How to Tell If Your Dog Is Sick From Anesthesia?
- 1). Follow your veterinarian's pre-surgery instructions to prevent complications. Usually, you are required to withhold food for 12 hours before surgery to prevent your dog from vomiting and inhaling stomach contents while under anesthesia. Don't give in to those soulful stares.
- 2). Ask your veterinarian about post-surgery pain management. Your vet may prescribe non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to control pain. If he doesn't suggest it, ask. Pets don't express pain the same way humans do, but they are sure to be hurting after surgery, and it can be hard to tell whether your dog is reacting to anesthesia or just miserable with pain. Consider pain management in advance. Do not use human pain medications on your dog--it will poison your pet.
- 3). Find out how your dog will be monitored after surgery. If no one will be there to watch over your dog overnight, you may want to take your dog home and watch over her yourself. If anything is going to go wrong with your dog's recovery from anesthesia, it will be while the drug is working its way out of your dog's system. Some purebred dogs are sensitive to anesthesia, and older and obese dogs may take longer to bounce back from anesthesia. It's best to be right there to observe any adverse responses over time.
- 4). Watch for these signs of an adverse response: loss of consciousness or semi-consciousness; lasting drowsiness; vomiting; bleeding; difficulty walking; abnormal behaviors such as temperament changes; inability to urinate after 24 hours or blood in urine; inability to defecate after 48 hours; spasms or convulsions; body temperature above 103 degrees; hives or swelling; pus or foul odor from the wound (may indicate infection). If any of the above occurs, contact your veterinarian. If your regular vet is not available, and your dog's condition is not improving, you may need to take your dog to the emergency 24-hour clinic.
