The Tails of Truth Podcast:

Is My Pet Safe Under Anesthesia? What to Ask & What to Expect

Your pet is going under anesthesia. Here's how to feel ready.

This episode is for every pet parent who has ever handed over their animal to their veterinary team and spent the whole day watching their phone. The fear is normal. And Dr. Angie and JoJo are here to replace it with something more useful: information.

What good anesthesia preparation actually includes:

  • Pre-procedure bloodwork checking kidney and liver function
  • A dedicated credentialed technician monitoring vitals throughout 
  • Cardiac screening for high-risk breeds and pets with murmurs
  • Thoughtful decisions about anesthetic time, especially for senior animals

Dr. Angie shares a real case of hers, a cat with a barely audible murmur who turned out to have severe hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, caught before surgery because screening happened first. This story is shared to highlight how proper pre-surgical protocols can be life saving. 

Modern anesthesia is safer than it has ever been. This episode will help you feel that.

Key Takeaways

  • Anesthetic deaths are very rare and continue to decrease as protocols, monitoring, and pre-screening protocols improve.
  • Age is not technically an anesthetic risk factor but experienced veterinarians do factor it into their recommendations, especially for very senior animals.
  • Pre-anesthesia bloodwork checks kidney and liver function, blood counts, and helps surface underlying disease before it becomes a crisis during the procedure.
  • A dedicated monitor should not be the same person performing your pet's procedure and should be watching your pet's vitals continuously throughout.
  • Heart murmurs require more than a stethoscope. A small murmur can hide major disease. No murmur at all can also hide major disease. Echocardiograms matter for high-risk breeds and any patient with a cardiac concern.
  • Anesthetic time matters, especially for senior patients. It is worth asking whether a specialist could complete a procedure more efficiently.
  • Reversible injectable sedation exists for shorter procedures but is not appropriate for every patient or situation.
  • It is always appropriate to ask your veterinary team about their monitoring protocols, equipment, and experience before any anesthetic event.
More Episodes

Sound Bites

    Checking metafield_content: true

    Has value: true

    Children count: 5

  • "You can have a small murmur and big disease. You can have a big murmur and small disease. You can have no murmur and big disease."  ~ Dr. Angie 

  • "The quality of the anesthetic protocol and the education of the team and the experience of the team that's where it's at." ~ Dr. Angie

  • "The most common reason for an anesthetic death is there was underlying disease there that we didn't know about."  ~ Dr. Angie 

  • "I've only had one {pet that's passed}, and I've done a lot of surgeries." ~ JoJo

  • "Do you want to resuscitate? I mean, as soon as that question is asked, that's terrifying. Like, what am I doing? What am I saying yes to?" ~ JoJo  "If they're recommending a procedure, it's probably important." ~ JoJo

Featured Products

Follow Us On

Spotify Spotify Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts YouTube YouTube + More