10 Common Pet Surgeries

When one of your loved ones goes for surgery, you are bound to get nervous about it. This happens primarily because despite knowing the outcome, you are thinking about the worst-case scenario. An easy way to handle the anxiety caused due to a pet surgery is by getting more information about the surgery. The most caring and loving pet owners tend to know everything about their pets, sometimes giving the vets a run for their money! As a responsible pet parent, invest in a pet cover. However, surgical procedures are often considered too complex for the untrained eyes. In reality, knowing just the basics of the pet surgery, your four-legged loved one is going through can help you deal with all the anxiety caused when the surgery is going on. Here are the ten most common forms of surgeries pets go through:

1. Keyhole Surgery

This is one of the most common forms of pet surgery used for diagnostic and curative purposes. The vet would generally make smaller incisions that do not go beyond 1 cm in the most common cases. These incisions are used to insert an electronic, optical device or a camera that can be used to diagnose otherwise undetected internal issues common in pets. The vet might recommend keyhole surgery for GDV, stomach twisting, and bladder diseases. This pet surgery is performed on both cats and dogs.

2. Dental Surgery

Just like humans, pets require dental surgeries as their teeth age with them. Since dogs and cats are domesticated hunters, it is difficult for them to not use their teeth aggressively. With age, this leads to frequent dental problems that may necessitate pet surgery. These surgeries tend to include cavity fillings, tooth extractions, and even simpler procedures like clinical cleaning.

3. Orthopaedic Surgery

Orthopaedic surgeries are a form of pet surgery used to treat issues pertinent to bones, spine, and joints. If your pet has an active lifestyle, there is a possibility that it may need orthopaedic surgery if you are not careful enough. Sometimes, despite all the care, aging can cause the need for orthopaedic surgery to be performed on your pet. General forms of orthopaedic surgery include fractures, dislocations, and even tissue-based injuries.

4. Spaying and Neutering Surgery

Some people confuse spaying & neutering with keyhole surgeries. The latter focuses on diagnosis or curative treatment for pets. The former focuses on sterilizing the pet. Sterilizing can help your pet in the long run. It brings behavioral moderation in the pet and saves it from cancerous infections in the reproductive organs. Spaying & neutering are one of the most common forms of pet surgeries. However, you should not try to perform them at home. They still require expert supervision and clinical experience in using anaesthesia.

5. Cataract Surgery

Cataracts are common among aging dogs. The retina starts looking translucent, and it is generally a sign of failing eyesight. Not all vets specialize in cataract surgeries. You might have to see a specialist. But it would be worth the trouble as your pet will see your smiling face in full clarity and have a better understanding of its surroundings.

6. Skin Mass Removal

Very often, dogs and cats start developing tumors beneath their skins as they grow older. Since both the animals have a very active lifestyle, the only way of gauging such tumors is by manually inspecting your pet or carefully observing its lack of activeness daily. Such tumors are often referred to as ‘benign tumors.’ They are not considered harmful since they don’t spread beyond one tissue and are not cancerous. However, they can be quite discomforting for your pet. Hence, it is generally recommended to get such tumors extracted with the professional assistance of a vet. These surgeries are not very complicated but can give great relief to your four-legged friend.

7. Open Abdomen Exploratory Surgery

As the name suggests, these surgeries have an exploratory nature. Unlike most general surgeries, the vet or surgeon is not trying to extract a tumor or remove infected tissue. The focus is entirely on understanding a potential issue that is still at the early stages. Ideally, such surgeries are performed based on an informed guess developed after a few observation stages. Since the goal is exploratory, the vet will take your pet through a simple surgery, open up its abdomen, and carefully examine the internal organs. There is not a high degree of risk here since no complicated procedures are being performed.

8. Laryngeal Paralysis

Laryngeal paralysis is a common problem among dogs that are aging. Its symptoms can be easily diagnosed by pet owners even if they are not trained veterinarians. In such conditions, the dog starts to breathe very heavily, almost as if it has to put a lot of effort into the basic breathing process. This is because the nerves in the larynx are not functioning as they should. A healthy larynx system would contract and expand easily to aid the breathing process. Post laryngeal paralysis, these nerves stop contracting and expanding easily, leading to severe breathing issues. The surgery can be a little complicated. Hence, you should see a specialist who has conducted such surgical processes in the past.

9. Spinal Surgeries

Spinal surgeries for pets are more common than you might think. There can be several variants of spinal surgery since it has a direct impact on your pet's neural and skeleton systems. Hence, you will find specialists and general surgeons performing spinal surgeries. These surgeries can lead to curing Intervertebral Disc Disease. Early symptoms of the disease include difficulty in walking and neck or back pain.

10. Amputation

While amputation is often considered the penultimate stage of stopping a disease from spreading, it is not as difficult as you might imagine. Most animals are quite adaptive and after just a few days, adjust to their new form. Cancerous, severely injured, and infected organs often necessitate amputation.

In Conclusion

Pet surgery is a common form of diagnostic and curative treatment. Now that you have a better understanding of what goes into these procedures, you can take your pet for the surgery without any anxiety. In the hands of an experienced vet, the risks of pet surgery get reduced dramatically. Hence, to minimize overdose or imprecision risks, make sure you take your pet to a specialist or a highly-experienced vet, especially when it comes to surgeries. We understand that you love your pet, choose pet insurance!   *Standard T&C apply Insurance is the subject matter of solicitation. For more details on benefits, exclusions, limitations, terms, and conditions, please read the sales brochure/policy wording carefully before concluding a sale.