Dog surgery FAQs

Our urolith extraction package starts at $950 (2026 pricing). It includes pre-anesthetic blood screening, urinalysis, anesthesia with continuous monitoring, the cystotomy, retrograde urethral hydropropulsion, medications, and the follow-up healing evaluation. Referral hospitals in the area commonly quote $3,000 or more. Stone analysis and any prescription diet are quoted separately because they depend on what is found.

Go to the nearest emergency hospital now. A dog that strains and produces no urine may have a complete urethral obstruction, which backs pressure into the kidneys and can become life-threatening within about a day. Once your dog is decompressed and stable, contact us about the surgery itself. If urine is still coming out, call us the same day.

Some can. Struvite stones often dissolve over several weeks with a therapeutic diet and treatment of any urinary infection. Calcium oxalate stones do not dissolve and must be removed surgically. That is why identifying the stone type matters so much.

Yes, for the first three to five days. It should get lighter each day. Heavy fresh bleeding, clots, or straining with nothing produced needs an immediate call or text to the recovery line.

Three things make the biggest difference: removing every fragment including any in the urethra, feeding the diet matched to the stone analysis, and keeping your dog drinking plenty of water. Periodic urinalysis catches a returning infection before it seeds new stones.

Within days. Bladder stones are painful and can progress to complete obstruction, so they are not treated as routine elective surgery. Partially obstructed dogs are booked same or next day.

Between $150 and $950 per procedure (2026 pricing), depending on how many teeth are involved and how difficult they are. That range includes pre-anesthetic bloodwork, anesthesia with continuous monitoring, infraorbital or mandibular nerve blocks, and digital dental X-rays. Complete cleanings start at $295. You get a realistic range before anesthesia, confirmed once the radiographs show what is happening below the gumline.

Single-rooted front teeth can often be lifted out whole. Multi-rooted premolars and carnassials have two or three diverging roots, so the tooth must be sectioned, each root lifted separately under a gum flap, and the site closed. That is surgery, and it is priced as surgery.

Dogs rarely stop eating because of dental pain. They adapt. Watch for chewing on one side, dropping kibble or toys, worsening breath, pawing at the face, flinching when the head is touched, or a sudden preference for soft food.

Pre-anesthetic bloodwork checks liver and kidney function first, nerve blocks keep the anesthetic light, and SpO2, ECG, blood pressure, and temperature are monitored throughout on a warmed table. Leaving infected, painful teeth in place has its own risks, and that is the comparison that matters.

Most dogs eat softened food within a day or two and are back to normal within a week. Sutures dissolve on their own. Avoid hard chews and tug toys for about a week, and finish the pain relief even if your dog seems fine.

Yes. We remove benign oral tumors, repair jaw fractures, and close oroantral fistulas. If a mass looks malignant and needs staging first, we will tell you directly rather than proceeding.

From around $1,200 (2026 pricing). That already includes pre-op abdominal radiographs, pre-anesthetic blood screening, IV fluid support, anesthesia with continuous monitoring, the surgery, and post-operative medications. Emergency and referral hospitals commonly quote $3,000 to $5,000 for the same operation. Our price rises when a case is more complex, for example when damaged bowel needs resection and anastomosis or when a dog arrives septic.

Call us before you do anything else. Act fast if you see repeated vomiting, refusal of food or water, lethargy, straining with no stool, a hunched posture, or a sore belly. Some small smooth objects pass, but there is no way to tell from the outside, and an obstruction left for two days is a far riskier operation than one dealt with today.

No. Inducing vomiting can make some cases much worse. A corn cob or sharp bone coming back up can tear the esophagus, and a linear foreign body should never be moved. Sometimes induced vomiting is the right call, but a vet who knows what was swallowed and when needs to make that decision.

Rocks and most bones show clearly. Fabric, rubber, and plastic often do not, so we read the pattern around them: gas build-up, bunched bowel loops, or free fluid. If radiographs are not conclusive, abdominal ultrasound usually settles it.

Sometimes. Endoscopy can retrieve some objects still in the stomach, but it cannot reach the small intestine, where most obstructions cause harm, and it still requires general anesthesia. We review the X-rays first and will tell you if a non-surgical option is realistic.

About two weeks. Small, frequent, bland meals for the first several days, then a gradual return to normal food. Activity is restricted for the full fortnight. Call or text straight away if vomiting returns, your dog stops eating, or the incision swells or leaks.

From around $1,800 (2026 pricing). That includes pre-anesthetic blood screening, anesthesia with continuous monitoring, reduction and fixation, the implants, immediate post-operative X-rays, and medications. Complexity pushes it higher: fractures in multiple fragments, fractures into a joint, open fractures needing an external fixator, and longer healing periods with more recheck X-rays.

No. Stable, non-displaced fractures, especially in young dogs, can heal in a Robert Jones bandage or cast with strict rest. Surgery is needed when the fracture is displaced, in several fragments, involves a joint, or will not stay aligned. The X-rays decide.

