Soft Tissue Surgery
Our vets are very experienced at soft tissue surgery and accept referrals from other clinics that may not perform the procedure themselves. We offer a full range of soft tissue surgery from routine spey and castration right up to complicated referral procedures.Following is a list of the more technical procedures we offer that may not be available elsewhere in Marlborough:
- Laryngeal tieback surgery for correction of a paralysed larnyx. Paralysis of the larynx is a common problem in old large breed dogs such as the Labrador retriever. It causes breathing difficulties that can be severe enough to be life threatening.
- Perineal hernia. Sometimes the muscle layers of the pelvis become weak and allow the large bowel to protrude through them. This is seen as a soft swelling at the back end next to the anus. It is painful and causes problems with bowel control.
- Caesarian Section. Sometimes it is necessary to perform a caesarian section on the whelping bitch. Our priority is the safety of the bitch and pups before, during and after anaesthesia and we follow the safest combination of anaesthetic and pain relief protocols.
- Gastric Dilation Volvulus (twisted stomach). This is a high risk emergency situation. A successful outcome relies on the expertise of the surgeon and an anaesthetist. Our team is very experienced at handling this situation. The most important first step is to stablise the patient with intra-venous fluids, correction of electrolyte abnormalities and decompression of the bloated stomach. Once the patient is stabilised we can then proceed with anaesthesia and surgical de-rotation of the stomach. At the time of surgery we also perform a gastropexy to sutre the stomach to the abdominal wall. This prevents the stomach from twising out of position in the future. Some breeds of dogs are more at risk of developing a twisted stomach than others and it tends to be the large, deep chested breeds (eg Huntaway, Great Dane). We can perform a preventative gastropexy in young at risk dogs to prevent twisting of the stomach later in life.
- Surgery of the eye and eylids. We perform surgery on the cornea for lacerations and deep penetrating ulcers including conjunctival pedicle flaps for repair of corneal defects. We perform corrective surgery of eyelid defects such as entropion or ectropion.