Anesthesia is commonly part of the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases in dogs and cats. CVETS anesthesia department has undergone extensive additional training in the implementation and monitoring of sedation and general anesthesia. We commonly use a combination of injectable and inhaled anesthetic medications to provide the safest and most reliable anesthesia possible. In addition to these, other techniques are employed to decrease the amount of anesthetic medications needed; including epidurals, local blocks and joint injections.
Animals under anesthesia have an IV catheter placed, receive IV fluids, are intubated (have a tube in their throat to control breathing) and receive 100% oxygen during the procedure. Patients are continuously monitored while under anesthesia by a dedicated nurse and veterinarian. State of the art monitors constantly record heart rate, blood pressure (both non and invasive), oxygenation, temperature, anesthetic gas levels and CO2. Following any anesthetic events patients are recovered in our ICU where they are constantly monitored till completely awake. While anesthesia can have complications when done properly by highly trained staff the risk is dramatically minimized.