Surgical Services

Our experienced staff at Creekside veterinary Clinic offers many different surgical options for all animals, large or small.  We have a variety of up-to-date equipment and well-trained staff to ensure your animal has the safest anesthetic experience available.  All surgeries are performed with the laser surgery equipment which decreases healing time and surgical complications.

Anesthesia & Patient Monitoring

Our experienced staff at Creekside veterinary Clinic offers many different surgical options for all animals, large or small. We have a variety of up to date equipment and well trained staff to ensure your animal has the safest anesthetic experience available. All surgeries are performed with the laser surgery equipment which decreases healing time and surgical complications.

Patient monitoring

Our veterinary technicians will closely monitor every patient that is under anesthesia by closely checking vital signs. Regularly assessing the patient’s vital signs will help decrease anesthetic risk. To ensure your pet isn’t a risk for surgery, we require every animal over the age of 4 to get pre-anesthetic bloodwork and surgical IV fluids.

Anesthesia Equipment

• Anesthesia machine- Anesthetizes animals with a mixture of oxygen and isoflurane, an inhalant anesthetic.
• Pulse oximeter- Reads heart rate and blood oxygen level.
• Vital signs monitor- Reads heart rate, pulse, blood pressure, temperature, blood oxygen level, respiratory rate and ECG.
• Blood pressure monitor- Reads blood pressure.

General Anesthesia

For most surgical procedures, animals will be required to be put under general anesthesia to be unconscious and not feel pain. While there is risk with any surgery, our staff takes every precaution to ensure your pet’s safety. The anesthesia protocol begins with an injectable sedative to help your pet relax and decrease anxiety and pain. Next, the inhalant anesthetic is used to completely sedate your animal before we intubate, or place a breathing tube into the trachea, or windpipe. Finally, the inhalant anesthetic is used for the duration of the surgical procedure.

Local Anesthesia

There will be times where a local anesthetic will be used to help control pain for your animal. Local anesthetics cause a loss of sensation in the area where the procedure is being performed.

Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions regarding your pet’s anesthetic protocol or any procedure that may be performed.

Orthopedic Surgery

We offer different types of orthopedic surgeries. Occasionally, there will be a need for a referral to a board-certified orthopedic surgeon for complex surgeries.

Types of surgeries

• • Bone Fractures – Our experienced veterinarians can place metal pins to repair fractures.

• • Pinning – Stabilizes the fracture by inserting a long stainless-steel rod into the middle of the bone across from the fractured area.

• • External Fixation – Stabilizes fractures using a series of pins on the outside of the leg that pass through the skin and into the bone on either side of the fracture.

• • FHO (Femoral head osteotomy) – This procedure removes the head and neck of the femur to help alleviate pain.

• • Patella Luxation – This procedure deepens the groove in which the dog’s kneecap sits.

• • CCL Repair – The cranial crucial ligament in a dog’s knee can be torn completely.

Cranial Cruciate Ligament (CrCL) rupture is the most common cause of rear limb lameness in the dog.  The CrCL is the equivalent of the Anterior Collateral ligament (ACL) in humans.  This is the common football injury most of us have heard of.

It is one of 2 ligaments that cross inside the stifle (veterinary term for canine knee) joint.  These ligaments prevent the femur and tibia from sliding back and forth on each other.  These ligaments are especially important for our canine and feline companions because their hind limbs are flexed (bent) most of the time.  When they put weight on their hind legs, the tendency is for the femur to roll or slide back and down the top of the tibia.  The CrCL stops this downward slide, and because their legs are usually bent, these ligaments are under constant stress and strain.

The biomechanical stress strains the ligament which leads to fraying, partial and complete tear.  There are other factors that can cause or exacerbate this issue, like obesity, poor diet, joint inflammation, limb deformities, poor or extreme exercise, and several other genetic factors.  The combination of factors that cause Cruciate Rupture is part of why this is often referred to as Canine Cranial Cruciate Disease.

Due to the frequency of the injury and need for a solution, the veterinary profession has focused tremendous energy on this problem.

If your pet does have a CrCL rupture, Dr. Jason Heezen can fix it.  He usually repair’s these using a technique called a TTA-2.  This stands for Tibia Tuberosity Advancement Type 2.  Dr. Heezen is the only surgeon in South Dakota that is certified to use this specific type of CrCL repair.  Click on the following link to YouTube so that you can see the procedure animated:  https://youtu.be/R1Vx4XNaxMg 

This procedure is less invasive than other CrCL repairs and is very effective at correcting the damage done by a rupture of the CrCL.

Dr. Heezen has been doing these procedures for over 10 years.  This procedure has been very effective at preventing the damaging effects of long-term osteoarthritis that is associated with chronic CrCL damage.  During the surgical procedure Dr. Heezen will also examine the other causes of lameness associated with knee injury and repair them if it is possible.

If you suspect that your companion has suffered a CrCL injury.  Give us a call and we can make an evaluation of your pet’s knee.

Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP)

What is PRP? PRP is a regenerative medicine that utilizes the body’s own cells to heal and regenerate damaged tissues for acute and chronic conditions.

Platelet rich plasma is a highly concentrated blood sample that contains isolated cells (platelets) and the fluid portion of blood (plasma). It helps regenerate and heal tissues by recruiting cells to an area of injury to clean up dead and injured cells. Releasing proteins called growth factors which are responsible for tissue regeneration.

Conditions PRP be used to help treat:

• Osteoarthritis
• Acute and chronic soft tissue injuries
• Tendon and Ligament injuries
• Muscle injuries
• Certain spinal conditions
• For patients with residual post-operative intra-articular symptoms (effusion, discomfort, lameness) despite medical management and rehab
• For patient’s intolerant or non-responsive to NSAIDs as a supplement or alternative to oral medical treatments.
• Solid treatment option for patients who can’t handle NSAID therapy.
• In combination with any orthopedic surgery.

Benefits of PRP

• Drug-free treatment
• Minimally invasive

Soft Tissue Surgery

We offer many different types of soft tissue surgery at our clinic. Soft tissue surgeries procedures that aren’t associated with bone.

• Removal of masses or lumps

Any mass removed will be sent to a diagnostic laboratory. Most commonly these masses are found to be benign, or noncancerous. However, an early detection is key for treatment and management of any diagnosis.

• Eye surgery
• Removal of masses found on eyelids
• Cherry eye surgery
• Treatment of corneal ulcers