General anesthesia, when we turn our gas anesthesia off, our isoflurane off on our vaporizer, those dogs tend to come up to consciousness usually within 5 to 15 minutes. However, post-anesthetic recovery time is longer and we need to monitor them to make sure that they're breathing okay, not having any dysphoria, and that they're warm and comfortable. Most of our dog patients are up and walking within 1 to 2 hours after general anesthesia.

A dog neuter would probably be under general anesthesia for no more than half an hour to 45 minutes on average, depending if it's a small dog. If it's a much bigger dog, they might take a little bit longer. A dog spay may also only take us about an hour of general anesthesia time. There are dog dental procedures where we do extractions or multiple extractions in the mouth. Those patients sometimes can be under general anesthesia for up to three hours. It really depends on what type of surgical procedure we're doing and how long anesthesia might need to last.

The type of pain medication really depends on the type of procedure we're doing. The most common would be an anti-inflammatory. Some common examples would be Carprofen, and Meloxicam. Other pain medications that we use would be opioids like Hydromorphone, Torbugesic, Buprenorphine. We can also prescribe Tylenol with codeine for your dog, especially if they've had some major oral surgeries or they've had a real painful bone procedure. We also use local nerve blocks, for example, Lidocaine to numb the surgical sites.

Yes, absolutely. Your dog cannot just come into Blue Oasis Pet Hospital for a procedure without having been seen by a veterinarian. We go over the concerns that you have about anesthesia and surgery. We assess them as a general patient, they have a physical exam, and we check if they've had blood work. This is to mitigate the risk that we have. So, your dog needs to have a doctor partnership before we move forward with anesthesia and surgery.

Sedation is used to immobilize your dog so that they aren't able to move a lot while we do a procedure. We might sedate your pet if they have a lot of fear, anxiety, and stress. Sedated patients are still somewhat conscious, but they are able to have some normal reflexes. On the other hand, gas anesthesia involves intubation and the use of an anesthetic machine. The length of time that we have to do our procedures can be controlled by us, potentially much longer.

The type of anesthesia that we use at Blue Oasis Pet Hospital is generally gas anesthesia, specifically isoflurane. We intubate your dog, get them under anesthesia, and maintain them on gas anesthetic. This is the most common type we use.