to feed or not to feed?

Re: to feed or not to feed?

Vicky RVN — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:32:54 GMT

[quote user="chris beasley RVN MBVNA"]Not even water or litter trays.[/quote]

I'm really shocked at that!

Re: to feed or not to feed?

Nick Shackleton — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:46:14 GMT

at premed water is taken away!

Re: to feed or not to feed?

chris beasley — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:40:44 GMT

[quote user="Nick Shackleton VN MBVNA"]

litter trays at ALL times unless recumbent. Water up until premed and kept away until sternal.

Above she only be withheld if contraindicated............

[/quote]

Do you not withhold water prior to G/A ?

Re: to feed or not to feed?

Nick Shackleton — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:38:25 GMT

litter trays at ALL times unless recumbent. Water up until premed and kept away until sternal.

Above she only be withheld if contraindicated............

Re: to feed or not to feed?

chris beasley — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:34:11 GMT

When I first qualified my practice never fed any day inpatients. Not even water or litter trays.

At my current practice we feed/water/litter. Often a small amount of dry sensitivity diet from samples bags - no charge to owner

Re: to feed or not to feed?

Sal the 1st — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:52:56 GMT

most of the clients at last place took the recovery packs for cats and dogs - also we used to make up 90ml pillpot of oxbow recovery powder and a small pack of alfalfa hay and a strip of bio lapis for the bunnies, instead of syringes we used to put in one of the soft plastic pasteur pippettes ( if you snip it short about halfway along is better at sucking up oxbow mixture than a syringe because it has a bigger hole and tends to be a lot better tollerated by bunnies and guineas) fibreplex was offered if owner wanted it but the price put many off.

Re: to feed or not to feed?

Vicky RVN — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:39:27 GMT

Yes does sound miserable! What does half a sachet or a bit of a tin of sensitivity really cost in the grand scheme of things? Like you say, adding a tiny amount to the ops price wouldn't be noticed.

What do people do post op? We have sensitivity recover packs with 3 tins for dogs, 4 sachets for cats. There is an option on the consent form if they want to buy this, or give their own chicken/fish. I would say about half of our clients choose the recovery food. Others would rather cook their own, cos the animals prefer it lol!

Re: to feed or not to feed?

Sal the 1st — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:34:33 GMT

i remember 1 place i worked daycases- we were only allowed to feed if we charged the food to client. there were a few problems with clients complaining about the cost of the food on the invoice so then the rule was changed to could only feed if clients ticked the box on admissions form to say they wanted a recovery pack on discharge.

when the tickbox for recovery pack was added to consent form then got clients on admit complaining that they were being forced to buy food (in fact a couple of clients walked out with their pets in disgust)

I understand giving free food away was costly to the practice - but this could have been done a lot more tactfully by just adding a pound or so the the cost of the op and including a meal in with the op price instead of making a song and dance about it.

I didnt last there long - was a miserable place to work

Re: to feed or not to feed?

Vicky RVN — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:05:46 GMT

I hope you manage to win the battle! We always feed, as soon as animals are ready to eat. I feel happier knowing an animal is going home without being ravenous!

Re: to feed or not to feed?

supamog — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:52:46 GMT

yes thanks for that. those two words sum it up perfectly......also as soon as sternal recumbancy is achieved i was taught. unless i am now a dinosaur?

Re: to feed or not to feed?

supamog — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:47:09 GMT

yep thanks for that, those two phrases sum it up perfectly! as soon as sternal recumbancy is achieved i was told. unless i am now a dinosaur???

Re: to feed or not to feed?

Kim Buckley — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:46:57 GMT

We feed everything post op unless specifically told not to.

Re: to feed or not to feed?

Nick Shackleton — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:22:11 GMT

I've got two words for you "free-radicals" and "antioxidants"

The sooner an animal feeds following anaesthesia it helps provide antioxidants (contained within food) and help eradicate "free-radicals" released into the body during general anaesthesia!

We used to feed patients as soon as possible unless contra-indicated. This includes gastric/intestinal surgery, oropharygeal surgery (esp if a feeding tube has been placed)..

Re: to feed or not to feed?

Maisy — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:40:11 GMT

I've always fed for the same reason you mentioned. Since locuming I've been in a couple of practices where they don't but sometimes these animals aren't collected for a good few hours once recovered so I like to give them a little bit of food. There's no veterinary reason by the VS why they don't feed, more as a 'convenience' to owner in case the animal vomits on the way home

Re: to feed or not to feed?

supamog — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:38:36 GMT

thanks! thats exactly what i thought! i will be putting the case for feeding forward! i have very good success rates for getting even the most sulky inappetent cat to eat. Im sure the Clients are happier if we can tell them that X has recovered nicely and has even had a small meal.

Re: to feed or not to feed?

Katie Tallett RVN MBVNA — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:34:54 GMT

feed!!

Re: to feed or not to feed?

Dodo bird — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:33:10 GMT

we feed ours - warms them up /gets metabolism going etc and helps recovery .