Not surgically. Cruciate tears are common in active dogs on local trails, but TPLO and other elective orthopedic procedures are outside our scope. We will tell you plainly and point you toward a surgeon who performs them routinely.

Usually six to twelve weeks, quicker in young dogs and slower in older ones. Recheck X-rays confirm progress, because dogs will happily walk on a bone that is nowhere near healed.

More than most owners expect. A crate or small room, lead-only toilet trips, no stairs, no jumping on furniture, and no off-lead running until the X-rays clear it. Movement at the fracture site is the main cause of a bone that fails to heal.

Go straight to the nearest emergency hospital. Chest injury, internal bleeding, and shock are the dangers in the first hours, not the leg. Once your dog is stable, contact us about the fracture repair.

Mass removal starts at $450 (2026 pricing). That covers pre-anesthetic blood screening, anesthesia, continuous vital-sign monitoring, the excision, a cosmetic subcuticular closure, home medications, and the complimentary 10-to-14 day healing evaluation. Size, depth, and number of masses move the price: one small superficial lump sits at the bottom of the range, while a large deep mass or several masses in one session cost more. Histopathology is quoted separately.

No, and nobody honestly can. A soft lipoma and a mast cell tumor can feel almost identical. A fine-needle aspirate in the consult room gives a strong indication within minutes, and histopathology after removal confirms the diagnosis. Rapid growth, firmness, ulceration, bleeding, or a mass fixed to the tissue underneath are the features that raise concern.

Not necessarily. Older dogs often collect several benign lumps, and a small, stable, confirmed-benign mass can be monitored. We recommend removal when a lump is growing, changing, interfering with movement, ulcerating, or when we cannot be confident it is benign. If several do need removing, doing them under one anesthetic is usually cheaper and safer.

Most of the day. Surgical time for a single skin mass is usually under an hour, but admission, pre-anesthetic checks, and supervised recovery fill the rest. Most Talleyville dogs are home by the evening.

Usually yes, for about two weeks. Subcuticular closures give dogs much less to chew at than staples, but a persistent licker can still open an incision. Two weeks of cone is far easier than treating an infection or a reopened wound.

Once the incision is checked and cleared at the 10-to-14 day evaluation. Until then it is lead walks only, with no off-lead running, jumping, or swimming in the creek.

From around $1,100 (2026 pricing). That includes pre-anesthetic blood screening, IV fluids, broad-spectrum antibiotics, the ovariohysterectomy, continuous monitoring, and post-operative medications. Corporate emergency hospitals typically quote $2,500 to $4,000 or more. Dogs who arrive severely septic need more support and cost more, and we tell you that before surgery. CareCredit is accepted.

Yes, call today. Lethargy, a poor appetite, drinking and urinating more than usual, or vomiting in an unspayed female in the two months after a heat cycle is the classic picture of pyometra. A discharge may or may not be present. No discharge does not rule it out, and can mean the more dangerous closed form.

Medical treatment with prostaglandins exists, but it is slow, unreliable, suitable only for some stable open cases, and the problem often returns at the next season. Surgery is the standard of care because it removes the infection permanently.

Being sick is the reason surgery is needed, because the infection will not clear while the uterus remains. What changes is the preparation: IV fluids and antibiotics before induction, continuous monitoring throughout, and an anesthetic adjusted to her measured blood and kidney values.

Most dogs look dramatically brighter within 24 hours. Full recovery takes about two weeks of restricted activity plus a complete antibiotic course. The complimentary healing evaluation at 10 to 14 days confirms she is back to normal.

No. The ovaries and uterus are removed, so it cannot recur. Spaying a female you do not plan to breed is the most effective prevention there is.

From around $1,500 (2026 pricing). That covers pre-anesthetic blood screening, anesthesia with continuous Lead II ECG monitoring, the splenectomy, post-operative PCV and lactate monitoring, and medications. Imaging and histopathology are quoted separately. Referral hospitals commonly quote $3,000 to $5,000 for the same surgery.

No. Roughly half of canine splenic masses are benign, typically hematomas or nodular hyperplasia. The other half are malignant, most often hemangiosarcoma. No scan can reliably tell them apart, so histopathology of the removed spleen is the only definitive answer.

Yes. The liver and bone marrow take over the spleen's blood-filtering and storage roles. Dogs live normal, energetic lives after a splenectomy with no special diet or lifelong medication needed for the missing spleen.

Splenic disease is closely linked to ventricular premature contractions, abnormal beats that can appear during surgery or in the 24 to 48 hours afterwards. Most settle on their own, but some need treatment, and you can only treat what you are watching for.

Splenic disease mostly affects older dogs, so age alone cannot decide it. Organ function and heart status matter, and both are assessed before surgery. A bleeding spleen left in place is not the safer choice.

Pale gums, weakness, collapse, a swelling belly, or refusing food all need an immediate call. Otherwise expect two weeks of restricted activity, with histopathology results usually back within about a week.