Anaesthetic safety

Many people worry when their pet needs an anaesthetic which is understandable because it can be a risky proposition. However with modern techniques and drugs it is as safe as it ever has been. At Canobolas Pet Hospital we have use the most up to date drugs for our anaesthetics and (having spent some time in RPA intensive care and a visitor) our monitoring equipment is identical to that used in major hospitals.

So what is the risk?

A major study from Canadian veterinary hospitals found a complication rate of 2.1 % for dogs and 1.3 % for cats undergoing anaesthetic and a death rate of 0.11% and 0.1% respectively. Of course this included sick and very sick patients. So what is the incidence with routine surgeries with healthy patients? 

Several national sterilization programs in the USA track their mortality rates and a few are presented here for your reference:

• 6,885 spays/neuter performed in a combined stationary/mobile clinic in 2006
  --> Three deaths for a mortality rate of 0.04%
• 29,000 spays/neuters performed in MASH style clinic since 2003
  --> Twenty deaths for a mortality rate of 0.07%
• 69,000 spays/neuters performed in a mobile clinic since 1999
  --> Nineteen deaths for a mortality rate of 0.03%

 These are welfare type clinics doing large numbers of speys as a production line type situation using the cheapest possible drugs and using minimal monitoring. In our clinic we wouldn't expect anything like these figures. We might expect a 10th of these rates.