Your pet’s safety
Safe anesthesia, always.
Our approach
Although commonly performed, we take every patient’s anesthetic procedure very seriously.
Multi-modal anesthesia
A protocol built for your pet.
Each patient has an anesthetic protocol customized to their age, health, reason for anesthesia, and, when applicable, breed-specific guidelines.
We utilize multi-modal anesthesia: a combination of small amounts of different types of sedatives, anti-anxiety medications, pain medications, and anesthetic gases, as well as local anesthesia, both short and long acting.
By utilizing multi-modal anesthesia, complications associated with general anesthesia are minimized, and anesthesia is much safer—for patients from tiny neonates to geriatric patients with significant health concerns. Multi-modal anesthesia also allows for better control of heart rate, blood pressure, and spontaneous breathing, as well as a smooth, comfortable anesthetic recovery.
Never optional
Every patient under anesthesia has.
Not a premium tier, not an upgrade, not something you have to ask for. This is what every anesthetic procedure at Bonnie Mara includes, for every patient, every time.
A pre-anesthetic evaluation, including lab work
An intravenous catheter
Intravenous fluids
Constant monitoring of blood pressure
Heart rate and ECG
Respiratory rate
Body temperature
Blood oxygen levels
A registered veterinary technician or skilled veterinary assistant focused solely on overseeing their care until they are up and about
A question we get often
Why we don’t offer anesthesia-free dentistry.
Due to concerns about anesthesia, or concerns about the cost of a dental procedure, some people will seek out alternative options. Bonnie Mara Animal Hospital—as well as the American Veterinary Dental College—know that anesthesia-free dentistry is not an effective form of prevention or treatment of dental disease.
In addition to creating unnecessary fear and stress in your pet (they don’t understand why they are being held down and having their teeth scraped with sharp objects), the pockets under the gumline—where the majority of dental disease lies—cannot be cleaned, and important diagnostics such as dental X-rays cannot be performed. The end product is teeth that appear clean while underlying gingivitis or periodontal disease worsens.
If you have concerns about your pet undergoing general anesthesia, please let us know!
