My dog needs a spinal X-ray. Is anesthesia always necessary and safe?

Poor Lincoln! It sounds as though your vet is most likely concerned about a cruciate ligament tear, patellar luxation, or the onset of arthritis from a possible prior injury. English Bulldogs are inherently more risky to put under anesthesia simply due to the conformation of their head and airways, but your vet is aware of these possibilities and should be prepared with proper monitoring equipment and oxygen supplementation. I always recommend pre-anesthetic blood testing whenever possible. Most anesthetics are broken by the liver and kidneys (which these tests will assess), which allows the animal to wake up after the procedure. I hope that all goes well for Lincoln!

While any anesthesia carries a risk, spaying is generally a very safe procedure. The risks of anesthesia increase as a dog ages (I'm specifically referencing senior dogs like 10 years and older), but there are few risks for a young and healthy puppy. Your vet is right she could be ill in the future if you don't spay her. Not spaying her leaves her at risk of developing a pyometra in the future. This is an infection of the uterus that is fatal without treatment, and spaying the dog is part of the treatment of a pyometra. That surgery is high risk due to the severity of the illness in the dog from the infection, and it costs thousands to perform. In addition, dogs who are spayed are at an increased risk of developing mammary tumors. Of these mammary tumors, 50% of them are malignant. For her health, it is best to spay her now. I would speak with your vet about getting it done. I hope this helps!

Your veterinarian will have the best information about the safety of anesthesia given her condition. I would ask them how much the heart condition will increase the risk of anesthesia and what is the expected benefit of the surgery given the stage of the cancer? If the cancer is stage 4, then the prognosis may be very bad (makes the surgery less necessary); compared with a stage 1 (where it would be very beneficial to remove the tumors, before they spread). It comes down to ensuring that you are well-informed of the risks and expected benefits. Without knowing all of the details it's really difficult for me to say. Generally, heart conditions tend to not be that scary under anesthesia and may actually reduce the stress on the heart during anesthesia. I've anesthetized many heart patients and have found that the anesthesia tends to go very smoothly. However, we do tend to use select drugs and have an increased alertness to the activity of the heart when we anesthetize them. Sorry to see that Chica is having these problems. I'm sure this has been very difficult for you. I hope I was able to help answer your questions.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. If it is possible, I would recommend having the x-rays done without sedation and depending on how the x-rays look and how her blood work looks, consider removal of the mass under anesthesia. She is not too old for anesthesia but the risk of anesthetic complications rises with age. As long as her heart, lungs and blood work are normal, she should be fine under anesthesia. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

I recommend to discuss your concerns with your veterinarian. In general, pets should have their heart rate, their breathing rate, temperature and their blood pressure monitored at all times. Oscar should also have blood work ran before the procedure and make sure he has IV fluids as well. These are the best things you can provide to help ensure a safe procedure (though keep in mind there is always some risk, just like humans). I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

I always recommend lab work. If there is a heart murmur then I recommend either an echo or at minimum chest x-rays. IV fluid therapy, and usually propofol anesthesia induction (but several induction medications are available for geriatric dogs). Of course close monitoring of vitals, an efficient procedure and keeping them nice and warm. We do a lot of geriatric procedures at our practice and very few complication rates. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.

I'm so sorry this happened. It is not likely an overdose of anesthetic. If that was the case he would have passed away during the dental procedure. It is more likely that he threw a blood clot post-anesthesia. The only way to know for sure would be to have a necropsy (autopsy) done on him.