Queen Anne Animal Clinic

Anesthesia

Contact your Queen Anne Team to schedule today.

Your pet's safety is our number one priority.

– Our skilled doctors will develop a surgical, anesthetic, and pain management plan customized to your pet.

– We want to keep your pet safe, calm, and comfortable throughout their visit.

– Pre-surgical physical examination is a necessary first step to every pet’s anesthetic plan.

–  Blood tests are recommended for all of our patients prior to procedures to increase the chance of  detecting unknown illness that can make anesthesia dangerous.

The first step in any health care plan is for our compassionate doctors to examine your pet physically. During this visit, the doctor will perform an examination and consult with you about your pet’s concerns. Based on the findings and your consultation, as well as your pet’s breed, age, and prior medical history, they may recommend an anesthetic procedure as the best option for your pet. In this case, they may also suggest additional laboratory testing before anesthesia. After gathering all of the information, the doctor will use the most recent research and recommendations to create a surgical, anesthetic, and pain management plan tailored to your pet. With careful consideration toward keeping your pet safe, calm, and comfortable throughout their visit our doctors prepare their plan to balance the ideal selection of sedatives, pain medications, local and regional treatments, and injectable or inhaled general anesthetics. Because each procedure and anesthetic plan is personalized the process described here may differ slightly for your pet.

Hospital admission is a valuable part of the pre-anesthetic process.

Anesthetic events are usually scheduled at least a few weeks in advance. In the days leading up to the surgery every owner will receive a reminder either via email, text, or call to remind you when and where to admit your pet and to review instructions including withholding food after 10 PM the night prior to surgery. The admission process is the next important step in keeping your pet safe during surgery. This is our final check-in to ensure that the surgical plan we have in place corresponds to your understanding of what your pet requires, that we know when your pet was last fed, which medications have been or have not been administered, and that we have any other important information—including a way to contact you with any additional questions, clarifications, or updates while your pet is with us.

The process for general anesthesia.

Only veterinarians and licensed veterinary technicians prepare and administer anesthetic agents, to ensure your pet’s safety. In most cases, the first step in anesthetic induction begins with an injection that sedates and controls pain during and after the procedure. Your pet will be given an intravenous (IV) catheter while under the influence of a mild sedative. Once the IV is in place, your pet is given a second relaxing agent through the IV to allow an endotracheal tube to be passed. The endotracheal (ET) tube is used to administer the anesthetic gas.

Supportive measures we use to keep your pet safe.

There are many general safety measures in place within the hospital that affect surgical patients but we will only cover those that are specific to surgery. The first crucial safety measure is the placement of the IV catheter through which we give intravenous fluids. The fluids support your pet’s blood pressure as well as having the added benefit of helping your pet flush the anesthetic medications from their body after surgery. The IV catheter also grants direct access to your pet’s vein to give routine or emergency medications.

Because your pet is unable to swallow while under anesthesia, we place an ET tube to help seal off your pet’s airway. This ensures that your pet does not inhale fluids or foreign materials while sleeping, which could lead to aspiration pneumonia. The ET tube enables us to deliver oxygen alongside the anesthetic gas, allowing us to keep their blood oxygen levels safe.

Lastly, we also help your pet maintain their temperature and enhance blood circulation through the use of forced-air warming blankets and circulating warm water pads. Both of these warming methods are specifically designed with immobile patient safety in mind as it eliminates concerns of contact burns many other arrangements have been known to cause.

Our attentive monitoring is an essential part of your pet’s health.

Once your pet is admitted, they will receive a brief physical examination and two checks of their vitals before any medications are administered. A staff member is assigned to your pet when the first medication is given. That team member will be by your pets side until they begin to ease into a very drowsy state. While the IV catheter and ET tube are placed a staff member will manually check your pet’s vitals until monitoring leads can be attached.  The same machines used in human medicine are used to observe and record respiratory and cardiac rate, heart beat pattern, blood pressure, body temperature, and blood oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. Throughout your pet’s procedure their vitals are viewed routinely by the doctor, technician, and/or assistant involved with your pet’s procedure and also documented at regular intervals. By keeping a record of your pet’s vitals trends are quickly noted and can be acted on before they become a problem. At the end of the procedure your pet is removed from inhalant anesthesia and begins the recovery process. A staff member continues to monitor your pet as they wake up removing their ET tube, continuing to check their vital signs, reflexes, and alertness. Monitoring tapers off in intensity as their mobility and awareness improves until they are able to comfortably go home.

Post Anesthetic Care Matters

Before you take your pet home, one of our staff members will go over the post-anesthetic care requirements. You will also receive a printed document containing this information. Not every anesthetic procedure necessitates a follow-up visit, but if yours does, we will notify you and you can make an appointment when you pick up your pet. We have a doctor available for phone consultations until 9 p.m. every day. If your pet has had a procedure and you have questions, please contact our doctor. We will also call you the next day to check on your pet and answer any new questions you may have.

If your pet is in need of surgery to improve its health and needs anesthesia as part of that process, we can help. Schedule an appointment today.

Queen Anne Animal Clinic

Monday
8:00 AM — 6:00 PM
Tuesday
8:00 AM — 6:00 PM
Wednesday
8:00 AM — 6:00 PM
Thursday
8:00 AM — 1:00 PM
Thursday
3:00 PM— 6:00 PM
Friday
8:00 AM — 6:00 PM
Saturday
8:00 AM — 5:00 PM
Sunday
CLOSED
CLOSED:
New Years Day, Martin Luther King Jr Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day