When your pet needs surgery, we’re here to help

Park Road Animal Hospital provides skilled soft-tissue surgical care in Charlotte, with safety and comfort guiding every step. Our experienced veterinary team blends advanced techniques with modern equipment to deliver dependable surgical outcomes for your pet.

Comprehensive Surgical Care

Personalized surgical treatment for pets

Our soft-tissue surgery services include a wide variety of procedures, ranging from routine operations to more involved surgical interventions. Before surgery, we complete thorough evaluations and develop customized treatment plans based on your pet’s individual condition and overall health.

What to Expect

Your pet’s safety is our top priority during surgery

Our surgical suite is outfitted with advanced monitoring technology and adheres to strict sterilization and infection-control standards. Every procedure is performed with careful attention to your pet’s safety and comfort.

During anesthesia, our team continuously monitors vital signs and adjusts care as needed to keep your pet stable. We remain attentive throughout the procedure and respond promptly to any changes to ensure consistent, high-quality care from beginning to end.

Our Diagnostic Capabilities

Timely, accurate diagnostics to support care

When appropriate, we use in-house diagnostic testing to help guide surgical planning and support safe treatment decisions. These tools allow us to gather important information efficiently and provide more targeted care.

After surgery, you’ll receive clear recovery instructions and a pain-management plan tailored to your pet. Our team is always available to answer questions and support you throughout the healing process.

Schedule Your Pet’s Soft-Tissue Surgery in Charlotte

Trusted soft-tissue surgery experts

If your pet needs soft-tissue surgery, contact Park Road Animal Hospital to discuss your options and schedule an appointment in Charlotte. Our knowledgeable team is here to guide you through the process and provide compassionate surgical care for your pet.

Female Vet with Dog

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions: Anesthesia & Surgery: What to Expect

These questions apply to every surgical procedure we perform, from a routine spay to an emergency abdominal surgery.

Safety comes from preparation and monitoring rather than from any one drug. Every surgical patient receives a physical exam, pre-anesthetic bloodwork, an IV catheter with fluid support, pain medication before the first incision, and a protocol tailored to their age, breed, and health status.

During the procedure a dedicated technician monitors heart rate and ECG, respiratory rate, end-tidal carbon dioxide, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, and body temperature, with active warming to prevent hypothermia. Recovery is monitored just as closely — the recovery period is when most anesthetic complications occur.

A full stomach increases the risk of regurgitation and aspiration under anesthesia, and it raises the chance of esophagitis afterward. We generally ask that food be withheld starting the night before, while water stays available until you leave for the hospital. We will give you exact timing when you schedule.

Puppies, kittens, very small dogs, and diabetic patients follow different instructions, because prolonged fasting risks low blood sugar. Please tell us if your pet is diabetic or on any medication so we can advise on the morning dose.

Multimodally — several classes of drug acting at different points in the pain pathway, started before surgery rather than after. Depending on the procedure that can include opioids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, local and regional nerve blocks, ketamine or lidocaine infusions, and gabapentin.

Pets go home with pain medication and clear instructions. Never give human pain relievers — ibuprofen, naproxen, and acetaminophen are toxic to dogs and cats, and acetaminophen can be fatal to cats in a single dose.

A normal incision is a clean line, pink to slightly red at the edges, with mild swelling and possibly a small amount of bruising in the first few days. Slight clear or blood-tinged fluid in the first 24 hours can be normal.

Call us for: increasing redness or swelling, heat, thick or foul-smelling discharge, an opening or gap in the incision, or any tissue visible through it. Also call if your pet is lethargic, painful, not eating, or has a fever.

Yes. A single determined licking session can open an incision, and a dehisced abdominal incision is a genuine emergency. The cone stays on at all times for the full healing period — usually 10 to 14 days — not just when you are out of the house. If the traditional cone is a poor fit, inflatable collars, soft cones, and surgical recovery suits are all reasonable alternatives; ask us which is appropriate for your pet’s incision.

For most soft tissue surgery, 10 to 14 days of leash-only walks for elimination, and no running, jumping, stairs, rough play, swimming, or baths. Internal healing lags well behind what the skin looks like — the incision can appear healed while the body wall is still at its weakest point.

If your pet feels too good too soon, that is normal and not permission to let them off leash. Ask us about safe mental enrichment for the recovery period.

