In our clinic, patients may undergo a number of procedures for diagnosis or treatment. In order to carry out these procedures safely and with as little stress as possible for the animal, sedation or general anaesthesia is often inevitable. Prior to most of these procedures, we insert an intravenous catheter into one leg of the animal, which allows us to administer additional medication or fluids if necessary.
If our patient needs a simpler, short diagnostic procedure that requires immobilisation but does not involve pain, such as X-rays, ultrasound or otoscopic ear examinations, we use sedation. Sedated animals are often still aware of their surroundings but are much more relaxed.
If your pet needs surgery, we will perform it under general anaesthesia, not sedation. In many cases, it is better to use general anaesthesia, as this is often safer than sedation, which the outside observer may find easier and often safer. This is because general anaesthesia allows us to monitor and control anaesthesia in more detail.
After a thorough physical examination, the anaesthesia begins with the insertion of an intravenous catheter through which certain anaesthetics are administered. Our patients' sleep is supported by a modern anaesthesia/ventilator machine for each of our soft surgery procedures, so after the induction with intravenous anaesthetics, an endotracheal tube is passed down into the upper airway to ensure the flow of free oxygen and anaesthetic gas to maintain the patient's sleep.
This applies to all our dental procedures as well - whether it's a simple ultrasonic dental scaling or an oral surgery!
Occasionally, the endotracheal tube inserted into the airway may cause some irritation, which may present as a mild cough for 1-2 days after the procedure.