1. What are the Hospital hours?

Our hospital is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 8pm, and our clinics are open from 9am to 5pm. On Saturdays, our hospital is are open from 8am to 5pm, and the Jamestown Animal Clinic is open from 8am to 2pm. When our offices are closed our answering service can assist in directing you to the nearest urgent care / emergency facility:

Ocean State Veterinary Specialists (24-hour)

 

Mass-RI Veterinary ER

 

Veterinary Emergency Group

 

Bay State Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Services

 

PetMedic Urgent Care

 

Veterinary Urgent Care Center

 

Yes, patients are seen by appointment.

Cash, Check, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, Visa and Care Credit

Payment is required at the time of service.

Spaying or neutering can be done at approximately 6 months of age. Your pet is given an exam prior to surgery to help determine whether your pet is healthy enough to undergo the surgical procedure. Current vaccinations are required at the time of surgery.

No, there is no advantage to letting your pet have one litter. However there are plenty of advantages to having you pet spayed or neutered. These advantages include decreasing the chances of breast tumors later in life, decreasing the chance of cystic ovaries and uterine infections later in life, decreasing the desire to roam the neighborhood, decreasing the incidence of prostate cancer later in life, helping prevent spraying and marking, and also decreases the surplus of unwanted puppies and kittens.

Yes, we opened our new boarding facility in November 2008! For information you can call our hospital or email our boarding manager at boarding@newportanimalhospital.com.

We ask that you call 24 hours in advance to alleviate wait time and guarantee the medication is in stock.

What are the pre-surgery instructions?

We ask that food be taken away at 8:00pm the night prior to your pets’ procedure and water be taken away by 6:00am the morning of the procedure. The reason for this is that the anesthetic medications used during the surgery can upset the stomach, and your pet may vomit if there is food or water in the stomach. Vomiting can be very dangerous in an animal who is unconscious. In the event your pet has gotten into food or water prior to their procedure, please inform the staff upon admittance.

Today’s modern anesthetic monitors have made surgery much safer than in the past. Here at the Newport Animal Hospital, we do a throrough physical exam on your pet before administering anesthetics, to ensure that a fever or other illness won’t be a problem. We also adjust the amount and type of anesthetic used depending on the health of your pet. The handout on anesthesia explains this in greater detail.

Pre-anesthetic blood testing is important in reducing the risk of anesthesia. Every pet needs blood testing before surgery to ensure that the liver and kidneys can handle the anesthetic. Even apparently healthy animals can have serious organ system problems that cannot be detected without blood testing. If there is a problem, it is much better to find it before it causes anesthetic or surgical complications. Animals that have minor dysfunctions will handle the anesthetic better if they receive IV fluids during surgery. If serious problems are detected, surgery can be postponed until the problem is corrected.

We offer several levels of blood testing before surgery, which we will go over with you when you bring your pet in. Our doctors prefer the more comprehensive screen, because it gives them the most information to ensure the safety of your pet. For geriatric or ill pets, additional blood tests, electrocardiograms, or x-rays may be required before surgery as well.

It is important that surgery be done on an empty stomach to reduce the risk of vomiting during and after anesthesia. You will need to withhold food for at least 8 to 10 hours before surgery. Water can be left down for the pet until the morning of surgery.

For many surgeries, we use absorbable sutures underneath the skin. These will dissolve on their own, and do not need to be removed later. Some surgeries, especially tumor removals, do require skin stitches. With either type of suture, you will need to keep an eye on the incision for swelling or discharge. During the healing process the site often feels itchy and irritated, which leads your pet to lick at the area, to prevent trauma to the area your pet will be sent home with an elizabethian collar. If there are skin sutures, these will usually be removed 10 to 14 days after surgery. You will also need to limit your pet’s activity level for a time and no baths are allowed for the first 10 days after surgery.

Anything that causes pain in people can be expected to cause pain in animals. Pets may not show the same sympotms of pain as people do; they usually don’t whine or cry, but you can be sure they feel it. Pain medications needed will depend on the surgery performed. Major procedures require more pain relief than things like minor lacerations.

For dogs, we may recommend an oral anti-inflammatory the day after surgery and several days after to lessen the risk of discomfort and swelling. We use newer medications, which are less likely to cause stomach upset and can be given even the morning of surgery.

Because cats do not tolerate standard pain medications such as aspirin, ibuprofen, or Tylenol, we are limited in what we can give them. Recent advances in pain medications have allowed for better pain control in cats than ever before. We administer a pain injection 10 minutes prior to surgery. After surgery, pain medication is given on a case by case basis. Any animal that appears painful will receive additional pain medication.

We use narcotic patches for some surgeries in dogs as well. The cost will depend on the size of the dog. Injectable pain medications may also be used after surgery on both dogs and cats. Providing whatever pain relief is appropriate is a humane and caring thing to do for your pet.

While your pet is under anesthesia, it is the ideal time to perform other minor procedures, such as dentistry, ear cleaning, or implanting an identification microchip. If you would like an estimate for these extra services, please call ahead of time. This is especially important if the person dropping the pet off for surgery is not the primary decision maker for the pet’s care.

When you bring your pet in for surgery, we will need 5 to 10 minutes of time to fill out paperwork and make decisions on the blood testing and other options available. When you pick up your pet after surgery you can also plan to spend about 10 minutes to go over your pet’s home care needs.

We will call you 48 hours before your scheduled surgery appointment, to confirm the time you will be dropping your pet off and to answer any questions you might have. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to call us with any questions about your pet’s health or surgery.

This is a blood test that is run prior to surgery. It tests the organ functions, blood counts and clotting function of your pet. The pre-anesthetic blood screening is done to assure safety during surgery and the ability to heal following surgery.

Procedures involving sutures require them to be removed in 10-14 days following the surgery.