After hours? If your pet has a surgical emergency when we are closed, go directly to your nearest 24-hour emergency veterinary hospital. During opening hours call us at (980) 981-4334.

Frequently Asked Questions: Soft Tissue Surgery: Gastrointestinal Foreign Bodies

Dogs and cats swallow things they shouldn’t. Some pass uneventfully; others lodge in the stomach or intestine and become life-threatening within a day or two. These are the questions we are asked most often.

Call us instead of waiting. If the item was swallowed within roughly the last two hours and is not a sharp object or a caustic substance, we can often induce vomiting in the hospital and retrieve it before it ever reaches the intestine — the least invasive and least expensive option available.

Do not induce vomiting at home without speaking to us first. Hydrogen peroxide can cause serious stomach inflammation, and bringing a sharp object or a caustic chemical back up the esophagus does more damage than leaving it. There is no safe reliable way to make a cat vomit at home.

Tell us what was swallowed, how big it was, and when. String, thread, fabric, corn cobs, rocks, hair ties, socks, bones, coins, and toy fragments are the usual culprits.

  • Repeated vomiting, especially vomiting right after eating or drinking
  • Loss of appetite and lethargy
  • A painful, tense abdomen, or a “praying” stretch posture
  • Straining to defecate, or producing only small amounts of liquid stool or nothing at all
  • Drooling and nausea
  • Dehydration and collapse in later stages

Partial obstructions are sneakier — intermittent vomiting over several days or weeks, weight loss, and a pet who seems mildly off. Cats with linear foreign bodies may show remarkably subtle signs until they are critically ill.

We start with a physical exam and abdominal radiographs. Metal, stone, and bone show up clearly; fabric, plastic, and rubber often do not, so we look for indirect evidence — gas and fluid distension of the intestine, an abnormal bunched or plicated pattern, or a change in the gas pattern between two sets of images taken hours apart.

Abdominal ultrasound is more sensitive for non-radiopaque objects and shows intestinal wall health and free fluid. A contrast study is sometimes used. Bloodwork tells us about hydration, electrolytes, and whether other causes of vomiting — pancreatitis, kidney disease, Addison’s disease — should be considered.

Time is the mechanism of harm. An obstructing object presses on the intestinal wall and cuts off its blood supply. Within roughly 24 to 48 hours the wall can become devitalized and perforate, spilling intestinal contents into the abdomen — septic peritonitis, which is far more dangerous and far more expensive to treat than the original obstruction. Prolonged vomiting also causes dehydration and electrolyte derangements that themselves become life-threatening.

Some small, smooth objects genuinely do pass. Deciding which ones can be safely monitored — and monitoring them properly, with serial exams and imaging — is a medical judgment we make case by case.

A linear foreign body anchors at one end — under a cat’s tongue or at the pylorus — while the intestine continues trying to move the rest along. The bowel bunches up like fabric on a drawstring, and the string saws into the inner curve of the intestine. This can perforate the bowel in multiple places at once.

This is why we ask you to check under a cat’s tongue if you suspect string ingestion, and why you should never pull on a string you can see coming out of either end of your pet. Cut off access and bring them in.

Under general anesthesia we open the abdomen and inspect the entire gastrointestinal tract from stomach to colon, along with the other abdominal organs. What happens next depends on where the object is:

  • Gastrotomy — an incision into the stomach to remove an object that has not moved on
  • Enterotomy — an incision into the intestine, made just downstream of the object where the wall is healthier, then closed with fine absorbable suture
  • Resection and anastomosis — removal of a segment of intestine that is no longer viable, with the healthy ends sewn back together
  • Multiple enterotomies, sometimes needed for a linear foreign body
  • Abdominal lavage and, if there is contamination, drainage and prolonged antibiotic therapy

We often take a biopsy at the same time if the intestine looks abnormal, and in cats we may check the pancreas and liver while we are there.

The most serious is dehiscence — a breakdown of the intestinal suture line, usually between three and five days after surgery, releasing intestinal contents into the abdomen. It is uncommon but is the reason we monitor closely in that window and ask you to report any vomiting, fever, or lethargy immediately.

Risk is higher in patients who arrived septic, who had low blood protein levels, who had a section of bowel resected, or who had a linear foreign body. Straightforward cases caught early have a very good prognosis — the great majority go home eating within a day or two.

Most patients stay in hospital at least overnight, and longer if the intestine was compromised, on IV fluids, injectable pain control, and anti-nausea medication. We start small amounts of water and then a bland, easily digestible diet within about 12 to 24 hours — early feeding actually supports healing of the intestinal wall.

