SMILE - Pre-anesthetic Physical and Pre-Medication

The bloodwork is finished, the vet has perused it, and everything is ok to go full steam ahead.  This is when the vet gives a quick once over to make sure there is nothing else going on before the pre-med and anesthesia is given.

(Imagine taking your dog in to have their teeth cleaned and then goes home with an ear infection that no one noticed?  That is why your vet will perform a quick physical.)

After this, a "pre-med" is given.  This is usually a combination of a sedative and/or tranquilizer, possibly an analgesic, and an anticholinergic.  The sedative helps calm any jittery nerves and makes animals a little sleepy.  The analgesic will help with any pain that might occur during the procedure.  The anticholinergic reduces secretions (such as saliva in the mouth that could be aspirated) and prevents a slow heart rate that could occur from the general anesthesia.  All of this, mixed in one syringe, is injected under the skin (subcutaneously) about 20 minutes or so before the general anesthesia is started.

Heidi has had her pre-med and can barely hold her head up!  She is so sleepy.  I came back a minute later to find that her head had become too heavy to hold up any longer.

Once the sedation has started working, Heidi got to escape from the cage to have an intravenous catheter placed in her cephalic vein (her forearm).  She could barely sit upright (which was rather amusing)!

One of the LVT's is supporting her head so she doesn't flopple over.  The other one is feeling for the vein in her arm.  The purpose of an IV catheter is to provide fluids and electrolytes during the anesthesia (helps flush out the drugs and keep your pet hydrated since they are not drinking most of the day) and it gives IV access in case of an emergency (most emergency drugs need to be given IV since that is directly into the blood stream).

Heidi's vein was difficult to find that day.

So, to recap, Heidi has been checked in, assigned a cage, had blood drawn, been checked over by the vet, given a nice drug cocktail (the pre-med), and finally had an IV catheter placed.  And the actual dental cleaning hasn't even started yet!

Next up: General Anesthesia and Monitoring.