Anesthetic safety is of the utmost importance for our patients, and we have a wide range of medications available to use. We carefully choose an anesthetic plan tailored for each individual patient that we see. For significantly anxious patients, we may recommend an oral medication that is given at home before coming in for a procedure. Patients are given a preanesthetic medication injection on the day of the procedure. This usually includes a pain medication as well a medication to help reduce anxiety.
When starting the anesthetic procedure, our patients are given an induction agent, which is a short-acting anesthetic drug. We have several options of agents to use for this purpose. Taking into consideration the specific needs of your pet, we use the agent that we feel is going to be safe and effective. Once the induction agent is given, it allows us to pass a tube, called an endotracheal tube, into the pet’s airway. The endotracheal tube helps to keep the patient’s airway open and protected from fluid and debris that are produced during the procedure.
During anesthetic maintenance, the patient is given oxygen through the endotracheal tube. Mixed with the oxygen is a small amount of anesthetic gas, called sevoflurane, which is a drug that keeps the patient asleep during the procedure. Sevoflurane is the anesthetic gas that we use at ADSN because of its rapid induction and recovery characteristics. This also gives us better control over a patient’s depth of anesthesia during a procedure.
We have an arrangement with a board-certified veterinary anesthesiologist, Dr. Martin Kennedy. Dr. Kennedy is available for anesthetic planning prior to procedures for patients with special needs or concerns. He can live-stream our anesthetic monitoring equipment and be present virtually to assist with anesthesia if necessary. We also have direct access to a veterinary cardiologist, Dr. Scott Forney, for cardiac consultations prior to anesthesia, when needed.