At home: 10 to 14 days of strict rest and cone use, small frequent meals of the prescribed diet before a gradual return to normal food, and incision monitoring. Recheck as scheduled.

Repeat offenders are common, and dogs who eat one sock generally eat another. Practical measures: hampers and trash behind closed doors, no rawhides or small toys unsupervised, sewing supplies and hair es put away, corn cobs and bones off the counter, and a basket muzzle for dogs who scavenge on walks. For persistent indiscriminate eating, ask us about behavioral causes and training approaches.

After hours? If your pet has a surgical emergency when we are closed, go directly to your nearest 24-hour emergency veterinary hospital. During opening hours call us at (980) 981-4334.

Frequently Asked Questions: Soft Tissue Surgery: Bladder Stones & Cystotomy

Mineral concretions that form in the urinary bladder when urine chemistry, pH, concentration, and sometimes infection combine to let crystals aggregate. They range from sand-like grit to stones larger than a marble, and a pet can have one or hundreds.

The common types behave quite differently. Struvite stones in dogs usually form secondary to urinary tract infection with urease-producing bacteria and can often be dissolved with diet and antibiotics. Calcium oxalate stones cannot be dissolved and must be removed. Urate stones are associated with certain breeds and with liver shunts; cystine stones with a hereditary kidney transport defect. This is why stone type matters so much.

  • Straining to urinate, often mistaken for constipation
  • Frequent attempts producing small amounts of urine
  • Blood in the urine
  • Urinating in unusual places, or house-soiling in a previously trained pet
  • Licking at the genital area
  • Vocalizing or discomfort while urinating

Some stones cause no signs at all and are found incidentally on X-rays taken for another reason.

Because the male urethra is long and narrow and can be completely obstructed by a stone or by a plug of crystals and mucus. When urine cannot leave the body, potassium and toxins build up in the bloodstream within hours. Untreated, urethral obstruction causes heart rhythm abnormalities, kidney injury, bladder rupture, and death — often within 24 to 48 hours.

If a male dog or cat is straining repeatedly and producing little or no urine, treat it as an emergency and come in immediately. Do not wait until morning.

Sometimes. Struvite stones in dogs frequently dissolve over several weeks to a few months with a therapeutic dissolution diet plus antibiotics for the underlying infection. Urate and cystine stones can also respond to medical management in selected patients.

Calcium oxalate — the most common stone in cats and increasingly common in dogs — will not dissolve at all. Neither will silica or compound stones. And regardless of type, medical dissolution is off the table if the pet is obstructed, if a stone is lodged in the urethra, or if the stone is large enough to threaten obstruction.

We can often predict stone type from urine pH, crystal appearance, radiographic characteristics, breed, and culture results — but the definitive answer comes from analyzing the stone itself after removal.

Surgical opening of the bladder to remove stones. Through a small abdominal incision the bladder is isolated and opened, the stones are removed and counted, the bladder is flushed and the urethra retro-flushed to confirm nothing remains, and the bladder is closed with fine absorbable suture. We typically take a piece of bladder wall or a stone for culture, since infection is often present within the stone itself.

Post-operative radiographs are standard before your pet goes home. Small stones hide easily in bladder folds and in the urethra, and confirming a stone-free bladder is part of doing the procedure properly.

In male dogs with a stone lodged in the urethra that cannot be flushed back, a urethrotomy — or, for repeat offenders, a scrotal urethrostomy creating a permanent wider opening — may be needed.

Because prevention depends entirely on composition. A struvite former needs infection control and pH management; a calcium oxalate former needs a completely different diet, increased water intake, and monitoring of urine calcium; a urate former may need liver evaluation and a purine-restricted diet. Guessing wrong means the stones come back.

Recurrence rates are meaningful — calcium oxalate stones recur in a substantial proportion of dogs within a few years — so the analysis is what turns one surgery into a long-term plan.

Most pets go home the day of surgery or the following morning. Expect blood-tinged urine and increased frequency for several days; this reflects bladder wall inflammation and improves steadily. Pain medication is dispensed, and antibiotics if culture results warrant them.

The usual 10 to 14 days of restricted activity and cone use applies. Call us if your pet strains without producing urine, if bloody urine worsens rather than improves after the first few days, or if appetite and energy drop.

