Anesthesia and Monitoring

We at the Garrison Animal Hospital understand that surgery and anesthesia can be a scary idea when it comes to your pet and its safety.  Anesthesia and monitoring are one of the top reasons for the price difference at different clinics for the same surgery.  This is a very important point for you to be comfortable with before having a procedure done on your pet. 

Different anesthestic protocols (meaning specific drug choices) are tailored to each pet's specific needs.  Some things that affect these protocols are the pet's age, health, the surgery being performed and the expected length of surgery.  If we are removing porcupine quills or repairing a small cut reversible sedation is often chosen.  For longer or more complicated procedures your pet is intubated (a breathing tube is put down their throat) and gas anesthesia is used.  This type of anesthesia allows us to control how deeply asleep your pet is.  Pain medication is an important part of any surgical procedure.  Any patient undergoing surgery at our clinic will receive pain control medication appropriate to their situation.  Extra medication may be sent home with you depending on your pet's comfort level when you come to pick them up.  If you have concerns about your pet's pain control please be sure to discuss it with your doctor. 

Our monitoring equipment allows us to watch your pet's breathing rate, heart beat and rhythm (EKG), oxygen levels and temperature.  We can also check their blood pressure as needed.  While this equipment is wonderful and allows us to do our job better, you can never replace a person's experience and knowledge.  The doctor doing the surgery is monitoring different things throughout the procedure as well as a trained veterinary technician.

When all of these safety measures are followed it is very rare to lose a healthy patient under anesthesia (less than 0.1%).  Our doctors and trained technicians are more than happy to discuss any concerns that you have.