Calming Fear of Anesthesia
We hear you that placing your pet under anesthesia can cause
worry.
We hope that by filling you in on our process and showing you ‘behind the scenes’ photos , we will be able to assist in calming fear of anesthesia.
> When the pet arrives, we place an IV catheter. This feels like having blood drawn, and ensures we can administer any medication needed quickly and precisely.
> Once it is surgery time, we intubate our surgical patients. This helps to avoid aspiration while maintaining the pet under anesthesia with gas as well as oxygen.
As pictured below, intubation is a procedure by which a tube is inserted through the mouth down into the trachea (the large airway from the mouth to the lungs). Before surgery, this is often done under deep sedation.
>Then, the pet is monitored by an assistant or technician throughout the procedure. This allows the doctor to focus solely on the patient 
in front of them.
What about pain, though?
We know that preventing pain is as important as treating it.
>For this reason, pets in our care for surgical procedures receive an injection of pain medicine before we even administer anesthesia. This will lessen their experience of pain, and decrease the amount of pain they feel after surgery.
>A second injection will actually begin the anesthesia, making the pet sleepy enough for intubation as discussed.
>A final, post-surgery 24-hour pain injection will be given as the pet wakes up. We care deeply about preparing your pet for a smooth recovery.
