Adult Canine Stem Cell Therapy Available At Kirkwood Animal Hospital

What You Should Know when your pet needs Anesthesia for Major Surgery

The following safety procedures are included in the price of all surgeries at KAH

 We include the following because:

 Safety precautions that KAH takes are:

Phase 1. Before Anesthetic:

Pre-anesthetic blood test –A small sample of blood is taken and analyzed to evaluate the kidneys, red cell count and white blood cell count.  This simple safety measure checks that your pet’s organs, to see if they are healthy enough to metabolize the anesthesia without complications.

Physical Exam – A complete physical examination to check their vital signs (heart, lungs, and temperature) making sure they are in the best possible general health.

IV Catheter - After completing a thorough physical examination, we place an intravenous catheter into the front leg. This catheter is placed for three reasons: 1.  It is easier on your pet to receive the induction anesthetic. 2.  Your pet will receive intravenous fluids to insure proper tissue perfusion and prevent dehydration, 3.  As a precautionary measure, so we can immediately administer life saving medication if necessary.

Pre-anesthesia & pain control - We first administer a tranquilizer and pain relief medication that makes your pet sleepy, reduces anxiety and allows us to reduce the dose of general anesthesia required.  This helps prevent the “Pain before it starts” and makes the procedure safer, less stressful and your pet recovers smoothly from the general anesthesia.  

Phase 2. General Anesthesia and the Surgical Procedure: 

General Anesthesia - We only use Propofol for beginning anesthesia or for short procedures.  This agent is the most expensive but also the safest agent ever used in Veterinary Medicine.  It gives smooth quick induction and rapid recovery without a hangover.  For procedures longer than 10 minutes your pet is maintained under general anesthetic with Isoflurane gas to keep them asleep.  Isoflurane is a very safe anesthetic gas which allows rapid changes in the level of anesthesia.

Safety Monitors - As an additional safety precaution, we monitor your pet's blood pressure, heart rate, EKG, body temperature, Oxygen saturation of the blood, respiratory rate and depth using a combination of computerized monitoring equipment. 

Warmth and Comfort - For your pets comfort and safety they will be placed on a thermal barrier to help maintain their body temperature.  For long procedures we have specially designed, continuously circulating warm water blankets to keep them warm and comfortable.

Human Monitoring – despite having state of the art computerized monitoring equipment nothing replaces constant human observation.  Besides the veterinary surgeon there is always a veterinary assistant present to personally monitor your pets vital signs as well as monitor the level of anesthesia and equipment.

 Phase 3.  After Anesthesia Recovery and Pain Control:

Post Operative Pain Control- Your pet will be given an injectable medication for post operative pain control.  In addition, Dogs will be given a written prescription you may fill at any pharmacy for continued pain control.  Cats tolerate very few orally administered pain control drugs.  For this reason we do not give prescriptions for cats.  We do make sure they have sufficient and safe pain control while at KAH.

Post Anesthesia - After anesthesia, we require that your pet be fully awake before going home.  All pets are slightly sedate which helps provide a smooth and comfortable post operative recovery.  Be careful to not let the pet fall down the stairs or get into a fight with other pets.  Any grogginess usually passes within 24 hours, if it does not please call KAH.

Food and Water – The preoperative drugs and general anesthesia slows the digestive track of you pet.  Unless otherwise instructed do not feed your pet more than one third of their normal days intake of food and water in very small portions the night of the surgery.  To do so may cause vomiting.  The next day you can feed and water normally.

If you want to compare KAH to other Veterinary Hospitals we provide you an Anesthesia and Surgical Check List you can print off for easy comparison.

© 1998 Kirkwood Animal Hospital