Tail docking

Tail docking is the surgical removal of part of the tail. This procedure is most often performed in healthy puppies between 2 to 5 days of age. A similar procedure may be performed in older pets, but this is considered a tail amputation, not a tail dock.

What Are the Indications for Performing Tail Docking?

Tail docking is most often performed in puppies to prevent tail damage in certain breeds, for hygiene reasons and to comply with specific breed standards.

What Preoperative Examinations or Tests Are Needed?

Preoperative tests depend in part on the age and general health of the animal as well as the cause for the tail docking. Since the procedure is most often performed on very young, healthy puppies, preoperative tests are usually not performed.

What Type of Anesthesia is Needed? 

In puppies less than 8 days of age, either local anesthetic or no anesthesia is used. If the puppy is over 8 days of age, many veterinarians delay the procedure until the pup is at least 8 weeks of age. At that time, general anesthesia is needed to induce unconsciousness, complete control of pain, and muscle relaxation . If general anesthesia is used, the pet may receive a pre-anesthetic sedative-analgesic drug to help him relax, a brief intravenous anesthetic to allow placement of a breathing tube in the windpipe, and subsequently inhalation (gas) anesthesia in oxygen during the actual surgery.

How Is the Tail Docking Operation Done?

Your pet is placed on his back. An incision is made about ¼ to 1 inch from the base of the tail. The distance from the tail base will depend on the standard for the particular breed. The incision extends through the skin and continues between two vertebrae in older dogs or through cartilage in very young puppies. At this point, the majority of the tail has been removed. The skin is then sutured closed over the remaining vertebra and tail tissue. Sutures may be absorbable or may need to be removed 5 to 7 days later. When the procedure is performed in older dogs, a temporary bandage is placed over the surgery site, and the bandage is removed after 2 to 3 days.

How Long Does Tail Docking Take to Perform?

The procedure takes about 5 to 30 minutes to perform in most cases, including the needed time for preparation and anesthesia.

What Are the Risks and Complications?

The overall risk of this surgery is low. The major risks are those of general anesthesia (if used), bleeding (hemorrhage), postoperative infection and wound breakdown (dehiscence) over the incision.

What Is the Typical Postoperative Aftercare?

Daily monitoring of the suture line is an important aspect of home care. Watch for signs of redness, discharge, swelling or pain. The puppy can be placed back with his mother immediately. Watch the mother for excessive grooming of the surgical site. Any bandage that is placed should be removed in 2 to 3 days. Sutures may also need to be removed, especially if the procedure was done in an older animal. Non-absorbable sutures are removed 5 to 7 days after surgery.
                                                                               
How Long Is the Hospital Stay?

The typical stay following a tail docking is 2 to 3 hours but will vary depending on the overall health of the pet and the underlying reason for the surgery. Most puppies are docked without anesthesia and are typically taken home shortly after the procedure.

Ovariohysterectomy

Ovariohysterectomy

Indications
Sterilization

Ovarian disease
Uterine disease
Behavioral problems
Vaginal hyperplasia
Diabetes
Epilepsy
Mammary tumor
prevention

Nutritional Plan
Postsurgically, nutrition adequate for tissue repair


Ovariohysterectomy, commonly known as “spaying”, is the removal of the uterus and ovaries. Spaying
stops the behavior associated with heat periods and prevents diseases – including cancer, trauma, and
infections – of the ovaries, uterus, and mammary glands. This client education sheet will help you learn more

about ovariohysterectomy and will review your veterinarian’s instructions for your pet’s care at home, as well as follow-up with the veterinary health care team.

Preparation

Spaying is a routine procedure because it is performed so frequently. Nevertheless, it is major abdominal surgery and

requires general anesthesia. General anesthetics are best given when a pet has an empty stomach. Follow your

veterinarian’s instructions carefully for withholding food and water the evening before surgery.

Before surgery your pet will be given a physical examination. Your veterinarian may offer a routine blood test to identify risks that may complicate anesthesia and surgery, particularly if your pet is older or has any history of disease.

