Pet Anesthetics
Anesthesia is accomplished by administering drugs that depress nerve function. With general anesthesia, the animal is made unconscious for a short period. During this unconscious state, there is muscular relaxation and a complete loss of pain sensation. Other types of anesthesia include local anesthesia, such as numbing a localized area of skin or an area like a paw.
There is always a risk of an adverse reaction when we use any anesthetic agent, whether it is for a minor, short-term sedation or for general anesthesia lasting several hours. It is generally estimated that approximately 1 in 100,000 animals will have some sort of reaction to an anesthetic agent. The mortality rate associated with anesthesia in cats is low, just one in 895 anesthetized patients under veterinary care. However, due to their unique physiology and small size, cats undergoing anesthesia are at relatively greater risk of complications and mortality than many other species. Empirical evidence shows that cats undergoing anesthesia have a higher mortality rate compared with dogs.
Anesthetized patients lose the normal reflex ability to swallow. If there is food in the stomach, the cat could vomit while under anesthesia or in the early post-anesthetic period. If vomiting occurs in the absence of the swallowing reflex, vomited material can be aspirated leading to pneumonia, a potentially life-threatening condition.
Injected anesthetics are among the most commonly used anesthetic agents in cats. These medications are often given as an intravenous (IV) injection, although some injected anesthetics can be given in the muscle. Common injected anesthetics in cats include:
- diazepam
- ketamine
- propofol
- alfaxalone
After anesthetizing your cat with injected anesthesia an endotracheal tube needs to be inserted in your cat’s trachea.
When it is necessary to keep a cat sedated for a prolonged period of time inhalant anesthetic is required. Isoflurane and sevoflurane are the two most common inhalant anesthetics used in cats.
- isoflurane
- sevoflurane
