Roncy Village Veterinary Clinic is equipped to provide a wide range of surgical services and procedures for your cats and dogs. Sometimes, it’s preventive surgery – such as a spay or neuter to prevent pregnancy. Other times, surgery is required to alleviate a problem such as an intestinal blockage (usually caused by pets swallowing a foreign object) or to remove bladder stones or tumours. For more complicated or intricate surgeries, we are associated with a Board certified veterinary surgical specialist.
Virtually all surgical procedures require your pet to be given a general anaesthetic which renders them unconscious while we perform the surgery. Our veterinarians and veterinary nurses are experts in safe anaesthetic practices and procedure, tailored to your pet’s age, health status, weight, and previous health histroy. To ensure your pet’s comfort and safety, a small blood sample is taken before surgery to ensure your pet is healthy and strong enough to receive anaesthesia.
We take great pride in the way we ensure your pet’s complete comfort and safety before, during and after surgery.
All pets are given an IV (intravenous) catheter and receive IV fluids during their procedure, allowing us to quickly and easily administer medication if needed. Your pet will be cared for by our expert team and monitored for blood pressure, heart, respiratory rate, depth of anaesthesia and the amount of oxygen in their bloodstream. We also care deeply about pain management, and ensure your pet is comfortable and stress free during the entire procedure. We also your pet home with adequate pain medication to keep them pain free during recovery.
Check out our hospital tour to see some photos of our surgical suite… and keep reading below for descriptions of some of the most common surgical procedures we offer.
Spays
It is important that all female pets be spayed. Performed on female cat or dog, a spay involves removing both ovaries (and in some cases, the uterus as well). When performed early in life (usually around 6 months of age), spaying decreases the risk of mammary cancer and uterine infections later on; it also prevents them from having unwanted litters, therefore helping to control the pet population. We recommend that all female pets are spayed early in life, and typically this is done at around 6 months of age.
Traditionally, a spay involves making an abdominal incision ranging from 1 to 6 inches, depending on the size of your pet. During the procedure certain ligaments are torn free from the ovaries, which can sometimes cause bleeding. Roncy Village Veterinary Clinic is proud to be one of the first veterinary clinics in Toronto to offer laparoscopic spays. This innovative, safe, minimally invasive procedure involves small cameras being passed through tiny incisions (each only 5mm long). Because the incisions required are so small, healing is very quick and there is almost no pain. Tissue is cauterized before cutting, which means that blood vessels and nerve endings are sealed, resulting in a minimal amount of bleeding. Click here to find out more about laparoscopic spays and to watch Dr. Kinghorn perform one on camera.
Neuter
It is important that all male pets be neutered early in life, typically around 6 months of age. A neuter, performed on male cats or dogs, involves the removal of the testicles. This prevents them from impregnating a female, and decreases the risk of prostate infection and prostate cancer later in life. Neutering also eliminates the possibility of testicular cancer.
For dogs, an incision is made just in front of the scrotum, and sutures are placed under the skin to close the incision. The procedure itself takes slightly longer with dogs than cats, where the incision is made in the scrotum itself. The incisions are left to heal and close on their own, which they do very quickly.
Lump Removal
At Roncy Village Veterinary Clinic, the removal of unwanted, unsightly or even cancerous lumps is a common occurrence. In our experience, most lumps are small and are often removed purely for cosmetic purposes. However, we also have also seen many cases where the lumps are large or cancerous, and pose a serious threat to a pet’s health, comfort and wellbeing. Our vets are trained to remove all types and sizes of lumps in a manner that promotes quick healing and minimal recovery time.
Soft Tissue Surgery
There are different types of soft tissue surgical procedures with many involving the abdominal organs. Some of the most common abdominal procedures that our vets have performed are cystotomy (removal of bladder stones), splenectomy (removal of the spleen), gastrotomy or enterotomy (removal of foreign objects from the stomach or intestines), gastropexy (tacking the stomach to the body wall in dogs that are at risk for bloat), organ biopsies, and nephrectomy (kidney removal). All of these surgeries are delicate and require special care and a thorough knowledge of the internal anatomy of both dogs and cats. Our vets are well trained and experienced in all of them; our team knows how ensure your pet recovers well, with as little pain and discomfort as possible.
Orthopedic Surgery
Involving bones and ligaments, the most common orthopaedic surgeries are replacing a torn cruciate (ACL) ligament in dogs or repairing fractures and broken limbs in both dogs and cats. All of our orthopaedic surgeries are performed by a Board certified surgeon right here in our clinic. Our veterinarians surpervise the procedure and our experienced, caring staff make sure your pet is thoroughly monitored and comfortable before, during and after surgery.
