ANESTHESIA FOR YOUR PET- IS IT SAFE?
Surgeries are performed on routine basis by the vets now a days
in India.
Minor as well as major procedure do require anesthesia.
Do you know that most of the surgeries almost all are performed in the
clinics where there is no gaseous anesthesia is used .Your pet is maintained
on out of date primitive intravenous drugs during anesthesia and what
to talk about anesthetist clinics don't have a supply of oxygen and
I have seen no intubation of patient during anesthesia.
MAJOR CONCERN ABOUT THE SURGERY IS ANESTHESIA AND HOW SAFE IS THIS FOR
MY PET.
UNFORTUNATLY IN INDIA MOST OF THE SURGERY PERFORMED
ARE BASED ON PRIMITIVE MATHODS.
Can you imagine you are going to a human hospital for your surgery where
they are anesthetizing you using intravenous injections and are not
having any oxygenation facility and gaseous anesthesia. No Never and
really you will not find any hospital where surgeries are performed
without these facilities and the anesthesiologist.
Then why you let your pet leave in the hand of a veterinarian who don't
have these facilities
THERE IS NO STANDARD OF CARE FOR VETERINARY ANESTHESIA AND MOST OF THE
VET CLINICS WHICH CLAIMS THAT THEY ARE DOING REGULAR SURGERIES DON'T
HAVE SUCH MINIMUM FACILITIES.
Modern anesthesia is very safe but as it involve agood great amount
of
investment and expertise which is often a constrain for the pet owners
and the vets as the surgery cost shoots up very high.
But, I believe major part of the surgical procedure is the anesthesia
and almost everything depends on it and so the owner should always be
ready for the payment of anesthesia bills for the safety of the pet
and should ask for the modern safer anesthesia facilities in vet clinics.
Here is the list of questions you can ask your vet before the anesthesia.
1. Do you do pre anesthesia blood work - all pets subjected
to surgeries whether healthy or sick should have there blood work done
.Blood work may involve Kidney ,liver status ,blood count ,protein level,
sugar check in general and few other require extensive blood tests before
the anesthesia.
2. Do you insert catheter for the iv fluid administration
- Few drugs during anesthesia tends to decrease the blood pressure and
fluid is needed for the purpose .A patent iv line is always helpful
during emergencies .
3. Do you keep the patient warm during the anesthesia
- Patient looses lot of heat during anesthesia and that will hamper
the recovery from anesthesia .Facilities to keep the pet warm during
the anesthesia should be present in the surgery.
4. Do you intubate the pet during anesthesia- Intubation is a procedure where an appropriate sized endo-tracheal tube is inserted in the trachea of the pets which ensure a patent breathing way in an unconscious animal. It is connected to the inhalation system for the proper delivery of oxygen and the precise calculated anesthetic drug with it. It also prevent the salivary secretion and vomitus to enter into the lungs of the patient. Modern anesthetist uses isoflurane in small animals. Virtually every surgical procedure in dogs and cats require intubation and gas anesthesia
.
A TIGER IS INTUBATED
5. Do you manage pain - As animals cant speak it is very important to
be careful for the pain management of the patient during anesthesia
.Motionlessness by the animal doesn't means that it wont feel pain .surgery
really hurts so what about pain management ?Pain during the anesthesia
can be life threatening and not at all accepted .
6. Do you monitor anesthesia with latest monitoring
techniques- monitoring Heart rate ,rhythm, pattern ,respiration ,temperature
,Blood pressure , Oxygen concentration in blood are the few vital signs
to be monitored during anesthesia to assess the cardiovascular system
of the animal. Now modern day veterinarians are using these vital signs
monitors to ensure the safety of the patient.
VITAL SIGNS MONITOR
7. Do maintain proper anesthetic record of the patient
- Anesthetic record is and important document to be maintained during
anesthesia recording every anesthetic drug and type of anesthesia event
wise during the procedure from pre-anesthesia to pet recovery. This
document is to be produced by the veterinarian for the necessary record
of the patient.
8. Do you use gaseous anesthesia- almost every surgery
where general anesthesia is required is done on gaseous anesthesia wherein
a safe gas is used for the mintenence of anesthesia which is least metabolised
by liver .Now a days ISOFLURANE is used world wide for maintenence .
If these questions will be asked and the facility seen
then only our darling pets will have the safer veterinarians in India
otherwise the things will go on as same as there is no need for the
change because clients don't ask for it.
With this the only extra burden will be the extra money
to be paid for the surgery .By not in-tubuting the patient ,not providing
gaseous anesthesia and all other things the price to paid is loss of
pet or doing surgery on not fully unconscious pet, loading the pet with
intravenous anesthetic drugs leading to impairment of liver ,kidney
and other vital organs and in turn getting no benefit out of surgery.
Written by Dr.S.P.Singh who is based in Chandigarh
Further queries welcomed