Anesthetic Safety at Paradise Animal Hospital

We take all anesthetic procedures seriously at Paradise Animal Hospital. No matter how routine the surgery, we use only the safest anesthetics and tailor all medication choices to your pet’s individual needs.

Anesthesia reduces your pet’s consciousness during an operation, thereby keeping your pet perfectly still, pain free and unaware of what is going on around him/her during the procedure. Anesthesia can pose a risk in some animals, just as in some people. To minimize the risk a veterinarian will perform a physical exam prior to anesthesia and will select an anesthetic agent that is appropriate for the procedure and for your pet. Some of the agents that we use will lightly sedate your pet while others will render them completely unconscious.

Sometimes a physical exam alone will not identify pre-existing medical conditions that may complicate your pet’s anesthesia. Pre-anesthetic testing can identify anemia, diabetes, or abnormal liver/kidney function that may affect the safety of anesthesia. Similar tests would be performed by our physician should we ever require anesthesia. In some cases, this testing is done in advance of surgery and might include radiographs (x-rays), and a urinalysis as well as a blood evaluation at a commercial laboratory. For our young, outwardly healthy patients undergoing elective procedures, we offer an in-house pre-anesthetic panel that checks basic kidney and liver function as well as other parameters.

We recommend placement of an intravenous (IV) catheter prior to your pet’s anesthesia. An IV catheter allows us to administer medications and fluids to your pet, which are important to maintain adequate blood pressure while your pet is under anesthesia. Intravenous fluids are required for all non-elective surgeries and are recommended for nearly every elective surgery even on young healthy animals. Placing an IV catheter prior to anesthesia and supporting your pet with fluids is one more way to be as safe as possible with your pet.

We monitor all surgery patients very closely before, during, and after their procedure. At Paradise Animal Hospital we monitor body temperature, respiration, blood oxygenation, pulse rate and character as well as blood pressure. Our highly qualified technicians specifically observe and record these parameters virtually constantly.  By detecting slight variations in your pet’s condition, we can respond quickly to adjust the medications thus keeping your pet as safe as possible.