The veterinary surgeon, veterinary nurse and anaesthesia team has a crucial role in identifying patient comorbidities and procedure risks to minimise any detrimental effects of general anaesthesia, perioperative pain and stress in order to provide safe anaesthesia for each patient in our care.   As veterinary professionals, we should be striving to make our patients visits to the veterinary practice a positive one. Pets that have negative experiences during veterinary visits are likely to be fearful and distressed during their next visit. Low stress environments and handling, alone, may not significantly lower anxiety, but the addition of behavioural medications may aid in reducing anxiety and fear associated with veterinary visits.

This presentation discusses how to be confident in preparing for and practicing safe sedation and general anaesthesia in our veterinary patients. It covers the importance of how to maximise safety during induction of anaesthesia and securing the airway at such a critical time of the anaesthesia period.  During general anaesthesia, it is not uncommon to have complications such as hypotension and hypoventilation. Interventions for common complications for the anaesthetised patient should be implemented on a case-to-case basis, which some of the options available will be discussed.  When a balanced anaesthesia drug protocol has been utilised the majority of patients will wake up smoothly from general anaesthesia. However, despite best efforts, there will be times when a patient wakes up and displays a rough recovery. Rough recoveries can be behaviours such as excessive vocalization, paddling, head bobbing or head thrashing, agitation and disorientation. The three most likely causes of a rough recovery are pain, emergence delirium and dysphoria. This presentation will discuss how to approach the recovery period to try and optimise the recovery period.