Completely terrified about anesthesia

[Gretchielove]

Hi everyone! My name is Mandy and my sweet little baby, Gretchen, is 3.5 years old. I have had Gretchen since she was a few months old and ever since then I have supplemented her water with special formulations to decrease plaque/tarter, given her daily dental chews and tried different toothpastes and gels. She loves to chew and seems to chewing continuously on a bone but mainly chews with her back teeth. Her front and and back teeth look very good- they are white, free of debris or any tarter/plaque formation. Her canines on the other hand are the teeth that have worried me. She has 6 extra baby teeth that have never come out and a few of them are blocking her canines and collecting debris which have resulted in plaque/tarter on those teeth. It seems like I have always been terrified of anesthesia for her but over the last few months I have been doing more research online, looking on YT and have decided that I HAVE to do the right thing for my baby's health and pray and trust her veternarian and hopefully everything will be just fine. I took her to her vet on Friday and although we have gone to this facility before it was the first time with this vet. I instantly liked her and felt comfort and trust from her (she has been a vet since 2011 and assured me, "I haven't lost anyone yet (while we discussed dental cleanings and safety)..knock on wood"). She answered all of my questions and I stayed around two hours. Before going in I had a list of questions in my mind but when I was there I was very teary eyed thinking of Gretchen going under anesthesia and a lot of the thoughts left my head. Her vet did tell me that Gretchen would come in on Friday for a pre surgical blood workup (not a complete blood workup because of her young age) and also an ECG. If all went well, Gretchen would be cleared for her procedure. She would receive Propofol (Vet said "around 1.5cc"), would be intubated and then receive Isoflurane. She said the entire procedure would take around 30 minutes but could (rarely) take up to an hour and she said "that would be cutting it close for her"..?. I asked what would happen if Gretchen was having difficulty with anethesia..she said that they would lower the Isoflurane or even turn it off..they also have Atropine if needed (to increase her HR). I asked if they would administer IV fluids. She said that they do not administer IV fluids but administer Subcutaneous fluids if the patient is at risk for hypoglycemia or is little like Gretchen they might (Gretchen weighs 3.5 pounds). After our talk, I felt safe and comfortable making the appointment but now that I am home, I am having more questions. I am an RN in a Pediatric ICU so maybe I am overthinking every little thing. I went on the AAHA website regarding IV fluids and it said that it is recommened 5cc/kg/hr which would be roughly 8cc in an hour for Gretchen or about 4cc if it's only a half hour..It also said that sometimes they don't like to give fluids for short procedures because of the risk of fluid overload in small dogs which could impact respiratory function. Then on the other hand, Propofol and Isoflurane make you hypotensive so it makes me feel like she NEEDS fluids...am I being crazy? Also, I am glad they do an ECG but is she monitored throughout the entire procedure (HR, Respriations, Blood pressure)?. She did tell me that she would have a pulse ox on measuring her oxygen levels but I did not see a charge in my paperwork for a BP cuff. Is it normal to only use a pulse ox? I am going to call her tomorrow and ask her some of these questions but I am worried and hoping she doesn't think I'm being overbearing. I think I may be overthinking a lot because I work an in ICU. I had a patient the other day on Propofol who was on fluids and still became hypotensive once we have Propofol boluses and we gave IV fluid boluses to correct it. Anyway, I am so sorry for such a long post. I am just having a lot of anxiety over her surgery this coming Friday. Any advice, thoughts, comments or experiences you've had with dental cleanings/anesthesia would be so appreciated. Thank you for your time!

[Wylie's Mom]

Hi and WELCOME to YT - I'm really glad you found us .

Yes, you are over-thinking - but hello...you're in VERY good company of a bunch of other overthinkers ! We're our dogs' health advocates so in my opinion, overthinking is a good thing as it causes you to consider everything AND do your research. The downside is that it can also cause a lot of fear -- and I'm totally guilty of being way over-fearful when it comes to my babies.

My bach degree is in nursing too (not practicing now)...so I totally understand how having that extra knowledge can sometimes almost make it worse, bc you've seen things go wrong and you know things that others don't.

You've done awesome research and to me, it sounds like you're all set - that pre-bloodwork is the right thing to do and will be reassuring.

The only thing that REALLY bothers me is why on earth they aren't doing IV fluids! Whenever my babies go under, even for a supposed "short" procedure, we always always always do IV fluids bc, as you know, if something *should* happen -- you WANT that access for ER meds etcetera. I would absolutely always insist on IV fluids for any/all general anesthesia procedures.

