Anaesthesia

General anaesthesia is often needed to carry out procedures like surgery for your pet. The anaesthetic ensures we can provide sufficient pain relief for your pet's procedure and keeps them still throughout the whole time.

All procedures involving a general anaesthetic incur some risks to the patient and while nearly all human surgical procedures are overseen by an anaesthetist there are few specialist anaesthetists in veterinary private practice. At SASH, we use specialist anaesthesiology to ensure your pet's anaesthetic is the safest it can be.

Anaesthetists analyse and assess your pets anaesthetic risks before a procedure and modify the anaesthesitic technique accordingly. This can involve different drug combinations, fluid therapy, thermostatic support or respiratory ventilation.

In many ophthalmologic surgeries the patient needs to be chemically immobilised so the eyes are kept perfectly still. The specialist anaesthetists can ensure this is done safely. The anaesthetist will monitor your pet's vital signs throughout the whole procedure so that the chance of problems occuring is very low. In the unlikely event that the patient does have a problem under anaesthesia, close monitoring by the anesthetist means these can be acted upon immediately.

Anaesthetists are also experts in the field of pain relief and pay particular attention to your pet's comfort while hospitalised. If required they can perform epidurals, nerve blocks and administer intravenous pain relief. Our anaesthetist, Dr. Colin Dunlop, is internationally renowned and plays an important part in the SASH team. You will find him consulting in all areas of the hospital ensuring the safety of our patients.