​​Surgical Procedures

​Drs. Dennis and Young perform numerous surgical procedures at SNVH.  Below, Dr. Dennis is removing a foreign body from the stomach of a dog.
Dr. Young prepares to place a sterile drape over a patient for a tumor removal.  Although most clients assume that all surgeons don a sterile gown and gloves and wear a cap and mask for surgery, that is not the case. At SNVH, the answer is yes. It does increase surgical costs to use complete surgical attire, but not doing so increases the risks of infection to the patient.
Dr. Dennis performs a procedure on a dog's knee.  Believe it or not, there are practices that use the same surgical pack on more than one patient. Some practices soak their instruments in a disinfectant solution rather than sterilize them in an autoclave (a special chamber that increases heat and pressure in order to fully sterilize instruments). At SNVH, each surgical patient has a new autoclave-steam-sterilized surgical pack.

​SNVH is Equipped with State-Of-The-Art Surgical Facilities to Provide your Pet with the Safety of a Human-Grade Operating Environment

Stratham-Newfields Veterinary Hospital has two separate surgery rooms to decrease the risk of infection (most veterinary hospitals have multiple tables in one room which can put your pet at greater risk for post-surgical infections). 
​In addition to the extensive surgical procedures our full time veterinarians perform, Dr. Geoff Clark, DVM, DACVS (board certified specialist in surgery), of Veterinary Surgery of New England, offers the following speciality surgeries for our patients at SNVH.  Below is a photo of Dr. Clark helping to move a patient for post-operative x-rays. The nurse already has a lead apron on for protection during radiography.
Some of the specialty surgeries that are performed by Dr. Clark are:
  • Traumatic and sports injuries such as fractures requiring IM pinning, bone plating or bone grafting
  • Orthopedic surgeries such as cruciate ligament surgeries (TPLO, TTA, etc.), correction of luxating patellas (abnormal knee cap), and TPO surgery for hip dysplasia.
  • Soft tissue surgeries (such as tumor/cancer removal and correction of congenital defects like laser correction of breathing obstruction for elongated soft palate).
  • Open-chest procedures (We are one of the very few places with a ventilator to improve patient safety during open chest procedures.)​
Above, the nursing team prepares a patient for Dr. Dennis to perform epidural anesthesia before Dr. Clark starts a complex orthopedic surgery.
Surgery rooms have human-hospital grade HEPA filtration which performs a complete air exchange every four minutes to reduce risk of surgical infections and increase safety. Additionally, the filtration system maintains a positive pressure causing the air to always flow out of the surgery when the door is opened, making it nearly impossible for contaminants to enter the surgical field.