How is anesthesia administered to my dog, and who monitors them after it's been given?

All of our patients undergoing anesthesia have the same general routine in terms of their anesthesia. We tailor our medications and dosages to the individual patient based on their age, any health concerns, and what the procedure is going to be. All of our patients coming into the hospital that will stay with us take pre-visit medications that include an anti-nausea medication and a mild anti-anxiety medication. By taking these things before they even enter the hospital, it reduces stress and allows us to use less anesthesia because we're not overriding a significant Cortisol or stress response just from walking in the door.

Then before the procedure, they receive an injection. It includes pain medication and a mild sedative to help them relax so we can place an IV. Once the IV is in place, we will induce anesthesia with another medication, typically a combination of a medication called Ketamine and Propofol. This helps your dog to fall completely asleep so that we can put in a breathing tube, also called intubation, and then hook them up to an anesthesia machine. All of our patients under anesthesia are monitored with a very complex anesthetic monitor that looks at their breathing, heart rate, oxygenation, CO2 levels, and blood pressure. On top of that, we always have a technician whose only job is to sit there and monitor your dog.

We love our machines, but we trust our techs even more. So, we have that human intervention to make sure that the machine is telling us the truth and changing anything if we need to at a moment's notice.

When the anesthetic is given to a pet, there's a doctor involved and a trained technician. Those two work in combination to place a catheter to get the pet intubated. And then there is a technician whose only job is to monitor the pet while they're under anesthesia, so they stand with a clipboard monitoring your pet's EKG, monitoring your pet's oxygenation, their blood pressure, and their respiration and CO2, making sure to stay on top of your dog while they are sedated. If anything runs amok, we know within seconds that something's not going well and can react now instead of reacting later.

We use a couple of different types of anesthesia for these procedures. All of our anesthetic procedures have an IV catheter placed, and they all get some calming medicine at the beginning of the procedure. Once we are ready to begin the procedure, they get IV medication to make them go to sleep. Then once they are asleep, we place a breathing tube down their trachea that continues to deliver gas anesthetic during the procedure. It's very similar to what you would have in a human medical procedure. While they're under anesthesia, we have technicians and assistants that monitor things like their heart rate, their respiratory rate, their blood pressure, and the percentage of oxygen, and they also deliver IV fluids while they're under anesthesia just to help keep them stable for the procedure.

In a dental cleaning procedure, the dog is given premedication and an IV catheter is placed. The dog is then gently placed under anesthesia and a tracheal tube is inserted. The dog is started on gas anesthesia (isoflurane and oxygen) and positioned for the dental procedure. Electronic monitoring devices such as ECG, pulse oximetry, blood pressure cuff, and a temperature probe are used. Additionally, a nurse anesthetist watches over the dog. External heat support with blankets is provided to keep the dog comfortable during the procedure.

Yes, dogs are closely monitored during anesthesia. First, they are given sedation medications, followed by an induction into anesthesia. An endotracheal tube is placed to protect the airway, and anesthesia is delivered through inhaled gas. A dedicated technician continuously monitors your dog's vital signs, including temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygenation rate, and EKG, throughout the procedure.