Anesthesia for your Pet
An intubated cat under anesthetic (intubated means there is a breathing tube - the green tube - in place)
Veterinarians anesthetize animals on a daily basis. Anesthesia is an understandably common concern of many pet owners.
Why Anesthesia?
Modern anesthesia - be it human or veterinary is very safe. Unlike our human counterparts, veterinarians deal with patients that must be anesthetized for procedures other than surgery. It is often necessary to anesthetize or sedate our patients for diagnostic procedures such as accurate orthopedic examination, diagnostic radiology or when performing ultrasound guided biopsies.
Anesthesia helps our patients sufficiently relax in order for us to gather accurate diagnostic information, or to perform a more safe diagnostic or therapeutic procedure.
Pre-Anesthetic Blood Work
It is important that you know that for any anesthetic procedure, pre-anesthetic blood work is usually run on patients. Such blood testing is performed to check the kidneys, the liver, blood sugar and protein levels. As well, red and white blood cell information is determined.
All of the blood work parameters allow us to minimize the risks to your pet that can be associated with anesthesia. More extensive blood testing is performed in our more senior patients for this same reason of safety.
Intravenous Fluids
Intravenous fluids may be administered during anesthesia. Many drugs used for general anesthesia tend to cause decreases in blood pressure. Intravenous fluids combat this decrease.
In addition, if there are any unforeseen adverse reactions under anesthesia, an intravenous catheter allows immediate intravenous administration of potentially live saving medications.
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