Now as far as the fear -- your kiddo will do great - I'm sure she will! As long as her bloodwork and EKG check out fine, you have a ton of reassurance right there and things should go very well. Dentals are very minor procedures and quick, so it should go great. If you weigh the risk of not doing a dental vs the risk of anesthesia...I think you'll come out wanting to do the procedure as dental issues can cause big problems if left unchecked (heart, as you know).

Hang in there, and let us know what you decide...have confidence that your kiddo will do great!!!

[Gretchielove]

Thank you so much for your kind reply! After reading others' experiences on YT, reading your reply and speaking with a co worker of mine who used to be a veterinary technician (I talked her ear off but she talked me through the procedure and made me feel more at ease)- I feel much better about it all! I am going to try to be confident and strong over the next few days so that I do not make Gretchen feel stressed out at all. She's the fearless one I know that this is the best thing I can do for her health so on Friday, off to the vet we go! I will keep you updated on her

[yorkietalkjilly]

My little Jilly who was the runt of her otherwise normal litter and weighed just over 3 lbs. as an adult, had many health issues and due to her tiny size, I held off even getting her neutered as she was never around intact males and never let off her lead when outside as long as I could. But I so feared cancer developing that when she was 6 years of age, I finally got the courage to have her spayed. Not too much longer after that, out on a walk, a big dog off lead came out of nowhere & attacked her after she stepped forward & growled/barked in protection of me as he rushed up to us in an aggressive manner. He had her up in his jaws and severely injured her but she underwent surgery as soon as I could get her home to the car and to the ER vet and she did very well with anesthesia. When she was 13 years old, she had surgery for a dislocated shoulder, coming through that anesthesia fine as well. Of course, she had her dental cleanings under anesthesia as well occasionally - not too many as she had very good teeth for a tiny Yorkie but all in all, she had several general anesthesias over her lifetime and never had any problems.

Of course, she had pre-op blood work to be sure she was healthy enough to have surgery, an IV was running and her vitals were monitored during the procedures but still I worried throughout each case but she always did fine for such a tiny, frail dog. Try not to worry and go ahead and schedule the dental cleaning. Today's anesthesia drugs, equipment and protocols, often tailored for the tiny dogs so popular now in world society, are so very advanced over the "old" days of veterinary surgery.

I'd be sure to use a veterinary surgeon who has a large, successful practice consisting of many toy dogs as he/she would tend to cater to and know far more about the toy-dog veterinary general anesthesia issues than a large-animal veterinarian out in the county might not. I'd fully discuss the things I was concerned about with the surgeon and find out why they don't use certain things during surgical teeth cleanings as you have the right to know what is being done to ensure your dog's safety during surgery and consider another vet if you don't get the answers you feel comfortable with.

My former employer, who was an orthopedic surgeon, told me that the pulse-ox monitor during surgery was one of medicine's greatest advances in patient care in many years.

[chestermama]

you are in good company with the rest of us, working in the medical field makes it worse I think, I do the same thing, she will be fine, you have a good vet that is the best thing good luck we all love our babies to death here thats for sure

[chestermama]

I forgot chester has had 2 teeth cleanings and has done fine, he was around 10 at his last cleaning, done great

[conni]

My lindsay 4 lb had two surgery's in a two week time
Her insides was coming out through retcum
Vet sewed butt to hold in then next week vet say she has
Bladder stones he took them out vet say that was why
Insides coming out to much pressure on insides
She is doing great now she has to eat hills
Prescription c\d urinary tract health.she is doing great
She woke up both times no issues

[Brooxanne]

I was always super worried when my previous yorkie (Grey 1/2013-6/2014) went under anesthesia. He matured at only 2.2 lbs and did just fine. I'm an ICU nurse myself and sometimes I think we overthink and worry too much!! If we didn't, we wouldn't be doing our job to advocate for our patients, or in this case, our sweet yorkies!

That said, it sounds like from your post, the propofol is bolused for intubation. So any hypotensive affect would quickly correct itself since propofol has such a short half-life and isn't being used as a continuous gtt. So that's good! Also, if hypotension is a result of propofol, administering fluids isn't what's gonna ultimately correct the problem anyway-- metabolizing the propofol is. All of this to say - I am sure your precious fur baby will do great and these veterinarians are good at what they do and if he/she is confident, then all we can do is let go and trust. Ahhhh!!!!! That's so hard though (particularly for us ICU RN breed because we are crazy control freaks).

Let us know how it goes!!

[mindy10]

I know how you feel. My dog is 6 months and needs to be neutered but he has the weak trachea so I am considering not putting him under. I dont want to make the trachea worse. Most dogs due fine under anesthesia.

[intilis]

Just wondering if Gretchen had her dental, and if so how she made out? Any update?