Veterinary medicine has become increasingly sophisticated over the years. Veterinary surgeons are performing many of the same procedures in animals that are performed in people. Accordingly, veterinary anesthesia has developed and advanced to meet the needs of the surgeon and the patient.

When a dog or cat comes to SouthPaws for a surgery, it is first given a complete physical examination by the veterinary nurse and the surgeon. The doctor will discuss the surgery with you and a time will be set up for the procedure to take place. In older animals (older than five years old), blood will be drawn before the day of surgery so that the patient’s body function can be assessed. Usually, a complete blood count (to check for anemia and changes in the white blood cell count) and a chemistry profile (to check for kidney and liver function) will be performed. This is important to do so that we can determine which is the best anesthetic drugs to use for the surgery. In younger animals, a simpler blood test will usually be run the day of surgery.

On the day of surgery, the animal is given a sedative shortly before its procedure to relax it. Some hair is clipped from its leg (usually a front leg) so that an intravenous (IV) catheter can be placed. The IV catheter allows us to administer anesthetic drugs to the patient and also allows us to give the animal intravenous fluids during and after the surgery.

The actual anesthetic procedure is a two step process. Drugs are initially given into the catheter to "induce" anesthesia. This will gently and quickly knock the animal out so that the next phase of the anesthetic procedure can be performed. There are a large number of induction anesthetic drugs available to us; we use the drug that is most appropriate for that particular animal. When the animal is induced, a tube is placed through its mouth and into its trachea (windpipe). The tube is then hooked up to an anesthetic machine which allows us to administer a gas anesthetic. The gas anesthetic we use at SouthPaws is the safest drug available for use in veterinary medicine. This gas anesthetic will "maintain" the animal under anesthesia throughout its surgical procedure. The animal’s surgery site is then prepared for surgery and the animal (along with its anesthetic machine) is moved into the operating room.

During the preparation of the animal before the surgery and all during the surgery, a number of pieces of equipment are used to allow us to monitor the patient’s condition. An electrocardiogram (ECG) is used to monitor the electrical activity in the patient’s heart. This helps us to make sure that the animal’s heart is not beating too quickly or too slowly and that there are no arrhythmias. A blood pressure monitor is used to measure the patient’s blood pressure. A pulse oximeter is used to let us make certain that there is enough oxygen in the patient’s blood. A machine is also used to measure the animal’s carbon dioxide level, so that we can make sure it is breathing well enough. Finally, our most important monitor is our anesthetic nurse, who watches over the whole animal and makes certain that everything is going all right.

After surgery, almost every patient is given medication to relieve any pain that might develop from the initial problem or from the surgery. We usually will shave a small amount of hair off of the animal’s chest and apply a fentanyl patch. This patch contains a narcotic that is slowly absorbed across the animal’s skin and into its blood stream where it provides pain relief. We sometimes will supplement this with either injectable medications or medications that are given by mouth. It is always one of our highest priorities to make certain that we provide as much pain relief as is necessary so that the animal is as comfortable as we can make it.

The preceding information was written by Dr. George Siemering and Dr. Dan Brehm. Drs Siemering and Brehm are the surgeons at SouthPaws and perform a wide range of orthopaedic, soft tissue, and neurosurgical procedures. Drs Siemering and Brehm can be reached at SouthPaws at (703) 451-0909.

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