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Whether you have a young dog and you’ve scheduled routine neutering, an old dog who needs dental work, or an active dog who has torn a ligament – you may be scheduling a veterinary procedure that requires anesthesia.
There’s a risk involved any time a dog is given drugs to put him under for surgery. So it’s important for responsible dog owners to be aware of potential complications, have a plan in place beforehand, and work with a veterinarian to ensure your pet’s safety.
When it comes to routine procedures, what pet owners least expect is a call that something’s gone wrong. But that’s exactly what happened to first-time pet owners Lisa Marchese and Gudry Genao after they brought their five-month-old Havanese puppy in for neutering procedure. Minutes after the procedure began, their beloved Petey died.
“We weren’t nervous about the neutering; if anything, we felt bad for what we heard he was going to experience afterwards,” says Marchese. “It never crossed our minds something would happen.”
Although anestheia-related deaths are rare, they can occur. Approximately 1 in 2,000 healthy dogs die under anesthesia each year, says Preventative Vet author and veterinary anesthesiologist Dr. Heidi Shafford.
Kelly Serfas, a Certified Veterinary Technician in Bethlehem, PA, contributed to this article. The Dangers Whether because of a bad personal experience with another pet, or lack of information, many pet owners are scared of having their pets put under anesthesia. Surely, there’s always a risk with anesthesia, for any pet. As the saying goes, there are routine surgeries, but there is no routine anesthesia. Fortunately, veterinary anesthesia has become very safe thanks to better protocols, safer drugs and sophisticated monitoring. The Facts A scientific study led by Dr. Brodbelt, a British, board-certified anesthesiologist, showed that the death rate under sedation or anesthesia is around 0.15% on average. Meaning 99.85% of patients survive anesthesia and sedation, clearly an overwhelming majority. The research is exceptional as 98,000 dogs participated, an unusually large sample for a veterinary study. Anesthesia lasted for an average of one hour, for a variety of procedures performed by general practitioners as well as specialists. Patients were 8 years old on average. Patients fell into three categories: healthy, ill or very sick. Anesthesia risks were slightly higher with: • Sick patients (up to 7 times more risk) • Emergency anesthesia (up to 3 times more risk) • More involved surgeries (up to 5 times more risk) • Older patients (up to 7 times more risk for patients over 12 years of age) • Small patients (up to 8 times more risk for patients under 10 pounds) • Use of halothane anesthesia gas (up to 8 times more risk compared to isoflurane) • Brachycephalic breeds (dogs with a flat face, such as Bulldogs and pugs) The study also revealed that most patients die after anesthesia, and not during anesthesia. The study considers a death to be related to anesthesia when it occurs within the following 48 hours, and especially when it is within the first 3 hours. In fact, over half of the deaths occurred within 3 hours of recovering from anesthesia.
Dr. Phil Zeltzman is a mobile, board-certified surgeon in Allentown, PA. Find him online at www.DrPhilZeltzman.com. He is the co-author of “Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound” (www.WalkaHound.com).
If you have any questions or concerns, you should always visit or call your veterinarian – they are your best resource to ensure the health and well-being of your pets.
Take Away Points This should lead you, as your pet’s best advocate, to talk openly with your family vet, no matter how uncomfortable it may seem. How will your pet be monitored during anesthesia? How will your pet be recovered from anesthesia? Who will do that? Where will your pet be recovered, and how, and by whom? Ideally, pets should be recovered from anesthesia in a specifically-designated area, away from boarding, barking or sick animals. This provides a quiet, relaxing environment. Also ask what will be done to keep your pet warm during and after surgery. (Is It Cold In Here, Or Did Your Pet Just Have Surgery?) If, in spite of it all, you’re still concerned about your pet’s recovery, and (s)he needs to stay overnight with no supervision, you may want to consider transferring him or her to a referral hospital that provides medical care overnight. Sure, transportation may be annoying, but you will achieve peace of mind, knowing that your best friend is being pamperedand spoiled all night.
Dog’s Age
Your dog’s age is the biggest factor in how risky anesthesia will be, with studies showing increased mortality among seniors due to concurrent diseases (8). Another reason for increased anaesthetic morbidity among senior dogs is due to weakened or decreased organ function (9).
Older dogs may have low blood pressure or diabetes, which also increases the chances of loss of organ function during the surgery. They tend to suffer from arthritis, which means that their joints have to be protected during the procedure.
If your dog is elderly and especially if they have multiple health issues, anesthesia may sometimes need to be reconsidered if the risks outweigh the benefits. This is why veterinarians place paramount importance on pre-anaesthetic assessment (10).
Complications can be avoided or reduced by preparing for the anesthesia ahead of time by going over your dog’s health history and having your veterinarian do a baseline blood work up to look for any unidentified problems.
Is Anesthesia Dangerous for Dogs? When is it Worth the Risk? Vlog 103
Your dog needs surgery, and your heart is focused on the immediate needs of your pet. The surgery could be for an injury, illness or maybe its even a routine dental cleaning. The experience can be overwhelming, because youre worried about the safety of sedation and dog anesthesia that is going to be used.
While there are risks involved with both, the risks can be minimized by your veterinarian through careful planning and preparation. With the use of better drugs and safety protocols, anesthesia in dogs is relatively safe, and studies show that anesthetic-related death rate among healthy dogs is between 0.05% and 0.12% while for sick animals the death rate is around 4.77% and is actually higher in cats than in dogs (1, 2).
As technology has advanced and more research has been done, veterinary anesthesia has become much safer than it was many years ago, which is where fears of it come from. But the negative stigma attached to the anesthetic procedure is still lingering around, and much of this “scare” information is not true (3).
If youre concerned about dog anesthesia, the best thing you can do is talk with your veterinarian and do your due diligence on how pet anesthesia can affect your dog. A vet would never recommend anything that is going to do harm to your pet. Theyll explain dog anesthesia risks and help you make a choice about the right option.