Specialty Surgery

Welcome to the Surgery Department of the Alta Vista Animal Hospital. We have been providing surgical referral services to the region for over 20 years. Our staff consists of 3 board certified small animal surgeons and our highly trained support staff consisting of receptionists, patient care coordinators, veterinary technicians and surgical assistants. We believe that a "successful" surgical case requires attention to detail at every phase of case management and all of our staff contributes to that success.

These phases include the following:

• Initial consultation with the surgeon and in depth discussion of the surgical technique, including any potential complications and anticipated outcomes and costs.
• Accurate diagnosis using appropriate tests such as onsite blood tests, x-ray, computerized tomography (CT), arthroscopy, biopsy, etc.
• Anesthesia - smooth induction and recovery with intensive intra-operative monitoring under the direct supervision of our experienced veterinary technicians.
• Pain management - we believe in pre-emptive and multimodal pain management techniques (see attached article)
• Surgery - careful attention to aseptic technique and our surgeons have a broad range of training and experience in a wide variety of surgical techniques.
• Aftercare - Our 24-hour care facility ensures that appropriate pain management and postoperative management techniques are applied throughout the night and on weekends.
• Home Care Instructions- an appointment is set up to ensure that all go-home instructions are gone over and understood. In addition, after care instructions are written down and accompany the owner in the discharge package.
• Follow-up - we like to see our cases through to a successful conclusion whenever distance allows. Suture removal and other follow-up appointments are scheduled at the time of discharge

What is a Specialist?

Our surgeons have all been certified by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons following extensive postgraduate training in surgery. This training includes internship, surgical internship, and residency training (3 years). They have all passed the certifying exam to be called a Diplomate of the American College of Surgeons. In addition, Dr Liptak also completed Fellowships in Surgical Oncology at the Animal Cancer Center at Colorado State University.

Pain Management

Animals do not demonstrate pain like people but they have similar physiology and pain receptors. We believe that pain management should be "pre-emptive" meaning that it should be given before your pet is anesthetized for their surgical procedure. It should also be "multi-modal" meaning that multiple different types of pain control can be used at the same time to block the pain pathways at different points in their journey. This makes pain control more effective. We also believe that injectable pain management should be ongoing both in the immediate 24 hours postoperatively through our 24-hour care facility and also at home, through various oral medications.

Continuous Care Unit - 24/7

Alta Vista Animal Hospital is a 24-hour care facility with a veterinarian and support staff on the premises 24 hours a day. Many surgical cases require 24 hour care to ensure proper pain management, fluid therapy and medications. Some require more intense monitoring with more intensive equipment and techniques, such as blood transfusions, etc. Our continuous care unit provides these services and supports the surgery team and their patients.