11-18-2011, 03:01 PM
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Bedfordshire UK
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Originally Posted by Holly
Anesthesia is always a risk, but good practices take a lot of precautions. Bloodwork prior to surgery to rule out major systemic issues, ECG in older animals to rule out obvious heart abnormalities, intravenous catheters so drugs can be given in case of an emergency, IV Fluids given during the procedure to keep BP up.... you see my point.
Cats unfortunately are the ones who die under anesthesia more because they can have heart conditions that produce no murmur and only an echocardiogram can pick up. Its not very common but it does happen.
There's also reactions to the anesthetic itself, which no one can predict.
There is also added risk to those animals who are more of an "outside" animal due to the increased chance of picking up a parasite called "lungworms" which scars the lung tissue and can cause issues.
Every anesthetic procedure itself is a risk but anesthetic deaths aren't all that common and many precautions should be taken to ensure the best chances. This will end up costing you more $$, but it's worth it.
Holly, you are an Aladdin's Cave of really good advice and information.
You have really frightened the crap out of me with all this anesthetic stuff. I`ll definitely have to give up glue sniffing now.