Hi. My name is Dr. Mark and I'm filming for Pets Best Insurance, answering some Facebook questions for you guys at Broadway Veterinary Hospital in Boise, Idaho.
This question comes from Vera. She asks: "If your pet is allergic to anesthetic, what other options are there if a surgical procedure is needed?"
Vera, that's a good question because a lot of people have concerns about using anesthetic. The reality is, most of the advanced surgical procedures require anesthetic to humanely be performed. There's really no substitute to really knock out that pain sensation and have them knowing what's going on.
But to elaborate on that just a little bit, anesthetic reactions in and of themselves are typically fairly rare. It would be even more rare for an animal to have a reaction to every anesthetic agent out there.
So, if your pet had an unfavorable reaction to a particular class of anesthetics, it would be good to talk to the veterinarian who's going to perform the surgery, let him know what the anesthetic agent is that you're concerned about, and a different protocol can usually be devised that doesn't include that anesthetic agent, and therefore maybe give you a more favorable outcome.
If an animal has a particular condition that would predispose them to having anesthetic complications, for example, a heart problem, again, there's enough technology with these anesthetic agents right now that we can devise plans that make things as safe as possible for your pet.
If you have any other questions, post them to the Pets Best Insurance Facebook page, and we'll see if we can answer them for you.