Specialist Surgery
Southpaws are one of Australia’s best veterinary referral hospitals with the highest level care in a professional and comforting environment for pets and owners. Our caring staff provide the very best in surgical, medical and cancer care for dogs and cats. Southpaws have some of the most advanced veterinary imaging and radiography capabilities in Australia. Our CT scanner is on par with those found in human hospitals and gives faster scans and superior image quality. We also have the only radiation therapy unit treating cancer in dogs and cats, in Victoria.
Southpaws are experts in:
Orthopaedic Surgery
We offer a full range of preventative and therapeutic orthopaedic surgery including arthroscopy for:
We offer stem cell therapy to help relieve the pain and discomfort caused by canine osteoarthritis. This pain relief can dramatically improve quality of life and reduce the need for potentially harmful anti-inflammatory medications.
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Neurosurgery
Neurosurgery requires patience, experience and outstanding technical skill. Our specialist surgeons have performed thousands of spinal and brain surgeries providing exceptional quality of life improvements for patients otherwise thought untreatable. Southpaws skills and techniques in neurosurgery are at the leading edge of world’s best practice in veterinary medicine.
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Minimally Invasive Surgery
Our specialist surgeons routinely perform minimally invasive (keyhole) surgery for many abdominal procedures. Minimally invasive surgery means smaller surgical site wounds, shorter recovery times and less pain. We work closely with our internal medicine department to conduct thoracoscopic (pericardectomy, PRAA, lung and pleural biopsies), laparoscopic (gastropexy, colopexy, GIT/Hepatic/Renal biopsies, cryptorchid gonadectomy, spey) and image-guided fluoroscopic (SUBs, stents) procedures.
Southpaws specialist surgical team are proud to have performed a FlexDex Laparoscopic Gastropexy in a Dog (Flexy Dexy Pexy) using the FlexDex robotic functionality system. If you’d like to read more or see the video, click here.
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Postoperative Care
Postoperative care and successful recovery are highly dependent on pain relief, patient warming, nursing care and post-surgery physiotherapy. Pets can’t tell us they are in pain, so we provide significant pain relief after surgery including injections, oral tablets, drips and innovative narcotic patches applied to the skin. Patients are discharged with anti-inflammatories as well. Patient warming during and after surgery improves wound healing, comfort and anaesthetic recovery while decreasing infection risk. We use electrically heated surgery tables, pre-warmed fluids and forced warm-air beds during recovery.
Southpaws have one of the highest nurse-patient ratios in the industry, with our nurses being highly skilled and compassionate. We have 24 / 7 / 365 veterinary and nursing care on-site. Because we don’t routinely see emergency patients, our overnight staff are dedicated to in-patient care. We will often recommend physiotherapy as part of the recovery process. We will give you guidance for exercises you can do at home and how to seek the support of a professional animal physiotherapist.
