A retrospective study of post-operative protocols used in canine, porcine and small ruminants surgically handled in the University of Nigeria Veterinary Teaching Hospital between January 2010 - December 2019

Retrospective study of post-operative protocols

Abstract

Post-operative management is the care a patient receives after surgery which usually lasts through the entire duration of hospital stay and after discharge following total recovery. This research was carried out to investigate post-operative protocols used in canine, porcine and small animal ruminants surgically managed at the University of Nigeria Veterinary Teaching Hospital between January 2010 to December 2019. Case files of patients presented and treated were studied. During this period, a total of 2526 animals were treated. Of these number, a total of 63 case files were studied because they were surgical cases and 2463 were not studied (non-surgical cases). The information obtained included: file number, species and sex. Also, anaesthetics and post-operative antibiotics, post-surgical analgesics and fluid use were studied. The proportion of cases presented with an indication of surgery varied greatly among species: canine (1.65%), caprine (0.63%), ovine (0.02%) and porcine (0.04%). The proportion also varied significantly between surgical and non-surgical cases with the non-surgical cases ranking higher than surgical cases. The proportion also varied between males (0.83%) and females (1.69%) in all species studied. Caesarean operation (0.63%) was the most surgical procedure performed. Lignocaine, penicillin-streptomycin and Acetaminophen were the most used anaesthetic, antibiotic and analgesic respectively. Dextrose saline (0.12%) was used in the majority of patients. This study established that indications for intravenous fluid, anaesthetic, analgesic and antibiotic were strongly associated with the species and health status of the animals with choices of therapy based on availability and judgement of the clinician.