ANAESTHESIA
In veterinary medicine, it is often necessary to anaesthetize our patients to perform procedures. This applies not only to surgical procedures but also in cases where it is necessary to have a patient relaxed and pain-free for diagnostic purposes. Anaesthesia can be intimidating for owners, as it involves inducing a state in their pets that is unfamiliar. At Alpine Veterinary Medical Centre, we take great care when using any anaesthetic protocol for our patients. We believe that anaesthetic protocols should be tailored to the individual animal, its medical condition, the procedure to be performed, and any potential risk factors associated with being under anaesthesia. Modern veterinary medicine allows us to choose from a wide array of anaesthetic agents and protocols to best fit the animal and its needs. We continually improve these agents and protocols as advances in medicine progress.
Levels of Anaesthesia
There are three levels of anaesthesia that your veterinarian may refer to when discussing an anaesthetic protocol for your pet.
Sedation - This is the first level of anaesthesia, in which a patient is given a drug or combination of drugs to help them relax, but not be completely asleep. Sedation can be administered orally, intravenously, intramuscularly, or, more commonly at our clinic, through an injection under the skin. This is used to calm animals for minor procedures or as the first step of a more involved anaesthetic protocol.
Induction - This is the second level and produces a comatose state in the patient. It is achieved through an intravenous injection after the placement of an intravenous catheter, which is attached to an intravenous line and fluids. All surgeries or procedures involving induction at our clinic are performed with intravenous fluids. These are the bags of fluid you may see attached to your pet, or you may notice lines running through an intravenous pump, which delivers a constant and programmable rate of infusion.
Maintenance - This is the third level, accomplished by introducing an anaesthetic gas to the patient through an endotracheal tube. This tube is placed into the trachea through the mouth and has an inflatable cuff at the end to prevent material from entering the trachea and lungs during anaesthesia.
Anaesthetic Monitoring
At Alpine Veterinary Medical Centre, we take great care to monitor our patients during anaesthesia. We accomplish this through monitoring equipment that is standard for all general anaesthetic procedures. Monitoring includes:
Electrocariogram (ECG) - This measures the electrical impulses of the heart and provides a readout of the heart's activity. If an abnormality is observed, the ECG can be readily recorded for further analysis.
Pulse Oximetry - This measures the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood. The instrument uses infrared light to assess the transparency of the blood cells and reports the oxygen content as a percentage. It also measures heart rate, much like the ECG.
Blood Pressure - This is measured using an inflatable cuff on the leg that automatically cycles through taking readings, allowing us to track any changes in pressure during surgery. If an abnormality is observed, we can take measures to correct it.
Respiratory Rate - We use a specific respiratory monitor to measure our patients' rate of breathing.
As anaesthesia can also cause a drop in body temperature during a procedure, all of our patients are placed on a circulating hot water pad and covered with a forced warm air blanket to maintain a constant temperature during surgery.
All of our patients are also continuously monitored by our trained veterinary technicians throughout and following an anaesthetic protocol. A record of the animal's anaesthetic depth and detailed physical parameters is recorded every 5 minutes during any anaesthetic procedure.
Pain Control
Advances in pain control for animals have made significant progress over the past several years. It has been recognized that controlling pain has far-reaching implications for our animal patients, far beyond simply providing comfort. It has been shown that healing time and post-surgical recovery are shortened with adequate pain control. There is a wide variety of agents used for pain management in animals, and these are tailored to the individual patient. It is standard protocol at our clinic to provide post-operative pain control to our patients. When warranted, we also perform specific pain-relieving procedures, such as epidurals, local anaesthetic nerve blocks, and continuous rate infusion (CRI) drips by IV.