The plan follows the stone analysis, but the elements are usually: a prescription therapeutic diet, deliberately increased water intake (canned food, water fountains, multiple bowls), avoiding treats and supplements that undermine the diet, and monitoring — recheck urinalysis and, when indicated, imaging at intervals we’ll set with you.

The goal of monitoring is to catch a recurrence while stones are small enough to manage medically rather than surgically.

After hours? If your pet has a surgical emergency when we are closed, go directly to your nearest 24-hour emergency veterinary hospital. During opening hours call us at (980) 981-4334.

Frequently Asked Questions: Soft Tissue Surgery: Pyometra

Pyometra is a bacterial infection of the uterus that fills it with pus. It is one of the true surgical emergencies of general practice, and it occurs almost exclusively in intact (unspayed) females.

Repeated heat cycles expose the uterine lining to progesterone, which thickens the lining, promotes glandular secretion, and suppresses the uterus’s ability to contract and its local immune defenses. Overtime this creates an environment where bacteria — usually E. coli ascending from the vagina — establish an infection the body cannot clear.

It typically appears within one to two months after a heat cycle, most often in middle-aged and older intact females, though it can happen at any age after the first cycle. Dogs given estrogen or progesterone-containing medications are at increased risk. Cats can develop pyometra too, though less commonly, because they ovulate only when bred.

  • Thick, foul-smelling, bloody or purulent vaginal discharge (open pyometra)
  • Lethargy, weakness, poor appetite
  • Marked increase in thirst and urination
  • Vomiting
  • A distended, sometimes painful abdomen
  • Fever, or a subnormal temperature in a patient going into shock

Any intact female who becomes unwell in the weeks following a heat cycle should be evaluated for pyometra the same day.

In an open pyometra the cervix is open and infected material drains out — unpleasant, but it relieves pressure and makes the diagnosis obvious. In a closed pyometra the cervix is shut. Pus accumulates under pressure inside the uterus with nowhere to go, the patient becomes sick much faster, and there is no discharge to alert the owner.

Closed pyometra carries a higher risk of uterine rupture and septic peritonitis, and it is the form most likely to be missed until the patient is critically ill.

History and physical exam raise the suspicion; imaging confirms it. Abdominal ultrasound shows a fluid-filled uterus and helps distinguish pyometra from pregnancy or other causes of uterine enlargement. Radiographs may show an enlarged uterus. Bloodwork typically shows a high white cell count with a left shift, dehydration, and sometimes kidney value elevation from the effect of bacterial toxins on the kidneys.

Ovariohysterectomy — surgical removal of the infected uterus and the ovaries — removes the source of infection and is curative. It is the treatment of choice in essentially every case. Delay allows bacterial toxins to be absorbed into the bloodstream, producing sepsis, organ injury, and the risk of the uterus rupturing into the abdomen.

The surgery itself is more demanding than a routine spay: the uterus is large, friable, and full of infected material, the blood vessels are enlarged, and the patient is often unstable going into anesthesia. We stabilize with IV fluids, antibiotics, and pain control first, but stabilization is measured in hours, not days.

Prognosis is good with prompt surgery — the overwhelming majority of dogs recover fully. It drops considerably once the patient is septic or the uterus has ruptured.

Medical management with prostaglandins, sometimes combined with a progesterone receptor blocker, exists and is reserved for young, valuable breeding females with open pyometra who are systemically stable. It is not a gentler alternative — it requires hospitalization, causes significant side effects, works more slowly, fails in a meaningful percentage of cases, and carries a high recurrence rate with subsequent cycles.

For a pet who is not intended for breeding, surgery is both safer and definitive.

Most patients stay in hospital for one to several days on IV fluids and antibiotics, depending on how sick they were at presentation. Once home: continued antibiotics and pain medication, cone use, restricted activity for 14 days, and recheck appointments. Kidney values that were elevated are rechecked to confirm they normalize.

Since the ovaries are removed along with the uterus, the patient is spayed by the procedure and will not have further heat cycles.

By spaying. Removing the ovaries and uterus eliminates the risk entirely. A significant proportion of intact female dogs develop pyometra by ten years of age, and an elective spay performed on a healthy young animal is a far smaller procedure — and a far smaller risk — than an emergency spay on a septic patient.

A rare exception is stump pyometra, an infection of a small remnant of uterine tissue with residual ovarian tissue after an incomplete spay. It is uncommon and treated by surgical removal of the remnant.

