Anesthesia and Patient Monitoring

Anesthesia and patient monitoring varies greatly among clinics.  When you choose your veterinarian, be sure to question the types of anesthetics used and what the protocols are for monitoring anesthesia.  At The Colborne Veterinary Clinic, we limit our anesthetic procedures to 3 or 4 per day.  This way, we are able to ensure your pet receives constant monitoring and care, before, during, and after the anesthetic. 

Our routine protocol for anesthesia begins with the recommendation of pre-anesthetic blood work.  This is to help assess your pet's condition and risk before anesthesia.  It also allows us to determine the safest combination of drugs to anesthetise your pet, and help control any post surgical pain.  We also recommend that your pet be hooked up to intravenous fluids.  This is to help maintain blood pressure as well as provide venous access should your pet require the administration of emergency medications throughout the procedure.

After the Veterinarian performs a pre-anesthetic examination on your pet, an injection of premedication is given under the skin or into the muscle.  This helps to decrease anxiety, dry up secretions at the back of the throat, and stabilize the heart.  It  generally takes effect after about 15 minutes.

Next, your pet will be given an induction agent intravenously.  This will anesthetise him.  An endotracheal  tube is placed down the throat to make breathing easier, and to connect your pet to oxygen and the gas anesthetic.  By doing this, we can control how long your pet stays 'asleep', and how deep of 'sleep' he is in. 

While anesthetised, your pet will be constantly supervised by a Registered Veterinary Technician, and several machines.  We are able to monitor the following:                                                                                                                                                                                    

 The machines will give an early indication if there is anything that needs to be done to improve the status of the patient.

The anesthetics we use are chosen for a number of reasons including how safe they are to use, and their ability to control pain.

After the anesthetic procedure is complete, your pet will be placed in a warm, cozy and quiet area to recover.  A Registered Veterinary Technician will be by his side until he is able to sit upright.