Cold weather breeds such as Malamutes and Huskies tend to retain heat easily and a cooler environment may be more appropriate for these breeds. Obese animals often have delayed recoveries. Most general anesthetics are very fat soluble so the greater the amount of body fat and the longer the animal is anesthetized, the greater amount of anesthetic agent that will be absorbed into body fat. Anesthetic taken up by body fat will leach back into an animal's blood for days or even weeks after anesthesia. This low residual amount of anesthetic may continue to affect an animal's behavior for several days.
Some breeds are more sensitive to certain anesthetics than other breeds.
Breed Sensitivities to General Anesthesia Purebred dogs have been selectively bred to perform specific tasks such as retrieving or racing or have been bred to develop specific physical characteristics. Often, less desirable traits emerge as a result of selective breeding. This is a difficult question to answer, as there are few scientific studies that have evaluated the sensitivities of different breeds of animals to anesthetics. Many of the reported breed sensitivities are based on the clinical experience of veterinarians. The reason for this apparent difference is unclear.