc.
• Anesthesia – smooth induction and recovery with intensive intra-operative monitoring under the direct supervision of our experienced veterinary technicians.
• Pain management – we believe in pre-emptive and multimodal pain management techniques
• Surgery – careful attention to aseptic technique and our surgeons have a broad range of training and experience in a wide variety of surgical techniques.
• Aftercare – Our 24-hour care facility ensures that appropriate pain management and postoperative management techniques are applied throughout the night and on weekends.
• Home Care Instructions- an appointment is set up to ensure that all go-home instructions are gone over and understood. In addition, after care instructions are written down and accompany the owner in the discharge package.
• Follow-up – we like to see our cases through to a successful conclusion whenever distance allows. Suture removal and other follow-up appointments are scheduled at the time of discharge.