Home Care

Recovery from ovariohysterectomy is usually uneventful. However, complications may arise if your pet chews or licksthe incision excessively or exercises too vigorously. Dogs should be exercised on a leash for the first week after surgery.

Check your pet’s incision at least once a day. If the incision is red and swollen, oozes blood, or begins to separate, call your veterinarian. You should also call if your pet constantly licks or chews its incision, seems depressed, or won’t eat. Skin sutures may need to be removed by your veterinarian.

Nutritional Plan

After an ovariohysterectomy your veterinarian may suggest a dietary change based on your pet’s age and body condition, and on the presence or absence of disease in other organs and body systems. Optimal nutrition for middleaged and older pets provides for the pet’s needs, but more importantly, reduces the health risks associated with feeding excess sodium, phosphorus, protein, and calories. Foods that avoid these harmful excesses and provide proper nutrition include Hill’s® Science Diet® Adult as well as Hill’s® Science Diet® Light Adult for dogs and cats.

Transitioning Food

Unless recommended otherwise by your veterinarian, gradually introduce any new food over a seven-day period. Mix the new food with your pet’s former food, gradually increasing its proportion until only the new food is fed. If your pet is one of the few that doesn’t readily accept a new food, try warming the canned food to body temperature, hand feeding for the first few days, or mixing the dry food with warm water (wait ten minutes before serving). However, do not add water to your cat’s food. Feed only the recommended food. Do not feed additional salt or any snacks that may contain sodium. Be patient but firm with your pet. This is important because the success or failure of treatment depends to a large degree on strict adherence to the new food.

Castration Surgery in Dog

Castration (orchiectomy) is a surgicalprocedure in which the testicles are removed from the body. It is performed most commonly to make pets unable to breed, thus helping to control pet overpopulation.

Castration may also be indicated for:

Some behavior problems

Certain types of prostate disease

Tumors in the testicles 

Some metabolic disorders

Other types of tumors, such as those affected by testosterone

Castration is also recommended for pets in which one (or both) testicles failed to descend into the scrotum to minimize the chance for future problems (such as tumor development) associated with the tumors being in the abdomen, rather than in the scrotum.

Most castrations are performed on young healthy animals, and extensive pre-operative work-up is not usually necessary. Pre-operative evaluation usually involves a thorough physical examination and may include blood tests.

When the castration is being performed in older animals and for reasons other than to prevent reproduction, additional diagnostic tests may be necessary to exclude concurrent diseases and to minimize the risk of anesthesia in these patients.

Both testicles are removed through a single incision located just in front of the scrotum in dogs. Some veterinarians use sutures to close the skin incision, while others use absorbable sutures beneath the surface.

Keep your pet quiet and indoors for approximatley two weeks after he returns home from the hospital to allow him to heal. Do not allow him to be excessively active and prevent him from "rough-housing."

Monitor the incision daily for signs of redness, swelling or discharge. Do not allow your pet to lick or chew at the incision. If you find it is impossible to stop your pet from doing this, you should obtain an "Elizabethan" collar that is placed around the neck to prevent access to the incision.

Skin sutures, if present, will be removed in 10 to 14 days. If the castration was performed for reasons other than to prevent reproduction, further treatment and/or monitoring may be necessary.

Instruments Surgery

Scalpels

The first incision is always made by a scalpel. There are several sizes and shapes of blades, some flat, some curved. Sterilized, they are attached to a handle for easier use. The type and size of the blade depend on the preference of the surgeon and the area of surgery

Scissors

Scissors can cause more trauma and are used more for cutting thick layers of tissue. The blades can be straight or curved and have either sharp or blunt edges. Other types of scissors are used more outside of surgery, for removing thread sutures, cutting wire sutures or cutting bandage material.

Forceps

There are several kinds, depending on purpose. All are made for grasping, whether delicate areas such as blood vessels or large pieces of tissue. Some look like flat scissors, others like tweezers. They come in many sizes, and some are serrated.

Retractors

These are used to pull apart the edges of the cut skin so the surgeon can better see inside the body. This also gives them better access to organs. Retractors may be handheld, which will be the responsibility of a veterinary technician to keep it in place. They can also be self-retaining, meaning they are held in place with no assistance.

