Surgical Emergencies

Higher Standards

Safe, effective, trusted surgical care.

In addition to after-hours medical care, our facility and staff are equipped to perform a wide range of life-saving and time-sensitive emergency surgeries, including soft tissue and orthopaedic surgeries, and we manage your pet’s pain before, during, and after surgery. Emergency surgeries often carry increased anesthetic risks because the patients are likely unstable and require a complicated procedure, but the risks of foregoing surgery may be higher. Our veterinarians will discuss surgical risks, benefits, costs, and alternative treatments for your pet’s condition, so you can make an informed decision about your pet’s care.

Orthopaedic surgery

Soft tissue surgeries are the most commonly performed emergency procedures. Some emergency surgeries that we can perform include:

Foreign body removal
Abdominal exploratory
Gastric dilatation volvulus (i.e., bloat) correction
Splenectomy
Eye removal
Wound repair
Porcupine quill removal

Pets who present with traumatic injuries may require emergency orthopaedic surgery to repair bones and joints and to clean up wounds to prevent deep bone or tissue infection. Emergency orthopaedic surgery is reserved for severe injuries, and may include:

Fracture repair
Limb, toe, or tail amputation
Back surgery for disc herniations

Soft tissue surgery

Pain Management

Emergency conditions and surgery itself can cause your pet to feel pain, which leads to distress and impedes their recovery. Pets in pain will guard the surgical area, refuse to move or eat, and may bite or snap unexpectedly. Our Cedarwood Veterinary & Animal Emergency Hospital veterinarians understand the importance of pain control, and will make your pet comfortable with a multimodal approach, including using or prescribing multiple medications that will work synergistically to provide better pain control than a single medication. Our staff are trained to evaluate your pet’s pain level using a standardized, subjective pain scale, and we will adjust treatment as needed to optimize pain control and keep your pet comfortable throughout their recovery.