After hours? If your pet has a surgical emergency when we are closed, go directly to your nearest 24-hour emergency veterinary hospital. During opening hours call us at (980) 981-4334.

Frequently Asked Questions: Soft Tissue Surgery: Urethral Prolapse in Male Dogs

Urethral prolapse is the protrusion of the lining of the urethra out through the tip of the penis. It is uncommon overall but is seen with some regularity in young intact male brachycephalic dogs — English Bulldogs above all.

A small, round, bright red to purple mass — often described as a pea, a cherry, or a doughnut — protruding from the tip of the penis. The most common presenting complaint is intermittent bleeding from the prepuce, sometimes noticed as spots of blood on bedding or the floor, along with excessive licking at the area.

It may come and go, appearing during excitement or straining and reducing on its own. Bleeding can be surprisingly heavy for the size of the tissue involved.

Predominantly young intact males, with English Bulldogs strongly over-represented and other brachycephalic breeds — French Bulldogs, Boston Terriers, Boxers, Pugs — also affected. There is likely an underlying anatomic or congenital predisposition in these breeds.

The mechanism is repeated increases in abdominal and urethral pressure. Anything that makes a dog strain or generate high pressure can precipitate it:

  • Chronic increased respiratory effort from brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome — these dogs are essentially straining to breathe all day
  • Sexual excitement, mounting behavior, and masturbation in intact males
  • Straining to urinate, from urinary tract infection, urethritis, or bladder or urethral stones
  • Straining to defecate
  • Prostatic disease
  • Chronic coughing or vomiting

The link with the brachycephalic airway is the reason we evaluate the airway in any bulldog presenting with urethral prolapse, and one of the reasons airway surgery is often recommended alongside treatment of the prolapse.

The prolapsed tissue is exposed, easily traumatized, and becomes progressively inflamed and ulcerated, which is uncomfortable and drives more licking, which causes more trauma. Blood loss is usually minor but can become significant with chronic bleeding. If the tissue becomes strangulated it can become necrotic.

It does not usually obstruct urine flow on its own, but a dog who is straining because of stones or infection may have both problems at once — so a dog with urethral prolapse who cannot urinate needs to be seen immediately.

Diagnosis is visual, but the important work is finding the underlying cause. That typically includes urinalysis and urine culture, imaging of the bladder and urethra to look for stones, a rectal exam and prostatic evaluation, and an assessment of the airway in brachycephalic patients. Treating the prolapse without addressing what caused the straining leads to recurrence.

Treatment is chosen based on how severe, how chronic, and how damaged the tissue is:

  • Conservative management — for a small, first-time, minimally traumatized prolapse: treat the underlying cause, neuter, restrict excitement, and use anti-inflammatory and sedative support. Recurrence is common if the trigger persists.
  • Manual reduction with a temporary purse-string suture — the tissue is replaced with a urinary catheter in place and a suture holds it while inflammation resolves. Simple, but a high proportion recur.
  • Urethropexy — the urethra is tacked to the inside of the penis through small incisions, holding the tissue in place without removing it.
  • Resection and anastomosis — the prolapsed segment is amputated and the urethral mucosa is sutured to the penile surface. This is the most definitive option and the one with the lowest recurrence rate; it is the usual choice for a severe, necrotic, or recurrent prolapse. Expect some bleeding from the site for several days afterward, particularly with excitement.

We strongly recommend it. Neutering removes the sexual excitement and mounting behavior that drive a large share of these cases, and it substantially reduces recurrence. It also removes prostatic disease as a future contributor. In an English Bulldog it can often be combined with airway surgery under a single anesthetic — with the caveat that brachycephalic patients need specific anesthetic precautions.

Plan on a cone at all times for at least two weeks — licking is the single biggest cause of complications here. Expect intermittent bleeding from the surgical site for up to a week or two, more noticeably when the dog is excited; this is expected and usually self-limiting.

Keep the dog calm and away from females in heat, use a harness rather than a neck collar, and give sedative medication if we have prescribed it. We will recheck the site and confirm the dog is urinating normally.

Call us for a stream that has become thin or interrupted, inability to urinate, heavy or continuous bleeding, or recurrence of visible prolapsed tissue.

After hours? If your pet has a surgical emergency when we are closed, go directly to your nearest 24-hour emergency veterinary hospital. During opening hours call us at (980) 981-4334.