The CityU Veterinary Medical Centre (CityU VMC) Surgery Service is a Specialist service, run by boarded specialist veterinary surgeons, who have undergone rigorous training and examination to diagnose and treat surgical diseases of small animal patients. The reasons for seeing a specialist surgeon may include: management of surgical disease processes which require greater expertise than which can be provided by your primary care veterinarian.

Our services include:

• Orthopaedic surgery (e.g. Fracture repair or joint surgery)
• Soft tissue Surgery (e.g. Abdominal, thoracic interventions)
• Oncologic (Cancer) surgery (e.g. Resections of primary or secondary cancers)
• Neurologic Surgery (e.g. Decompressive spinal surgery)

What to Expect

Upon arriving at the CityU VMC, your pet will likely have a preliminary examination by one of our veterinary technicians or interns, who may ask a series of early questions regarding the clinical problem which you are seeking advice on.

It is important that any previous diagnostic imaging (e.g. X-rays or Ultrasound) or laboratory results (blood tests or histopathology reports) are available on the day of consultation. Ideally if you have been referred from an outside veterinarian, a full patient history will be available for the surgeon on the same day. Any specific questions you have for the surgeon can be asked at the time of consultation. If Cantonese is your primary language, then simultaneous translation of the consultation will take place as is common in Hong Kong Veterinary Clinics.

Surgery evaluations often include:

• Sedation for radiography. Often this is performed as an outpatient procedure, and patients (once recovered) can walk out within 1-2 hours of the procedure.
• General anaesthesia for CT (Computed tomographic) or MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans. We will often discuss whether it is necessary to have a Radiologist evaluation of more advanced imaging techniques such as CT scans. If a radiologist report is being sought, then this will usually become available on the next working day.
• General Anaesthesia for surgical exploration or treatment. We work with other boarded specialists to get the best of care for your pet, and often the anaesthetics for our patients are administered and monitored by specialist anaesthetists. This increases the safety of anaesthesia and surgery, and gives us more predictable results. Importantly, the specialist anaesthetist is the best person to advise on analgesia (control of pain) for your pet’s surgical procedure.

Because of the possible need for sedation or anaesthesia, we advise not to feed your pet for around 8 hours prior to your scheduled visit.

Informed Consent

In the surgery service, we only ever proceed with evaluations or treatments once you as an owner fully understand the procedure being performed, and the possible implications of that procedure. After a detailed discussion with the surgeon and their staff, you will be asked to sign a consent form, which will detail exactly what procedures you have agreed to, what possible complications can be experienced, as well as the likely costs associated with the procedures.

If you have any questions relating to the procedures, please ask them during the consultation.