A board-certified specialist in veterinary anesthesia and analgesia® is a veterinarian who has undergone four years of advanced training beyond veterinary school and passed an intensive specialty examination in the field of veterinary anesthesiology. This rigorous background allows our anesthesiologist to safely manage anesthesia for all types of surgeries - from an elective spay to a critical patient with sepsis or blood loss. Anesthesiologists also understand breed-specific needs and can safely anesthetize higher-risk patients such as brachycephalic breeds, geriatrics, and those with heart, kidney, and hormonal diseases.
Our board-certified veterinary anesthesiologist has extensive training and experience anesthetizing pets with a multitude of diseases, or pets who may have not done well with anesthesia in the past. Before your pet has surgery, our anesthesiologist thoroughly reviews your pet’s medical record and evaluates your pet’s heart and lungs. With this information, individualized drug protocols are created to minimize the inherent risk of anesthesia. Our dedicated surgery nurses are overseen by the anesthesiologist as they attentively monitor your pet while anesthetized. Our state-of-the-art monitoring equipment includes capnography, pulse oximetry, electrocardiogram, blood pressure (oscillometric and direct), and temperature monitoring. We stay attuned to your pet throughout the entire anesthetic event, ready to intervene at the first sign of any potential complication.
Your pet’s comfort is of the utmost concern to the anesthesiologist. Almost all of our anesthetic protocols involve ultrasound-guided locoregional anesthesia (nerve blocks) to provide optimum analgesia. By numbing the part of the body where surgery occurs, we dramatically reduce the dose of inhalant anesthesia and narcotics necessary to keep your pet comfortable. This means less side effects, so pets wake up from anesthesia more like themselves – less sedate and oftentimes with a hearty appetite.
It is important that all aspects of your pet’s comfort are considered during the hospital stay. Stress can interfere with the recovery and healing process. For anxious pets, we can administer gentle sedative medications so that they can rest comfortably both before and after their surgical procedure.