Needle holders

Another instrument used in all surgeries are needle holders. They hold the needle to manually suture the incision. Some also have scissors built in so the surgeon does not need to use a separate instrument to cut the thread.

Miscellaneous

In most routine surgeries that a veterinarian will encounter, such as a spay or lump removal, the instruments listed above are the most common instruments. Every one of them will be used to some extent in all surgeries. There are many specialized instruments. Dental, eye and orthopedic instruments are in separate, extensive categories.

What Is Surgery?

Surgery is a medical procedure involving an incision with instruments; performed to repair damage or arrest disease in a living body; "they will schedule the operation as soon as an operating room is available."

ablation, cutting out, extirpation, excision is a surgical removal of a body part or tissue

amputation - a surgical removal of all or part of a limb

angioplasty - an operation to repair a damaged blood vessel or unblock a coronary artery

arthroplasty - surgical reconstruction or replacement of a malformed or degenerated joint

arthroscopy - a minimally invasive operation to repair a damaged joint; the surgeon examines the joint with an arthroscope while making repairs through a small incision

brain surgery - any surgical procedure involving the brain

castration - surgical removal of the testes or ovaries (usually to inhibit hormone secretion in cases of breast cancer in women or prostate cancer in men); "bilateral castration results in sterilization"

cauterisation, cauterization, cautery - the act of coagulating blood and destroying tissue with a hot iron or caustic agent or by freezing

chemosurgery - use of chemical to destroy diseased or malignant tissue; used in treatment of skin cancer

craniotomy - a surgical opening through the skull

cryosurgery - the use of extreme cold (usually liquid nitrogen) to destroy unwanted tissue (warts or cataracts or skin cancers)

curettage, curettement - surgery to remove tissue or growths from a bodily cavity (as the uterus) by scraping with a curette

debridement - surgical removal of foreign material and dead tissue from a wound in order to prevent infection and promote healing

decortication - removal of the outer covering of an organ or part

D and C, dilatation and curettage, dilation and curettage - a surgical procedure usually performed under local anesthesia in which the cervix is dilated and the endometrial lining of the uterus is scraped with a curet; performed to obtain tissue samples or to stop prolonged bleeding or to remove small tumors or to remove fragments of placenta after childbirth or as a method of abortion

electrosurgery - surgery performed with electrical devices (as in electrocautery)

enterostomy, enterotomy - surgical operation that creates a permanent opening through the abdominal wall into the intestine

enucleation - surgical removal of something without cutting into it; "the enucleation of the tumor"

wrong-site surgery - a surgical operation performed on the wrong part of the body

evisceration - surgical removal of an organ (or the contents of an organ) from a patient

exenteration - surgical removal of the organs within a body cavity (as those of the pelvis)

eye operation, eye surgery - any surgical procedure involving the eyes

fenestration - surgical procedure that creates a new fenestra to the cochlea in order to restore hearing lost because of osteosclerosis

gastrectomy - surgical removal of all or part of the stomach

gastroenterostomy - surgical creation of an opening between the stomach wall and the small intestines; performed when the normal opening has been eliminated

gastrostomy - surgical creation of an opening through the abdominal wall into the stomach (as for gastrogavage)

heart surgery - any surgical procedure involving the heart

haemorrhoidectomy, hemorrhoidectomy - surgical procedure for tying hemorrhoids and excising them

haemostasia, haemostasis, hemostasia, hemostasis - surgical procedure of stopping the flow of blood (as with a hemostat)

hysterotomy - surgical incision into the uterus (as in cesarean section)

implantation - a surgical procedure that places something in the human body; "the implantation of radioactive pellets in the prostate gland"

surgical incision, incision, section - the cutting of or into body tissues or organs (especially by a surgeon as part of an operation)

intestinal bypass - surgical operation that shortens the small intestine; used in treating obesity

jejunostomy - surgical creation of an opening between the jejunum and the anterior abdominal wall; will allow artificial feeding

major surgery - any surgical procedure that involves anesthesia or respiratory assistance

microsurgery - surgery using operating microscopes and miniaturized precision instruments to perform intricate procedures on very small structures