Anesthesia and Patient Monitoring

There are so many options to reduce Vet Visit Anxiety, storm phobias, or travel anxiety for your pet at Sunnyview Animal Care!

As a practice dedicated to reducing anxiety for your pet, Sunnyview offers all our Cat (& Dog) owners the option to pick up a ‘Feliway’ or Adaptil wipe.  Feliway & Adaptil are pheromones that reduce anxiety for your pet – wiped inside the carrier 15 minutes before you place your pet within has proven to significantly reduce pet upset!  Also, Sunnyview believes in this practice so very much, that we have plug-in diffusers throughout our reception, examination rooms, and the cat & dog wards.  Many owners see a difference in their pet’s behaviour here without knowing we employ this safe and, non-drug related therapy!  For additional information on Feliway & Adaptil – http://www.feliway.com/us/, & http://www.ceva.us/Products/Product-List/Adaptil-Formerly-D.A.P-R

In addition to this, there are supplements we can offer to lower or lessen the need for any other medications!  Just ask!

If your dog experiences Car sickness on a regular basis – ask us about the use of ‘Cerenia’ – a non-sedative medication that shuts the vomiting stimulus off for many hours, and is effective for many dogs.  Please look at this medication online – https://www.zoetisus.com/products/pages/cerenia/default.aspx

If travel, thunder, or fireworks upset your pet, he or she may benefit from a variety of options!  Sunnyview Animal Care will likely recommend the plug-in pheromone diffusers outlined above, in addition to MediCal Calm diet or other supplements and/or medication options.

While sedated, the animal will stay awake or sleep lightly but can be roused when stimulated. To minimize any potential risk associated with tranquilization or sedation, we need to assess each animal individually before we dispense these medications.

Please contact us if you would like to set up an assessment or discuss sedation with us.

We monitor our patients to keep them as safe as possible during procedures that require general anesthesia. A veterinary technician will continually assess your pet’s heart and respiratory rate, blood pressure, and other vital signs to help prevent any anesthetic risk.

Please feel free to ask us about our patient monitoring protocol or any concerns you might have about your pet’s procedure.

For some procedures, your pet will need to be administered general anesthesia so that he or she will be unconscious and not feel pain. Many pet owners worry about their pets being administered general anesthesia. We can assure you that modern anesthesia is generally quite safe; to further lower any risk, we perform a physical examination and run blood work ahead of time to catch any underlying health issues. In addition, we follow a specific anesthetic protocol, including monitoring vital signs during the procedure, to ensure the safety of our patients.

We begin most general anesthetic procedures by administering a sedative to help the pet relax and decrease any anxiety and pain. We then administer an intravenous drug to provide complete anesthesia and place a breathing tube into the patient’s trachea (windpipe). To maintain the state of unconsciousness, we deliver a gas anesthetic in combination with oxygen through the breathing tube.

Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns about your pet receiving general anesthesia or about the procedure for which your pet is scheduled.

If your pet is having a minor surgical or diagnostic procedure performed, we sometimes use a local anesthetic to help control pain. For example, when we perform a biopsy (in which a small portion of tissue is surgically removed so it can be examined), we often use a local anesthetic. Local anesthetics cause a loss of sensation in the area where the procedure is being performed. We sometimes use a sedative and/or anxiolytic (anti-anxiety medication) in combination with the local anesthetic to keep pets calm during a procedure.

Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns about your pet receiving local anesthesia or about the procedure for which your pet is scheduled.