General Anæsthetics
Apart from their obvious requirement for surgery and painful procedures like reducing dislocations, anaesthetics are commonly used to provide stress free restraint for procedures like dental plaque removal and clipping matted coats. Anaesthetics may also be required to take specimens for diagnostic purposes.
Anaesthetics are often a concern for pet owners. Whilst safer anaesthetic agents have become available, we still accept that there is a degree of risk for every patient. The risk associated with anaesthesia varies greatly from case to case. It is lowest in fit healthy adolescent animals and increased in the very young, aged, sick and injured patients.
Prior to every anaesthetic, we weigh up and discus the risk versus the gain for that patient. A physical examination is performed and blood tests offered for old or compromised animals to check for hidden risk factors.
Common conditions requiring general anaesthesia in aged patients are dental disease causing painful, infected mouths and growing lumps or tumors. Treatment under anaesthesia can greatly improve a pet’s quality of life and relieve or avert suffering.
After assessing the animal a premed is usually given. This reduces anxiety and sedates the patient as well as providing pre-emptive pain relief. Although there are many types of anaesthesia, a common procedure for induction involves an injection into a clipped vein in the forearm to induce unconsciousness followed by the placement of an endotracheal tube in the windpipe that maintains anaesthesia with isoflurane gas in oxygen.
The trained staff at Hall Veterinary Surgery take great care when monitoring anaesthetised pets. Through close observation and monitoring devices, they continually assess the patient and record their progress on an anaesthetic chart. Measurements of heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, temperature and oxygen saturation assist the nurse in monitoring the patients condition. Attention is given to retention of body warmth, especially for smaller patients who loose heat readily. Pain relief is a high priority and is administered before recovery and again post-op if needed.
On completion of the procedure, the anaesthetic gas is turned off and oxygen breathed for a few minutes until consciousness returns and the endotracheal tube removed.
Patients are then relocated into a warm bed in the recovery area where we can observe their recovery and assess when they are ready to go home.
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