Surgery & Pain Management
Neutering and Spaying
We strongly recommend surgical neutering and spaying of all pet dogs and cats, that are not showing or being used for breeding. The best time for spay and neuter is between five and six months of age. Pre-anesthetic testing, perioperative pain medications, inhalant anesthetics, anesthetic monitoring and an experienced surgical team ensure that your pet is in good hands at the WAC.
Oral Surgery
Many pets undergoing dental cleaning will also need teeth extracted due to severe periodontal disease, deep cavities or fractured crowns. We are experienced in evaluating teeth visually and with X-rays, and in safely extracting teeth and their roots. Treatment of pain is an important component of oral surgery and we combine narcotics, NSAIDS, and local anesthetics when indicated to make your pet as comfortable as possible before, during and after oral surgery.
Pulse Oximetry
All animals undergoing general anesthesia at the WAC are continually monitored with instruments that measure their pulse rate and the level of oxygen in their blood. This allows us to precisely regulate the level of anesthesia and keep them as safe as possible.
Pain Management
Controlling pain in your pet is an important part of our mission at the Williamsburg Animal Clinic.
We utilize a multimodal approach to manage pain in our surgical patients. We try to preempt their pain by giving all animals an injection of an opiate combined with a sedative, prior to their anesthetic induction. During particularly painful procedures local anesthetics are often used. Injectable non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) are given just before or after procedures. Postoperative opiates are used if indicated. Most surgical patients are discharged with oral opiates, NSAIDS or a combination of the two, to ensure comfort at home.
We are also skilled in combating traumatic and chronic pain in our patients.
Many of our senior patients suffer from arthritis, or painful joints. We use many tools to manage these patients including; Nutrition, nutraceuticals, V.O.M., NSAIDS, and opiates. Some newer approaches include blocking pain pathways with such drugs as amitriptyline and gabba pentin.