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Harrisburg Regional Veterinary Surgical Specialty
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When Everybody is Convinced it’s Cancer (part 1)

When Everybody is Convinced it’s Cancer (part 1)

by Harrisburg Regional Veterinary Surgical Specialty | Apr 29, 2022 | Blog

At HRVSS, we certainly remove many masses. Often, patients are referred by their family vet to remove a “cancerous” mass, in the belly, under the skin, or in a number of other areas. Unless a biopsy has been performed, I always call these “masses” more objectively:...
Double Whammy and Double Success for Majic

Double Whammy and Double Success for Majic

by Harrisburg Regional Veterinary Surgical Specialty | Apr 1, 2022 | Blog

Majic, a 9 year old Beagle, had a very swollen and firm right thigh. Long story short, this was a classic case of an unusual type of fatty tumor, aka lipoma. It’s called an inter-muscular lipoma, which means that it lives under a muscle, or between muscles. In Majic’s...
Stanley: From Out of Breath to Running Top Speed

Stanley: From Out of Breath to Running Top Speed

by Harrisburg Regional Veterinary Surgical Specialty | Mar 7, 2022 | Blog

Stanley, a 9 month old Pug, was struggling to breathe. Because of his flat face, he had all the signs of dogs (and cats) with “brachycephalic syndrome,” such as bulldogs, Pekingese, and Boston terriers: difficulty breathing or catching his breath by day. some snoring...
A Look Back at 2021 at HRVSS…

A Look Back at 2021 at HRVSS…

by Harrisburg Regional Veterinary Surgical Specialty | Feb 9, 2022 | Blog

The beginning of a new year is a great time to think about all the patients we helped, and which surgeries they required to get better. This will give you a feel for which surgeries are most common.So here are the top 10 surgeries at Harrisburg Regional...
Why do pets mutilate themselves?

Why do pets mutilate themselves?

by Harrisburg Regional Veterinary Surgical Specialty | Jan 25, 2022 | Blog

We recently treated a cat and a dog who kept compulsively chewing a body part. This blog about self-mutilation is not for the faint of heart, so I will try to keep it PG 13 and will not share pictures of the damage… I will describe how we “cured” both pets, and...
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20 Questions to Ask Before Your Pet’s Surgery

Trusting your vet or a surgeon with doing surgery on your beloved pet is not as easy as it sounds. It requires a lot of trust.
To help you establish that trust, here are some questions I feel are reasonable to ask your vet or your surgeon.

  • Are you a board-certified surgeon, i.e. a true specialist?
  • What’s my pet’s exact diagnosis?
  • What are ALL of the treatment options?
  • What is the name of the specific surgery you recommend?
  • What is the purpose of the surgery?
  • Why do you think this surgery is a better option than the other ones?
  • Is my pet a good candidate for this surgery?
  • Who is the best person to do the surgery?
  • How many of these surgeries have you done in your career?
  • How many of them have you done in the last year?
  • What are the possible risks and complications?
  • How common are they in general? How about in your hands?
  • What is your success rate?
  • Are there additional tests required before surgery?
  • How will my pet be monitored during and especially after surgery?
  • How long will the surgery take, and how long will my pet need to stay at the clinic?
  • If there is an overnight stay, who will supervise my pet?
  • How will pain be assessed and addressed?
  • How long will it take for my pet to fully recover?
  • What are the postop care instructions and restrictions?
Even though this list looks long, and seems like it would take hours to answer, a good surgeon should answer many of these questions during the consultation anyway.

So check those questions off as they go, and ask the remaining questions after that.

It’s critical to have open and transparent communication with your surgeon to ensure you make an informed decision about your pet’s surgery.

If you would like to learn how we can help your pet with safe surgery and anesthesia, please contact us using the button below

Contact Us

We help your pet get back to feeling their best.

Privately owned Harrisburg Regional Veterinary Surgical Specialty is the first and only local veterinary surgery center in the Harrisburg area. We partner with your family vet to provide your pet with surgical expertise in orthopedic, “soft tissue” and cancer surgery. All we do is surgery!

We proudly serve pets in Pennsylvania (Dauphin County, York, Lancaster, Lebanon, State College, Reading, Wilkes-Barre & Scranton, Progress, Colonial Park, Hershey, Elizabethtown, Carlisle, Lehigh Valley, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Stroudsburg, Enola, Camp Hill, Mechanicsburg, Good Hope, Camp Hill, Dillsburg, Boiling Springs, York, Gettysburg, Lancaster, Lititz, Middletown), New Jersey (Phillipsburg, Blairstown, Morris Plains, Trenton), New York (Manhattan, Buffalo), Washington DC, Delaware, Maryland (Baltimore, Gaithersburg), West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, and even Florida!

Need a hotel? We have so many clients from out of town and out of state that we created a list of nearby pet-friendly hotels.
Simply ask for it, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

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Location

989 East Park Drive, Suite A
Harrisburg, PA 17111

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Contact Info

P: 717-599-6131
E: info@hrvss.com

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