Anesthesiologist For Your Pet

Are You Worried About Anesthesia For Your Pet?

When your pet needs surgery, it is just natural you are worried! Of course, you are! You worry about the procedure itself, the anesthesia, and possible complications. You wonder if your pet will feel pain, be stressed at the hospital, wake up in the middle of the surgery, or be scared or not feel well afterward. These worries and questions are completely understandable even though, nowadays, we can provide safest pet anesthesia possible.

Pet Anesthesia Risks

A natural concern of any parent whose pet is having surgery is whether the anesthesia will cause any harm. It’s important to know that anesthesia confers minimal risk for cats and dogs when administered by a highly trained veterinary expert. That’s why a board-certified veterinary anesthesiologist (Doctor of Anesthesiology) is involved in every case we undertake at Surgipet Surgery & Anesthesia Center.

Anesthesiologist

Anesthesiologists are doctors, not technicians. They are the most highly skilled experts in veterinary anesthesia care and pain management, with the education and training that can mean the difference between life and death.

Without a doubt, safest pet anesthesia is when you have a specialist, a doctor-anesthesiologist, taking care of your pet’s anesthesia. And sometimes, especially in older pets with health problems, only an anesthesia expert has the equipment, medications, and supplies required to make anesthesia safe.

How Is An Anesthesiologist Different From Your Pet’s Family Doctor?

Like your pet’s veterinarian, anesthesiologist graduates from a veterinary college. But after graduation, they complete additional three years of training in anesthesia. Solely anesthesia! That training culminated in the board exam and the certification as a specialist in anesthesia or doctor-anesthesiologist.
Consequently, anesthesiologists are the most highly skilled experts in veterinary anesthesia care and pain management, with the education and training that can mean the difference between life and death.

Additionally, Veterinary Anesthesiologists, by virtue of their focus, are able to keep up to date with frequent advances in anesthesia techniques. The training and experience of a trained and experienced Anesthesia Specialist enable many pets with medical conditions previously considered too severe for anesthesia to be safely and successfully anesthetized.

Pre-Anesthesia Risk Assessment

The risk of anesthesia needs to be determined for each individual pet. No patient is too old or too complicated for anesthesia. The risk does not need to be higher in older pets. And the risk is not necessarily lower just because the pet is young. The type of surgical procedure and its length may also impact the risk.
Our Anesthesiologist can determine the risk of anesthesia in your pet and advise you whether the benefits of the surgery outweigh the risk involved.

Risk assessment includes:

• Your opinion of your pet’s health.
• History of previous anesthesia-related problems.
• Doctor’s exam.
• Diagnostic tests.

A blood panel is a most commonly run test. It shows us how well specific organs, like the liver and kidney, work and whether they can handle the medications we want to administer. However, a blood panel is rarely the only test needed, especially in an older pet. The lungs and heart also need to be evaluated to confirm the pet can breathe effectively while under anesthesia and choose the best medications in case of heart changes. So often, radiographs or ultrasound are also performed. These tests significantly improve the safety of the anesthesia as they allow our Anesthesiologist to choose the most optimal combination and doses of anesthesia medications.

So while anesthesia will always have some level of risk, it’s essential to know that today anesthesia is safer than ever, particularly when led by an anesthesia expert. Having a board-certified anesthesiologist directly manage your pet’s anesthesia provides one more reason to trust SurgiPet.

My Dog Needs Help From Anesthesia Expert – Now What?

If your pet needs help of anesthesia expert, call or email us. Our veterinary anesthesiologist will work with you and your family veterinarian to understand your dog’s overall health. She will advise whether surgery is the best option for your pet.