This is a large central room that leads into our theatres, kennels, and diagnostic imaging room. It truly is the heart of the practice.
Once animals are admitted they are brought through to the prep room, where they will have any pre-operative blood samples taken and an intravenous cannula placed. This is to allow intravenous fluids and medication to be given and provides rapid access in case of complications.
Any necessary blood samples are taken and run in house to assess the patient’s health status before surgery.
Animals are given a pre-medication before surgery. This is a combination of medication that provides pain relief, reduces anxiety and reduces the amount of anaesthetic agent needed. It means that animals are sleepy and relaxed by the time they are induced for surgery. An intravenous anaesthetic agent is given, and the animal falls asleep, a tube is placed into their airway and gaseous anaesthetic is used to keep your pet asleep.
Pets are clipped and cleaned for surgery in the prep room before being moved into our surgical theatres. Some ‘dirty’ procedures such as infected wounds are not appropriate to do in a sterile theatre environment as they can cause contamination, so these procedures are performed in the prep room.
Once a pet’s surgery has finished, they are recovered in the prep area to allow constant monitoring before being transferred to their kennel.
