Anesthesia for older patients

Anesthesia for older patients

Middle aged and Senior pets often need anesthesia for dental cleaning, radiographs or other procedures. We are aware that this is of major concern to all pet owners and have committed ourselves as a clinic to the highest level of safe anesthetic.

To minimize risk for all pets we recommend preanesthetic blood work, urinalysis and blood pressure measurement, radiographs and possibly even an echocardiogram to help insure a safe procedure.

Some of the things that we would do differently for those pets if additional risk factors are identified.
• Adjust the volume of fluids (upward or downward)
• Avoid certain premedications that can cause hypotension
• Use additional monitors for Blood pressure & CO2
• Use additional premedications that reduce the amount of “major” anesthetics that depress blood pressure

Every pet in our care will have an indwelling catheter and supervision from a veterinary technician who is well trained in anesthetic safety. We have over $15,000 invested in anesthetic monitors. We feel our well-trained staff and our equipment make our hospital one of the safest places for anesthesia anywhere but there is risk. A long and open discussion of the risks of anesthesia balanced against the benefits vs. consequences of not doing the procedure needs to take place before any anesthetic risk is undertaken.

Higher risk patients are defined as those with:
• Kidney or Liver disease (some anesthetic agents are eliminated by these organs)
• Hypertension
• Cardiac disease
• Pets over 10 years of age

For those very high risk procedures we have a board certified anesthesiologist available for an additional fee to supervise the anesthetic procedure. Advance scheduling is necessary to insure his availability.

Please feel free to ask us about any of these procedures with regard to the pet.