General anaesthesia for veterinary purposes

 According to the British Small Animal Veterinary Association Manual of Canine and Feline Anaesthesia and Analgesia, the purpose of anaesthetic is to “Prevent awareness of, and response to, pain” and to “Provide restraint and immobility to the animal”, it is also noted that both should be done with precaution for the animal’s safety (Duke-Novakovski et al., 2016).

It is common in most veterinary practises that pre-anaesthetic medication will be given 30 minutes before a procedure to sedate and relieve pain from the animal, next an induction agent (the foundation general anaesthesia) is given via an intravenous catheter to knock out the animal so that a tube can be pushed down the trachea that releases oxygen and anaesthetic gas to keep the animal unconscious (Gurney, 2012).

Isoflurane is used almost always as general anaesthesia (desflurane can also be used with dogs) and has replaced halothane as the leading anaesthetic agent for over 10 years as isoflurane is deemed safer than halothane (Clarke, 2008).

However, using anaesthetic is not without its risks as several problems can occur such as hypotension, organ failure, respiratory issues and severely decreased blood pressure (Tolford, 2017), but these risks are less likely to happen or cause mortality if a veterinary nurse or anaesthetician is present to observe physiological readings (Dugdale, 2010).

 A case control study led by Professor David Brodbelt, the European Veterinary Specialist in Anaesthesia and Professor of Evidence based Veterinary Medicine at the Royal Veterinary College, investigated fatalities that occurred due to anaesthesia and found that 0.17% of dogs, 0.24% of cats and 1.39% of rabbits in the study died of an anaesthetic-related death (Brodbelt, 2006).

To conclude, there are risks to using general anaesthesia but mortality is very unlikely and the usefulness of anaesthesia during surgery outweighs the health problems it can cause.

References:

Brodbelt, D.C., 2006. The Confidential Enquiry into Perioperative Small Animal Fatalities. PhD. England: Royal Veterinary College, University of London.

Clarke, K., 2008. Options for inhalation anaesthesia. In Practise, [Online]. volume 30: issue 9, p513-518. Available at: http://inpractice.bmj.com/content/30/9/513[Accessed 1 December 2017].

Dugdale, A., 2010. Veterinary anaesthesia : principles to practice. 1st ed. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

Duke-Novakovski, T.; British Small Animal Veterinary Association; Vries, Md.; Seymour, C.; 2016. BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Anaesthesia and Analgesia. 3rd ed. Quedgeley, Gloucester: BSAVA [British Small Animal Veterinary Association].

Katherine Tolford. 2017. 5 Anesthesia Risks for Pets You Should Know. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.petmd.com/dog/slideshows/general-health/5-anesthesia-risks-pets-you-should-know. [Accessed 1 December 2017].

Mathew Gurney. 2012. The Ins And Outs Of A General Anaesthetic. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.theveterinaryexpert.com/anaesthetics/veterinary-general-anaesthesia/. [Accessed 1 December 2017].