elderly cats and dogs with intense mouth pain, pets that don’t get that important lump evaluated, even badly matted pets who just don’t want to stay still for grooming.  If only the pets could understand how veterinarians are trying to help and just hold still for an hour. 

Since animals often don’t hold still or understand that vets are helping, good pet medical and dental care requires sedation or even general anesthesia far more often than human medicine and dentistry.  Pet owners regularly express to vets their fears of the sedation or anesthesia.  Is the fear legitimate? 

Many vets do not recommend a procedure unless they feel that the benefit of the procedure is likely far greater than the risk.  Veterinarians can never guarantee the safety of anesthesia; they can, however, take precautions to minimize the risk.  The author of this article has performed dentals on his own elderly pets with reasonable precautions and successful results.  When a kitten or puppy is anesthetized for a “routine” spay, those same precautions are still in the patient’s best interest.

First, it is important to know how healthy the patient is.  It may seem so simple that a patient be examined and have pre-anesthetic blood testing, but tests are sometimes skipped due to cost or time factors.  Many vets recommend that all (even young) patients have some basic screening and can perform extensive same day blood testing right in their own practices.  So if you have the small puppy with the hidden congenital liver problem or the elderly cat with kidney disease, vets can know about these problems and adjust what they do.

Second, choice of sedative or anesthetic medication plays an important role in how quickly and smoothly the pet recovers.  People’s fears are often based on medications that are no longer regularly used.  Vets should choose medications that typically work well, work quickly, and allow them to send the pet home quickly.  Many people are also afraid of full anesthesia as opposed to a sedative.  Vets should use whatever level it takes to deal with the patient’s problem in a reasonably safe, effective, pain-free manner.

Third, the patient should be kept as normal as possible, from hydration to body temperature.  IV fluids in younger pets may seem dramatic for dental care, but well-hydrated patients recover faster and your pet can’t drink while he or she is anesthetized.  A heated surgical table may seem trivial, unless you’ve experienced that cold feeling of waking up from anesthesia.  Warm pets recover faster.

Fourth, vets don’t know the pet is responding normally unless they check. Veterinarians can now keep track of oxygen in the pet’s blood, carbon dioxide in the pet’s breaths, heart rate, breath rate, blood pressure, EKG, etc.  Some form of electronic monitoring should be used with anesthesia.  Most importantly, it takes a good veterinarian and veterinary technician to recognize problems and know when to act quickly.

So finally, you have to ask the most important question… does the patient need the procedure enough to justify sedation or anesthesia?  In some situations, the answer is, “No.”  However, if you ask almost anyone whose pet was dramatically more comfortable after a procedure or lived longer because of a procedure, the answer is clearly, “Yes.”  If your pet needs a procedure, make sure you understand and are comfortable with the precautions your vet is taking.  Then try to relax, and hopefully your pet will feel better too.   This feature presented complements of TLC for Pets.  For more information, contact Dr. Lucas at 410-833-1717.  See ad page 3.