Posts by Vancouver Animal Hospital Vets

Vancouver Veterinarians : Healthy Dog Series

Dogs surgery procedures can be divided into two major categories, elective and required. Elective surgery for dogs includes spaying, castration (sterilization by complete removal of the testicles), vasectomy (sterilization by severing of the testicular tubules), tail amputation (tail docking), dewclaw removal and ear cropping. Required surgery for dogs are those performed after traumatic or disease induced injury, examples including repair of a fractured thigh bone or removal of a tumor. No matter which dogs surgery is being considered, the decision to perform veterinary surgery should be based on a thorough understanding of the risks, possible complication, and consequences of the procedure. Any anesthetic/surgical procedure can potentially result in the death of the patient. The chance of death is often very low, however, the perceived benefits of the surgical procedure must always outweigh this inherent risk. When discussing possible surgery for dogs, pet owners should as accurately as possible convey their expectations to the veterinarian and have all their expectations concerning the contemplated procedure answered to their satisfaction before leaving the veterinary surgery examination room.

Elective surgery at Killarney Animal Hospital

Elective veterinary surgery is usually performed on healthy dogs. Preoperative management...

Veterinary knowledge base by Vancouver vets: Pet owner's examination

At our Vancouver Animal Hospital we are committed to our pet patients' heath and well-being.  We strive to share veterinary knowledge with wide community of pet owners.  To this end we present a series of  blog posts devoted to pets health.  The pets health care topic covered in the following posts will help you to learn the signs of a healthy pet and will teach you to recognize animal disease symptoms at the very early stages of  the illness development.

Please note that these posts were never intended or cannot replace the professional advice of a licensed veterinarian .  Our goal here is to help pet owners recognize the conditions when pets are in trouble and make an educated decision when it is the time to see your vet.

The following guide may help confirm a dog owner's suspicion that something is not quite right so that vet advice and medical care should be sought.  Any marked change in appearance of behavior, whether or not it is included in the following list, should be evaluated by your veterinarian or by vets at our Vancouver Animal Hospital.  Redness, heat, swelling, pain, breaks in the skin, masses or growths, bloody or foul-smelling discharge are signs of disease.

Abnormalities...