Safe Anesthesia For Your Pet’s Dental
We go to great lengths to make sure your pet has a very safe and uneventful experience with us. Dental cleanings, full mouth radiographs, and extractions are performed under anesthesia because pets can’t sit still and keep their mouths open like humans can during a dentistry. Instead, we use a very safe gas anesthesia and state-of-the-art monitoring equipment to make sure your pet is safe. In fact, we take safety and risk so seriously, we will always tell you up front if the benefits of performing the procedure are worth the risks of anesthesia. There are several things we do to lower this risk to a very safe, acceptable, and manageable level.
Pre-Anesthetic Exam
Our doctor will examine your pet the morning of the dental to make sure your pet is healthy and ready for the procedure. They’ll listen to your pet’s lungs and heart and we’ll measure the pulse, temperature, and weight.
Pre-Anesthetic Blood Screen
To determine how healthy and normal your pet’s internal organs are functioning, we’ll take a small sample of blood and run some tests. We look to see if the kidney and liver values are normal and we check for infection or anemia. These are the same steps a human hospital takes before you go under anesthesia. While we hope the test results are normal, we sometimes discover abnormal results. Depending on the situation, we’ll either take some extra safety precautions or reschedule the procedure and address the new discovery.
IV Catheter and Fluids
This procedure involves setting an IV catheter and administering fluid therapy before, during, and after the procedure. This step stabilizes the blood pressure and flushes the anesthetic agents from the kidneys and liver making it safer for your pet. These are very similar procedures a human hospital would take to make things safe for you. Your pet will stay well hydrated and we’ll have access to an open port to give immediate emergency medication directly into your pet’s blood stream if an unexpected problem occurs. Your pet will also recover more quickly, comfortably, and with less side effects.
Additional Monitoring and Safety
Monitoring vital signs like the heart rate, pulse, respiration, and blood pressure are important safety steps. We use special monitoring equipment to receive regular reports on how well your pet is doing under anesthesia. We make adjustments to the anesthesia and oxygen to ensure your pet remains within normal, safe anesthesia limits. Maintaining your pet’s temperature is also an important safety precaution. Anesthesia causes your pet’s temperature to drop just like taking a cold bath or shower. When this happens, the heart rate and blood pressure drop too. We use a heating pad that circulates warm water to counter this effect and ensures your pet stays warm.
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