Services at South Paws
Southpaws is one of Australia’s premier veterinary referral hospitals. Purpose built, Southpaws prides itself on providing the highest level patient care in an environment that is professional yet very comforting to pet owners and patients. Southpaws provides the very best in surgical, medical, ophthalmic and cancer care for its patients.
Southpaws boasts the only radiation therapy unit for animals in Victoria and was the first deep-therapy radiation unit available solely for animals in Australia. The fastest CT scanner in Australia dedicated for use in animals has been installed to increase image quality while shortening anaesthetic time. This machine would be at home in any worldclass human hospital facility. Southpaws is centrally located in Melbourne and is very close to shopping and dining for pet owner convenience.
General Surgery
Charles completed a one year fellowship in cardiac surgery and a Master’s project on cardiopulmonary bypass in dogs. He has observed over 100 human cardiopulmonary bypass procedures. This makes him uniquely qualified to handle any sort of soft-tissue surgery. Charles routinely performs cardiothoracic, gastrointestinal, and urinary tract surgery with a high rate of success. He has published on new techniques for cardiac surgery in animals.
Specialist Surgery
With medical credentials that include;
- DVM
- MS
- MACVSc
- Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons
- Registered Specialist of Small Animal Surgery
- Fellow of Surgical Oncology
and almost 20 years of surgical experience and training, Dr. Charles Kuntz is one of the worlds most experienced and competent surgeons. He is able to offer specialist surgical oncology, orthopaedic surgery, neurosurgery and minimally invasive surgery.
Orthopaedic Surgery
Southpaws offers a full range of preventative and therapeutic orthopaedic surgical procedures for a wide range of conditions. These include procedures for canine cruciate disease, elbow dysplasia, hip dysplasia, shoulder lameness, fracture repair, orthopaedic cancer and joint replacement.
At Southpaws we recognize that the best results following orhthopaedic surgery are obtained using a multi-facetted approach to management of the case. Surgery is just one component of the overall management program. We work very closely with specifically trained animal physiotherapists in order to achieve the best possible results from our patients.
Southpaws also offer stem cell therapy for the treatment of canine osteoarthritis. This treatment helps to relieve the pain and discomfort caused by osteoarthritis. It can dramatically improve quality of life and reduce the need for treatment with potentially harmful anti-inflammatory medications.
Neurosurgery
Neurosurgery requires patience, experience and outstanding technical skill. Charles has performed over 1,000 spinal surgeries. He routinely performs brain surgeries as well. Charles developed a technique for controlling epilepsy in dogs using encephaloscopy which he presented at the American College of Veterinary Surgeons and and the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists. His epilepsy surgery paper being submitted for publication in the journal Veterinary Surgery.
Minimally Invasive Surgery
Charles is also trained, equipped and experienced to perform minimally invasive (keyhole) surgery for many abdominal procedures. Minimally invasive surgery means shorter recovery, less pain and better visualisation. He has published on new techniques for minimally invasive surgery in animals.
Postoperative Care
Postoperative care is critical to the success and comfort in the surgical patient. We believe that since animals can’t tell us that they are in pain, they should be treated aggressively with pain relief whether they show signs of pain after surgery or not. We use local pain relief in the form of an epidural whenever possible. Patients receive either intermittent injections of narcotics or a constant infusion of narcotics after surgery. They almost always have a narcotic patch which lasts for 4 days and are discharged with antiinflammatories as well. Collectively, we do everything possible to make our patients suffer as little pain as possible.
We also feel that patient warming is critical during and after surgery. Maintaining patient temperature during and after anaesthesia increases patient comfort, improves wound healing, decreases pain, decreases infection and speeds anaesthetic recovery. We use an electrically heated surgery table as well as forced warm air during recovery. We have a special incubator which heats fluids and blankets to warm patients during and after surgery.
Nursing care is one of the most important factors in insuring a comfortable and successful recovery. Southpaws has one of the highest nurse-patient ratios in the industry. Our nurses are highly skilled and compassionate. We have onsite 24-hour care whenever patients are onsite. Because we don’t routinely see emergency patients, our overnight staff are not distracted from the care of in-house patients by unexpected emergencies. We work closely with a 24-emergency centre to provide high-need care to critical patients.
