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 In
veterinary medicine, it is very common to have to anesthetize our
patients in order to perform diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical/dental
procedures. Often times, owners express fear at the thought of
anesthetizing their pets. Sometimes this is due to bad experiences in
the past, or from lack of understanding of the anesthetic process. This
handout will give you a basic understanding of anesthesia and what we do
to ensure your pet’s safety during the anesthetic procedure.
Anesthesia is the process of taking
a waking animal to a stage of consciousness where they completely
unaware of their surroundings and are unable to experience pain. At
ARPH we pride ourselves on our anesthetic safety record! We take pains
to make sure that each patient is properly evaluated prior to anesthesia
and that the anesthetic protocol is tailored to the specific needs of
each patient. Our pre-anesthetic safety protocol begins with a thorough
physical examination, in which the doctor can check for issues which may
affect anesthesia such as respiratory issues, heart problems, anemia, or
age related issues. Next we encourage pre-anesthetic blood testing (and
require it over the age of 5 years) to check for metabolic issues, which
might influence anesthetic safety such as sub-clinical liver or kidney
problems.
We use a "balanced" anesthetic
protocol on most pets to reduce the amount of any one drug the pets may
be subjected to. With this approach, we sedate your pet and administer
pain relief medication well in advance of the anesthetic event. This has
been shown to greatly reduce the stress on your pet and reduce stress
related cardiovascular disturbances during anesthesia. Next, we
encourage intravenous fluid therapy on all pets (we require it on pets
over 7 years of age) to help maintain fluid and blood pressure balance
during and after anesthesia. The catheter also gives us central access
to the blood stream for the rapid administration of emergency drugs in
the unlikely event that they are needed.
The process of taking your pet from
the waking state, to a state of unconsciousness is called the "induction
phase" of anesthesia. We use one of the safest drugs available for this
purpose; Propofol, because it is very fast acting and wears off
rapidly. The drug is given intravenously slowly, to effect, until the
patient will allow the placement of a breathing tube (endotracheal tube)
into the trachea. Once the tube is inserted, your pet is hooked up to
an anesthetic gas to maintain the depth of anesthesia. The propofol
wears off in a matter of minutes and leaves the patient without a
“hangover” when recovering.
We use two of the safest gases
available, Isoflurane and Sevoflurane to maintain anesthesia.. These
agents are the same drugs that are used by our human counterparts and
have a long track record of safety and efficacy. They rapidly dissolve
in the blood stream and so it is easy to change the depth of anesthesia
rapidly as your pet’s needs change.
During anesthesia, we rely on a bevy
of sophisticated electronic monitoring devices as well as trained
nursing staff to monitor the depth of your pet. Our monitoring devices
include:
- Pulse Oximetry: Used to detect
the level of oxygen in the blood
- End Tidal CO2 measurement: to
check the Carbon Dioxide levels in the lungs (a measure of
appropriate ventilation)
- Electrocardiogram: to monitor
the heart rate and rhythm
- Blood pressure:
- Temperature: During the
anesthetic we use heated surgical tables and warm air whole body
warmers to maintain core body temperature which hastens recovery
With these monitoring devices, we
have a clear picture of how your pet is handling the anesthetic and can
adjust the level of anesthetic in response to their needs.
Once we have completed our
procedure, your pet is recovered by our well trained technical staff.
They are closely observed until they have regained their swallowing
reflex, at which time the endotracheal tube is removed from the
trachea. The patients are then monitored until they have regained
normal body temperature and can right themselves on their own.
As you can see, we do not take
anesthesia lightly, nor should you. However, with our proven protocols,
you should feel comfortable that your pets are in the best hands when we
have to anesthetize them.
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