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Highgate Veterinary Clinic

173 Highgate, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 4EN - 01539 721344
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Operating Theatre
Our operating theatre is equipped with two operating tables with anaesthetic machines and monitoring equipment. These help our vets and nurses to ensure that, if your pet has to undergo surgery, he does so safely. The theatre is a busy place, we operate every weekday and, in emergencies, at weekends as well.

 

Our primary theatre table ready to receive a patient.

The theatre light is just above the table, the drip stand to the left and the anaesthetic machine to the right.

general view of operating theatre

 

Liz and Helen using our secondary operating table to place a catheter into a cat’s leg ready to give her intravenous fluids.

Liz and Helen at the secondary oper\ting table.

 

Once an animal is anaesthetised, a tube called an endotracheal tube us placed down the animal’s windpipe. Different sized animals need different sized tube.

These tubes are for rabbits (at the top) down to Great Danes ( at the bottom)

A set of endotracheal tubes in their rack

 

The endotracheal tube is then attached to the anaesthetic machine, which lets the animal breath oxygen and anaesthetic gas. Here Abba is being given a dental by Liz.

The tubes from Abba’s mouth to the anaesthetic machine can be seen.

Liz, wearing a mask, cleans Abba's teeth with the ultrasonic dental machine

 

The surgical instruments are sterilised by our autoclave in packs.

Here Pat is getting the instruments for Patch’s spay.

Pat collecting sterilised instrument packs from the sterile cupboard.

 

The pulse oximeter gently clips onto the tongue while the animal is anaesthetised, measuring heart rate and the amount of oxygen in the blood.

Here Patch is ready to be spayed. The pulse oximeter shows she has 98% of her blood saturated with oxygen and a heart rate of 148 beats per minute.

Patch, a black and white cat, connected to the  pulse oximeter

 

The instruments are placed on a tray ready for the operation. During surgery dirty swabs etc are put into the stainless steel bucket.

From left to right, swabs, scalpel, artery forceps, scissors, tissue forceps, needle holders (Gillies) and needles.


The type of operations we perform vary greatly, from rabbit dentals to bitch spays, from mending broken bones to removing a cat’s thyroid glands.

Photo of the instrument tray with swabs bucket below. Inset, there is a top view of the instruments laid out.

 

Here Liz is placing a bone plate into the front leg of Meg the farm collie’s leg.

Photo of Liz inserting a bone plate into Meg's leg - meg is covered in a green operating sheet
© Highgate Veterinary Clinic, United Kingdom, 2004
 

 

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