“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking” – Henry Ford
Anesthetics and hospital stays can be scary. Not all clinics are created equal and what happens behind the scenes varies greatly. At Burnhamthorpe Animal Hospital, we treat your pet as if they were our own, taking every opportunity we can to ensure patient comfort and safety at all times.
Your pet will be assigned their own personal “nurse” during their stay to ensure that all of their needs are provided for. Our “nurses” are actually licensed and registered veterinary technicians (RVT’s) who undergo extensive college training and licensing examinations. Believe it or not, not every clinic employs them. For more information, please visit www.oavt.org
Pre-operative evaluation
This includes a thorough physical examination of your pet to ensure their health prior to their anesthetic procedure. After this evaluation, an anesthetic protocol will be developed which considers the age, breed, and health status of your pet to ensure that their safety and comfort is of paramount concern at all times. We aim to prevent pain before it starts and keep them comfortable, relaxed and as stress -free as possible while in our care.
Comfort, contentment and safety
In addition to your pet’s cozy accommodations, we ensure they receive warmed intravenous fluids during and after their procedure, and a warming blanket to maintain their temperature. We provide soft and comfortable bedding, bedding changes as needed.
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intravenous fluids – helps to ensure adequate hydration, maintains blood pressure and helps your pet recover from anaesthesia more quickly and comfortably. In addition, having access to a vein makes giving medication painless and the procedure much safer in case actions need to be taken in the event of an emergency.
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blood pressure monitoring – non invasive methods using oscillometric and Doppler crystal technology are utilized and essential to proper anesthetic monitoring and ensure that all tissues are adequately perfused with nourishing oxygen and other nutrients and removing carbon dioxide and other waste products optimally. Most importantly, it ensures the safety of sensitive and important organs such as the brain, heart and kidneys. Blood pressure monitoring also allows us to adjust anesthetic levels as necessary, deliver fluids at the optimal proper rate.
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An endotracheal tube is placed to protect the airways and ensure clear delivery of oxygen, anesthetic inhalants and remove of carbon dioxide
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Temperature – it is important that ideal temperature of the patient is maintained at all times. Studies have shown that low patient temperatures during anesthesia and recovery dramatically increases infection rate, prolonged recovery time and patient discomfort. With careful monitoring, intravenous fluid warming and patient warming with our tabletop warming blanket, patients are kept at optimal temperature at all times.
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Heart rate, respiratory rate, capnography (CO2/carbon dioxide levels), blood oxygen (O2) saturation levels – these are all important indicators of anesthetic depth, patient stability and comfort under anesthesia. They are monitored by our RVT’s
Sterility
Infection control is of paramount importance in a hospital setting and is important for prevention of post-operative complications. Not all clinics take these important steps or are so thorough. At Burnhamthorpe Animal Hospital, we use steam sterilization to ensure our instruments are completely free of bacteria. We also wear sterilized gowns, gloves, hair nets and facial masks for every sterile surgical procedure. We also prepare our patients adequately using a 3-step skin sterilization procedure that is effective against bacteria but gentle on your pet’s skin.
