CAN I ATTEND NEUTER CLINIC ON MY OWN?

Anyone can attend the course as an individual, with a student friend, or as a group. About 50% of students attend alone. Students are usually paired up and alternate as surgeon and anaesthetist. You will perform everything from cannula placement, induction, tubing and surgical scrub. The experienced vet supervising the session will only step in to help if really needed.

If you attend alone you can pair up with another attendee, or the overseeing veterinary surgeon will watch the anaesthetic.

WHEN CAN I GO AND PERFORM THE INTENSIVE SURGERY COURSES?

The neutering programme was restarted in summer 2019.

We are likely to run the programme over approximately 48 weeks of the year, so ideally get in touch with us to let us know which dates you would like to reserve a place. You can book one or two weeks together, or if you feel you want to perform even more surgery, then several weeks are possible.

We will need to know what you want from the programme, what surgery you have performed so far, your level of confidence and what you believe you need to focus on.

Most students that attend have had little to no experience in surgery

WHAT ARE THE COSTS OF EMS AND CPD?

We can then give you up to date costings, payments are used to finance the programme and to cover accommodation costs

Terms and conditions - When a placement is secured with a deposit, a full refund less administration fee, will be given if a cancellation is made with at least 12 weeks notice from the date of the placement, if less than 12 weeks notice is given, we can not refund the deposit/money paid, unless we can find another student to take the placement.

WHICH ANAESTHETICS DO WE USE FOR THE NEUTERING

Routinely we use:

Premed IV induction

Intubation Gaseous maintenance

Different suture materials depending on your preference, but you will have the opportunity to try different materials to establish a preferred

Analgesics

Antibiotics on some occasions

Regards possible bites, for Health And Safety reasons the patients will only be handled by students after the premed has taken effect and recovery is performed by Dr Peters

SURGICAL GOALS

With the bitch spay the main hurdles are finding the uterus, breaking down ovarian ligaments and placing secure ovarian ligatures.

If you are struggling to find the uterus, we will find the uterus, show you the size and allow you to palpate it, so you get an idea of its feel and then replace the uterus, giving you a better chance of finding it.

With ovarian ligament breakdown, we can show you different techniques to break these down and guide you through this procedure and once you have the technique, you will be able to break suspensory ligaments in seconds, without damaging the renal ligament

With ovarian ligatures, we will show you techniques to make this as easy as possible. We will also encourage you to trial different suture thickness to help you find which thickness is best for you, as this will ensure tying the tightest sutures. (this can vary on surgeons hand strength and technique).

We will also teach you the best incisional site on the dog, pending age, possible litters and whether they have had their first season. Most students leave the clinic able to perform a bitch spay through a two inch incision for any size of bitch spay.