One of A Kind Education

If you’ve ever taken a pet to a vet for surgery or a sedated medical procedure, you probably dropped them off in the morning and picked them up later in the day. Apart from the front desk staff and a technician or two, you may not witness what transpires behind the scenes after you leave your pet. This article provides insight into the daily operations within our organization’s high-volume spay and neuter clinic.

Our day starts early, with staff arriving around 6:45 AM. Shortly after arrival, our CSR staff (Client Service Representatives or front desk staff) prepare surgery charts and open the doors for the public at 7 AM. Our CSR team then speaks with each pet owner individually to discuss the desired services and secure their consent for treatment. At this point, one of our veterinary assistants escorts the pet to a kennel in our surgical recovery rooms.

Prior to administering any medications, our veterinarian(s) along with our vet assistants will perform pre-surgical exams on all animals to ensure that they are all healthy and safe to go under anesthesia. The vet will also reach out to owners via phone if there are any questions or concerns regarding their animal at this time.

While these exams are taking place, we have more vet assistants and RVTs (registered veterinary technicians) drawing up all sedatives, medications, and vaccinations that the animal will need for the day. Once all of this is complete, we are ready to start surgery!

2-3 of our vet assistants and/or RVTs are responsible for preparing the animals for surgery. This includes giving pre-anesthetic medication, intubating, shaving the surgical site, and scrubbing the site so it is sterile for the procedure. After this is complete, the animal is then brought into the surgical suite for a doctor to perform the spay or neuter. Each doctor is paired with a vet assistant or RVT who will monitor the animal’s vitals, including heart and respiratory rate, as well as the level of anesthesia to ensure that they are on the proper dose for the duration of surgery.

When the doctor is done with the surgery the vet assistant or RVT then disconnects the animal from the anesthesia machine and transfers them to the recovery mat where another vet assistant is waiting to monitor their vitals until they are awake. At this time, things like vaccinations, nail trims, and microchips are done.

Once the animal is awake, they are taken back to their kennel in the recovery room to await pickup from their owner. Animals are typically able to go home 2-3 hours after they wake up, so our CSR staff will give the owners a heads up call to schedule a pickup as soon as the animal has left the surgical suite.

Depending on the day, we could have anywhere from 1-3 doctors performing surgery on different animals at any point, meaning we perform anywhere from 30-50 surgeries a day.

As with any high volume spay and neuter clinic, ours can only function with many moving parts, all of which are valuable and necessary resources to our team. The primary focus of the spay & neuter clinic is to provide low cost spay and neuter for the community and our own rescue animals. Because of these low costs, we rely heavily on donations to pay for medical supplies and staff wages. Please consider donating to support our cause.