A practical guide to planning anesthesia for dogs and cats with cardiac, airway, renal, hepatic, endocrine, neurologic, or geriatric risk factors.

Veterinary anesthesia safety depends on individualized planning, dedicated monitoring, physiologic support, communication, and vigilant recovery—not one 'safe' drug.

Monitoring anesthetized patients is critical for ensuring safety and optimizing outcomes. This blog post explores the reliability of various monitoring equipment, potential pitfalls, and practical considerations for veterinary anesthetic monitoring.

Maintaining anesthetic stability during veterinary procedures presents unique challenges due to the dynamic nature of anesthesia and individual patient variability. This lecture explores anesthetic agents, MAC sparing techniques, and CRI implementation strategies for enhanced intraoperative stability.

The use of locoregional techniques allow to block pain in the transmission phase of the nociceptive pathway potentially preventing central sensitization and chronic pain.
When compared to systemic analgesia these techniques provide several benefits including superior intraoperative anesthetic stability and better postoperative pain scores, as well as a lower requirement for postoperative opioids, greater food intake and the potential for cost savings in larger dogs.

Ketamine is a phencyclidine derivative and was first approved for human use in 1970. Ketamine is a racemic mixture of R and S isomers with an acidic Ph (3.5 – 5.5) and benzethonium chloride as a preservative. Ketamine has a high therapeutic index, the clinical doses of ketamine described in small animals vary wildly, from 1 mg/kg to 35 mg/kg in cats and 1mg/kg to 20 mg/kg in dogs. It’s method of action is different than other injectable general anesthetics like propofol or alfaxalone as it does not activate the GABA A receptor. Ketamine acts mainly as a NMDA receptor antagonist. But it also works on some other receptors like opioid receptors, muscarinic receptors, as well as calcium-gated channels.

Procedural sedation plays a crucial role in veterinary medicine, allowing safe and effective management of patients undergoing minor procedures. Various drug options exist, each with unique effects, advantages, and risks. This lecture provides an overview of available sedative drugs, their mechanisms, side effects, and best practices for safe and effective sedation.

The use of locoregional techniques in veterinary anesthesia is on the rise. Although this has been largely fueled by the past opioid shortage, veterinarians are recognizing the increased value of this analgesic modality. Blocking pain in the transmission phase of the nociceptive pathway prevents the possible trigger of central sensitization and chronic pain.

Most general anesthetics can affect the cardiovascular system. A study from Carter et al. showed that there is minimal impact on the anesthetic risk in patients with heart disease as long as the anesthetic event occurs under optimal conditions