We all worry about our pet’s safety when we are told that they require anaesthesia. Even procedures requiring minimal sedation still involve anaesthetic drugs. It is extremely important to gain as much information regarding your pet’s health as possible prior to anaesthesia to allow us to anticipate any problems and tailor a suitable drug regime for your pet’s needs.
Please inform us of any illness, increased thirst, cough, recent unexplained weight loss, poor exercise tolerance or history of seizures, if your pet is to receive sedation or anaesthesia.
We adhere to very strict protocols within the practice with respect to care of elderly animals and provision of safe anaesthesia with good post-operative pain control.
Older animals
We recommend routine intravenous fluid therapy to all animals over eight years old receiving anaesthesia. If you do not know the exact age of your pet it is better to assume that they are older and give them fluids. We also recommend a pre anaesthetic blood test for senior pets.
Why do we do this?
All the drugs and gases we use to keep animals asleep cause a decrease in blood pressure. This means that when your pet is asleep it has greatly reduced blood flow to vital organs such as the kidney and brain. If these organs receive less oxygen from the blood than normal, then they may be permanently damaged as a result.
To prevent this happening we give your pet intravenous fluids to help maintain better blood flow to vital organs and to keep blood pressure within safe limits. We can also measure your pet’s blood pressure during anaesthesia to make sure that all is well.