About
At the Forest Vet we offer a wide range of surgical procedures, both routine and
emergency, following the latest research and guidelines to ensure we provide
clinical best practice. Rachael, our Vet, performs all soft tissue procedures, and we
have specialist surgeons for orthopaedics, cardiology, imaging and endoscopy. Click here.
Patients rest in the Bracken dog ward or Bramble cat ward until their procedure
where they are taken to our purpose built theatre suite and then returned to the
wards for recovery. Here they are accompanied by our “Nans” who read to and
cuddle our patients, and each patient is given a hospital teddy to keep after their
surgery, to make sure they are as comfortable as possible.
On arrival to the practice, the procedure will be fully explained to you in your
surgical admissions appointment which will be between 8:45 to 9:00 am. A thorough
pre-operative assessment of your pet will be made during this time and anaesthetic protocols discussed with you.
Post operatively, once the patient has recovered and we are happy they are stable,
we carry out a discharge appointment with owners, where we discuss any
medications, pain scoring and post-operative care, to ensure your pet has the best
recovery possible. We also send patients home with Nutraflora, a probiotic that
provides friendly bacteria for the dogs stomach to aid healing and promote the
patient's immune system post-operatively.
Pain planning
At The Forest Vet our primary concern is the prevention of pain in our pets. This is
the main focus of our pain planning service during surgical procedures and post
operatively, but extends to every single condition that affects your pet. On admission for Surgery, our Vets will guide you through the
pain relief provided and also how we score pain in the wards post operatively to
ensure that every patient is as comfortable as possible. On discharge, you will be
provided with these pain score charts to ensure that on the days following surgery
at home that your pet is pain-free.
Anaesthesia
Every anaesthetic carries a risk and this varies amongst species. Our Vet Rachael
has a special interest in anaesthesia and every patient is assessed on admission for
an anaesthetic and given a risk score. For each surgical patient, we use the
American Society of Anaesthesiologist (ASA) system to assess each animal
pre-operatively and determine the risk category, varying from 1-5. For patients with
a score of 2-5, we recommend a comprehensive blood screen
pre-operatively, that intravenous fluid therapy is also used to maintain blood
pressure and extra monitoring to adjust the anaesthetic as quickly as possible.
Administration of fluids also helps promote a more rapid recovery.
For adult pets, we offer a liver and kidney preoperative blood check to ensure these
are functioning before anaesthesia.
Bracken and Bramble Patient Wards
The Forest Vet has two equipped comfortable wards for both cats and dogs.
Bracken our dog ward is situated completely separate from Bramble our cat ward.
We feel here at The Forest Vet our feline friends can get stressed if they are not
somewhere calm and quiet. Both wards have clean and comfortable kennels that
provide a resting place for our in-patients post or pre surgery and treatments.