Is sedating an old, aggressive dog with cancer for an exam risky?

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.

Injectable sedation or general anesthesia might be in Hercules’s best interest, and neutering could make a big difference in his behavior. Each ‘scary’ experience at the vet builds on the next, so if he is getting worked up on oral sedatives alone he needs more sedation. You could ask your vet about trying an oral sedative in addition to the gabapentin and you could also work on training him to use a basket muzzle for safety. You could also look for a hospital that specializes in ‘Fear Free’ handling techniques but I will tell you that these hospitals are usually pretty liberal with their use of injectable sedative because the outcomes are so much better fo the pets. At his age I would worry that if you don’t work on this now Hercules will be a dog that cannot be handled at the vet. https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/dog-muzzles-about-when-why-and-how-to-use-one/

Thank you for you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. It depends on the medications the doctor uses for Sam but the sedation should make him very relaxed so he won’t become distressed and therefore won’t become aggressive. The medications will keep his heart rate and blood pressure from rising to anxious levels so he won’t feel like he needs to be stressed. He will be relaxed enough for them the place the scope. Good luck and I hope you get answers for Sam!

I recommend a veterinary exam to check how infected the tooth is. If they listen to her heart and it is fine and her blood work is stable they may be able to do light sedation only and remove the infected tooth. Bad teeth are very painful and also the dental infection can worsen the liver problem so extracting it if it can be done safely would be my recommendation. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Daisy.

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.

It is important to remember that some dogs may always react aggressively and are at risk to hurt someone (which no one wants). Your veterinarian knows how to read pet's body language and must take into account the safety of everyone (the pet included). Some pets needs to be sedated and muzzled and there's no other way around it. There are some things you can discuss with your veterinarian and may be able to work out with the clinic if you are committed to trying to make Java less afraid and more willing to allow proper care. Here is a link: https://www.petcoach.co/article/what-is-fear-free-training-and-socialization/ Again, it never hurts to try but it may not work. I hope this helps.

Oral sedatives are generally not safe for pets with heart conditions. However, there are heart friendly pre-anesthetic injectable drugs that the vet can give such as Midazolam and Butorphanol. Also keep in mind that most pets with a heart condition that are also symptomatic (coughing, exercise intolerance) should be evaluated by a cardiologist and cleared for surgical procedures like dentals to ensure they are good candidates and can handle the anesthesia. The main concern here is the anesthesia and not the sedative used beforehand. On the other hand, if she is not symptomatic (no coughing, exercise intolerance), and she currently is not on heart medications, then she is likely a good surgical candidate b/c her risk of having complications with anesthesia are generally low. I hope that this helps guide you towards the proper care for Chhutki and this dental procedure. Best wishes and take care. : )